Underground Railroad, Alton, Missouri

Among the winding brick side streets and towering Victorian homes of Alton, Illinois, lies a silent railroad.

“There were about seven different lines of the underground railroad running through Alton at different times,” said Eric Robinson, a history professor at Lewis and Clark Community College who gives tours of the city’s most prominent historical sites.

Bordered by the Mississippi River, Alton is only 30 minutes from downtown St. Louis, and on a clear day the city skyline is visible from the crests of the hills. Of more interest, however, is the amount of history that exists in and around the spectacular views and stunning architecture in Alton.

Although the name suggests otherwise, the City Museum is not a typical museum. It offers a variety of attractions that appeal to a wide range of ages and is helping to breathe new life into the Washington district of St. Louis, Missouri. 

Before entering the Museum, visitors gaze up in wonder at the colossal structure before them: the MonstroCity. The MonstroCity is an outdoor playground complete with tunnels, slides, a ball pit and more stacked on top of each other in an intricate design. This work of art is most spectacular when brought to life by the movement and laughter of the people exploring its great heights.

All of the materials used on the MonstroCity come from various buildings around St. Louis that have been welded together. This play haven also boasts two abandoned planes that were damaged in the ’93 flood of the Missouri River and have been incorporated as part of the structure.

Iowa Sheep and Wool Festival, Adel, Iowa

Although many people only turn to sheep as a last resort on a sleepless night, at the Iowa Sheep and Wool Festival in Adel, sheep — and the people who devote their lives to them — are given the chance to shine.

Walking into the Dallas County Fairgrounds on a Saturday morning in early June, the scene is quiet enough to distinguish individual ‘baas’ from barns around the property and the patter of little hooves in the sandy arenas. Visitors soon discover that what at first appears to be a festival in distress is actually an intimate, low-key family affair on the verge of an afternoon explosion of patrons, most of them eager sheep enthusiasts.

Wildlife Prairie Park, Peoria, Illinois 

Tucked away quietly near the urban hub of Peoria, Illinois rests the 2000-acre sanctuary of Wildlife Prairie Park. Home to more than 50 native species of animal such as coyotes, foxes, otters, deer and buffalo, the park offers an opportunity to observe the fauna of Illinois in a naturalistic habitat. The winding forest paths and picturesque scenery are a far cry from the traditional animal zoo, which is exactly why many visitors are drawn to the park each year. It’s a pleasant experience for families, said General Manager Linda Prescott. 

The park was established as an offshoot project of the Brookfield Zoo of Chicago, beginning as a region to host exotic endangered animals. When the Brookfield Zoo decided to cancel its plans for the park, William Rutherford of the Forest Park Foundation, the original donor of the 480 acres of woodland for the project, decided to utilize the land to create “an untapped natural resource to pay tribute to America at the time of the pioneers and establish a zoological park dedicated to Illinois,” said Kelly Stickelmaier, public relations coordinator at the park. In 1977, Rutherford opened the park temporarily as a birthday gift to his wife Hazel.

Rutherford said he originally planned to spend less than $1 million dollars on the project, but since then it has cost the Peoria Park System more than $7 million. His love and dedication to the park extends well beyond monetary means, and the service and care that has been put into the exhibits is visible.