Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
useful visitors' guide.
Getting There & Around
The downtown
Amtrak station
( 217-753-2013; cnr 3rd & Washington Sts)
has five trains
daily to/from St Louis (two hours) and Chicago (3½ hours).
Petersburg
When Lincoln first arrived in Illinois in 1831, he worked variously as a clerk, storekeep-
er and postmaster in the frontier village of New Salem before studying law and moving
to Springfield. In Petersburg, 20 miles northwest of Springfield,
Lincoln's New Salem
State Historic Site
( 217-632-4000;
www.lincolnsnewsalem.com
;
Hwy 97; suggested donation
adult/child $4/2; 9am-5pm, closed Mon & Tue mid-Sep-mid-Apr)
reconstructs the village
with building replicas, historical displays and costumed performances - a pretty inform-
ative and entertaining package.
TOP OF CHAPTER
Southern Illinois
A surprise awaits near Collinsville, 8 miles east of East St Louis: classified as a Unesco
World Heritage site with the likes of Stonehenge, the Acropolis and the Egyptian pyram-
Collinsville Rd; suggested donation adult/child $7/2; visitor center 9am-5pm, grounds 8am-
dusk)
. Cahokia protects the remnants of North America's largest prehistoric city (20,000
people, with suburbs), dating from AD 1200. While the 65 earthen mounds, including the
enormous Monk's Mound and the 'Woodhenge' sun calendar, are not overwhelmingly
impressive in themselves, the whole site is worth seeing. If you're approaching from the
north, take exit 24 off I-255 S; if approaching from St Louis, take exit 6 off I-55/70.
A short distance north of St Louis, Hwy 100 between
Grafton
and
Alton
is perhaps the
most scenic 15 miles of the entire Great River Rd. As you slip under windhewn bluffs,
19th-century stone cottages, wood buggy shops and farmhouses.
An exception to the state's flat farmland is the green southernmost section, punctuated
rocky outcroppings. The area has numerous state parks and recreation areas good for hik-
