Lacon
Last spring, I had the good fortune to retrace the steps of the Donner Party. This post is part of the story of my journey. If you want to begin at the beginning, go here first. Big thanks to the Indiana Arts Council for helping to make this happen.
Mary Graves was born in Indiana, but her family was living just outside of Lacon, Illinois, when they departed for California. So that is where my family headed first.
We actually left late on a Saturday afternoon. So we drove to Peoria, spent the night, and then got up early the next morning to make the short drive to the town of Lacon. We didn’t have any planned stops in this town. I knew it would be too difficult to research where their farm would have stood and to try to find it and anyway, we didn’t have that much time. But still, I wanted to start our journey there. I wanted to see Lacon.
This is a photo from the car going over the bridge into the town. Lacon is a town that sits on top of the Illinois River. Stories are told about Mary’s parents crossing that river in a boat to help neighbors. It’s a beautiful, lush landscape.
A really beautiful church in Lacon:
Downtown Lacon is charming.
We stopped for fudge and smoothies and coffee. There was a lovely little museum that I wanted to peruse but it was early on a Sunday morning and alas, it was closed.
(Also, yes, we ate fudge on an early Sunday morning because if you are writer that’s what you do. And you call it work. It’s a very difficult job.)
I hopped out of the van and walked around the courthouse to take some pictures. It’s a nice building, but it wasn’t standing when she was there. So never mind that. My husband was gassing up the van while I was walking around with my camera. It was one of those gas stations with a little restaurant inside and on that early Sunday morning it was packed with older men drinking coffee and discussing the fate of the world. One was outside watching us. He looked like he wanted to chat, so I walked over with a cheerful “Good morning,” and he told me about the tank that was sitting in front of the courthouse, that had captured the attention of my sons. We chatted for a bit.
And reluctantly, I left. Truthfully, I was very emotional that morning. I woke up jittery with nerves, like I was about to meet someone important. Which was completely ridiculous, I know. But I felt it just the same. I felt close to her driving around this town where she grew up. Seeing the river and the land that she saw. I liked my morning there.
On our way out of Lacon I felt like I saw up close exactly why they left. It’s such a marshy place. Bottomlands. The telephone poles needed to be braced up because of sinking and leaning. One reason they left Lacon was because of the number of sicknesses that now, we can attribute to mosquitoes. At that time, they didn’t know what was causing it, only that a dryer place would be a healthier place.
And then we got on the interstate. Every time we got on the interstate on this journey, it felt so cold and impersonal. Everything was going by too quickly. I longed for a slower pace.
Definitely not what she experienced, right?
Stay tuned. Next post can be found right here.