The Fin Inn

Grafton Illinois has always been one of my favorite places, despite it's overly touristy feel of the past few years.  And if your going to go, you HAVE to eat at the Fin Inn.

Opened in May of 1981 the Fin Inn started with only five tables.  It's been expanded several times since then, and there's alot of seating although on a weekend you will still have to wait.  All the tables, with the exception of those located along the outside wall of the restaurant, are next to huge aquariums housing a multitude of fish fund in the Mississippi, including a few loggerhead turtles weighing over 100 lbs and 100 years old.

Even if you don't get an aquarium side table, the food is well worth the trip.  This is one of the few restaurants where if you only go every ten years, everything will taste the same as it did the last time you were there.  My favorite has always been the 'eagles nest' onion blossom, which will easily feed 6 people as an appetizer.  The food is not expensive, we had three adults with dinners, a kids dinner, and the onion for $60.00.

Wether your on a first date, anniversary, or just celebrating the weekend, if your in Grafton, the Fin Inn is the place to go.
Open year round, 7 days a week!

How to get there:
Mapquest is your friend, depending on where your coming from, but getting here is easy.  Just take a drive down the Great River Road.  The Fin Inn is just about a mile West from the main 4 way in Grafton on the River Road.  You can't get lost.
www.fininn.com
And when your done, go back East and stop for dessert at the Chocolate Factory!!

The Spillway at Gillespie Lake

If you want a nice little location to hang out and maybe some decent fishing, go to the spillway at Old Gillespie Lake.  Wait for it to rain and the spillway to really flow, then give it a few days to quiet down.

 Fish (even big fish) get caught up in the dam and go down the spillway into the pools in the woods below, 2 before the road and one after.  If you show up a day or so after the rain, the fish have eaten everything available to them in the pools and have no where else to go and nothing else to eat. Prime fishing!!

Even if you don't catch anything, its a nice little place to play around in, just be careful of the exposed re-bar and concrete pieces, and of course watch for snakes.  We did see a water moccasin come down the spillway, so they definitely are there.

Directions to Gillespie Lake (from 55/Litchfield):

Go West on rt 16 towards Gillespie, and go through town.  Stay on 16.

Turn right (North) onto Dorchester rd and follow it to the dam.  The 'honey hole' I was talking about it on the curve right before the dam, you will see the spillway on the right and there is parking above and below the spillway.

The Nina and Pinta at The Loading Dock

We happened to be taking a trip to central Illinois on the Harley's the same weekend the Nina and Pinta were at the Loading Dock in Grafton, Illinois.

The Nina and Pinta are the most historically accurate replicas of Columbus' ships ever built. In fact, on board the Pinta is a small craft designed to take the men to and from shore, and the 14 year old apprentice who built that ship was a relative of the real family who built Columbus' ships.

 It was only $8.00 for adults to go aboard, and there's a decent amount of hands on things there for you to see.  Also, they have a really nice staff who tells you stories, facts about the ships, and is happy to answer any questions you may have. Like, how did the ships get to Grafton, for instance?  While equipped with masts and sails, they actually have a diesel engine below deck, and were on their way to Ohio from Illinois.

The Nina has a deck length of 65 feet and is in fact 30% larger than the original, but is still very small considering the sailors spent so many months on board.  We also learned that the crew would stay on deck in all weather, the only storage below was for stores of food and water, supplies, and animals - even horses, but no people.  

You can check out the Nina (which was Columbus' favorite ship) and Pinta at www.thenina.com to see where they are headed and when they might be by you!

Sugar Creek Covered Bridge

As a photographer, this is a site I would love to utilize more often, but in an effort to limit the number of times I use a repeat location and the volumes of other area photographers who come here, I just don't get out to it very often.  But whether you are a photographer, bridge lover, or weary traveler,  this is a gorgeous little side trip to take.  

A little history:

The first bridge across Sugar Creek in this area was built about 1827 by Thomas Black and his neighbors who wanted something better than a ford. That bridge was not a covered bridge and spanned the creek in neighboring Auburn township close to the border with Ball township.

In 1880 Thomas Black built this covered bridge. This bridge is known as the Hedley (or Headley) bridge, or the Glenarm bridge, or the Sugar Creek Covered bridge. It was rehabilitated in 1965, but I'm not finding any information on what work that entailed. A local commented that this bridge was still carrying traffic in the late 1970s. According to the NBI, in 1983 a prestressed concrete beam bridge was built just to the south.

The bridge was extensively rehabilitated in 1994, raised above the water with poured concrete and reinforced with steel beams.  

-www.bridgehunter.com

The creek is out of town and surrounded by woodland, but there is a community nearby, and your really not far off the main road.  You cannot drive your car across it anymore, but there is a parking and picnic area on the premises. Great any time of year, although I myself am partial to the fall. Definitely a site you should see if coming through the area.

Directions from I-55:

Take exit 83 towards Glenarm.  Turn left onto Old Rt 66, less than half a mile.  Turn Right on second cross st, Frazee rd.  The bridge is right off the side of the road, about a quarter mile down.

Mary's River Covered Bridge

The Mary's River covered bridge is located just outside of Chester, IL.  It is easily visible from the road, and you have to drive off the main road into the parking area to access it.  It isn't the prettiest covered bridge I've seen, but considering how few are left it's worth going to if you've never seen another.  This is a good area for a little afternoon picnic, and take a few pics while you are there. 

"Completed in 1854, the bridge is 86 feet long, 17 feet 8 inches wide, and has a vertical clearance of 12 feet. The bridge was constructed using native white oak timber, hand hewn throughout, and used the Burr Arch design with double arches on either side of King posts. The structure rests on its original stone abutments and with the exception of the floor, floor joists, roof, and siding, all of the original timber remains.

The bridge was in continuous service from 1854 to 1930. In 1936 the bridge was acquired by the State of Illinois for purposes of preservation and a picnic area. Currently undergoing preservation work, The Mary’s River Covered Bridge is the only remaining covered bridge in Southern Illinois and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1974."

-www.greatriverroad.com

A little history:
In the mid-19th century the town of Chester was an important trading post on the Mississippi River. Marketable products such as corn, wheat, and lumber were transported to Chester by wagons and ox carts to be loaded into boats for shipment up and down the river. In order to facilitate this trade a toll road was built by a Mr. Hartman between Chester and Bremen, a village six miles to the northeast of Chester. Hartman charged a fee to users of the road who were traveling west. The type of road Hartman built was a plank road, where all the low and swampy places along the route were floored with heavy planks to make them easily crossable. The biggest natural obstacle on the route between Chester and Bremen was the Mary’s River and Hartman had a bridge constructed to enable travelers to cross this river.


The bridge is located just North East of Chester on IL-50, 4.2 M from Junction with IL-3 in Chester.