Tag: Family friendly in Sainte Genevieve

The Anvil Saloon & Restaurant – Where 170 Years of History, a Legendary 1850s Steamboat Bar, World-Famous Onion Rings, and Small-Town Hospitality Create Sainte Geneviève’s Most Beloved Dining Institution Some restaurants chase trends. Others chase Michelin stars. The Anvil Saloon & Restaurant, occupying the same downtown Sainte Geneviève building since 1855, chases neither. What The Anvil does—and what keeps locals returning weekly and tourists traveling from Europe, Asia, and across America specifically to experience—is deliver honest, home-cooked comfort food in atmosphere so authentically old-time that you half expect steamboat captains and frontier merchants to walk through the door. The centerpiece isn’t just the food (though those onion rings are genuinely world-famous). It’s the bar itself: a massive, ornate back bar that arrived via steamboat in the 1850s, reportedly salvaged from a vessel that sank or ran aground in the Mississippi River, then hauled by oxcart to this building where it’s anchored conversations, celebrations, and community gatherings for nearly 170 years. Located at 46 South Third Street on the historic downtown square, The Anvil occupies building that began as hardware store (1850-1855, hence “Anvil” name referencing blacksmith’s tool), transformed into gentlemen’s saloon (1855 when the Vaeth family purchased it and installed Read more…

ASL Pewter Foundry – A Working Pewter Studio Where Tom and Pat Hooper Keep Colonial Metalworking Alive A working pewter foundry in Missouri’s oldest town sounds improbable until you remember that Sainte Geneviève has always been a place where history isn’t just preserved but practiced. At 183 South 3rd Street, Tom and Patricia Hooper have spent nearly 40 years creating museum-quality pewter pieces using techniques that colonial craftspeople would recognize—casting molten tin alloy into antique molds, spinning flat pewter discs on an 1873 water-powered lathe (now electrified), and welding handles onto tankards with micro-torch precision. This isn’t a demonstration for tourists watching behind ropes. This is an active studio where you can commission custom pieces, watch the Hoopers work, learn the chemistry and history of the tin-based alloy that graced America’s founding families’ tables, and leave with functional heirlooms made by hands that understand centuries-old craft traditions. The work has earned White House recognition (Pat and Tom visited during George W. Bush’s administration, meeting First Lady Laura Bush), appeared in HBO’s John Adams miniseries starring Paul Giamatti, and attracted collectors who recognize that genuinely handcrafted American pewter—100% lead-free, made using antique tools and traditional methods—has become exceptionally rare in an Read more…

Located in a century-old building in the Historic Downtown District of Ste. Geneviève, Missouri, Audubon’s Restaurant is a popular landmark for residents and tourists alike. Open for dinner, our menu is the perfect balance between healthy and comfort food. Audubon’s invites you to share in a long tradition of hospitality and award-winning food and drink in one of Ste. Geneviève’s most historic restaurants! The relaxed atmosphere, friendly staff, and creative menu make this the perfect place to dine. Whether you’re looking for a delicious sandwich, brick oven pizza, mouth-watering steak, or just a cold beverage; we’ve got you covered! Read more…

The Sunday After the French Heritage Festival Levee Wildlife Refuge Ste. Geneviève, MO 63670 Call us at 573-880- The famed ornithologist John James Audubon lived for a short time in Ste. Geneviève. Audubon’s Walk is a naturalist lead hike atop the Ste. Geneviève Urban Levee. Come see what shows up: cliff swallows, horned larks, red-winged blackbird, eastern bluebird, and more! Read more…

The Bossier-Shaw House Site Office and Interpretive Center – Missouri Department of Natural Resources’ Gateway to Sainte Geneviève’s Layered History Most historic site visitor centers occupy modern buildings constructed specifically for administrative functions—climate-controlled boxes with exhibit spaces designed from the beginning for interpretive displays. The Bossier-Shaw House operates differently. This is a genuine 1819 building constructed by Jean-Baptiste Bossier as a storehouse for his mercantile business, later expanded by Dr. Benjamin Shaw into a residence, and transformed in the 1930s into the headquarters for the Ste. Genevieve Art Colony—a radical gathering of Depression-era artists including Thomas Hart Benton, Joe Jones, Jessie Beard Rickly, and Aimee Schweig who captured tenant farmers’ encampments, lime kiln workers, sharecroppers, and the human condition in ways that established this small Missouri river town as “the Mecca of Midwestern art.” Today, operated by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources as the site office and interpretive center for the Felix Vallé State Historic Site complex, the Bossier-Shaw House hosts rotating exhibits throughout the year that explore the area’s history in the context of broader Missouri heritage, maintains a small gift shop featuring books on French Colonial history and colonial period items, and presides over the coolest feature Read more…