Tag: Articles in Missouri

Aida Frey from the Chicago area visited Ste. Geneviève on December 29, 2020, making her 345th stop at a national park. Frey is a participant in and a proponent of the NPS Junior Ranger program. Her business card calls her the “Sweetheart of the National Parks.” She posts about her travels on Facebook (Junior Ranger Aida Frey), Twitter (@jrranger) and Instagram (@juniorrangeraida). She also has a written a book, “America, Can I Have Your Autograph?” Frey and her family stopped through Ste. Geneviève during a trip that also included three national trip stops in Texas — Big Bend National Park, Rio Grande Wild & Scenic River, and Fort Davis National Historic Site. The Ste. Geneviève National Historical Park was established as the 422nd unit of the National Park Service on October 30, 2020. There now are 423 national park units.   Read more…

Town&Style When was the last time you saw a sky completely full of twinkling stars? Or heard cows lowing outside your bedroom window? Or tasted grapes fresh off the vine? If, like me, the answer is ‘never,’ shame on us. Especially since a short hour’s drive can put us smack dab in the middle of some of the prettiest countryside in the U.S. Ste. Genevieve County, just 60 miles from home, combines natural beauty with more worldly attractions (about a dozen wineries and a French Canadian settlement dating to the 1740s) to offer a weekend getaway that will make you feel like you’ve been away much longer. Our immediate destination was Chaumette Vineyards & Winery on State Rte. WW, a popular destination among St. Louisans who have likened it to French wine country. The changing fall colors, a quiet cozy retreat and a gourmet restaurant—that was enough for an overnight escape. Anything else would just be a bonus, I thought. Turns out we got all that and then some. Chaumette proved to be an idyllic setting, with rolling hills all around. Its ‘villas,’ attractive suites built up on wooden piers to replicate the French architectural style found in historic Ste. Read more…

The Daily Journal published a story about the Octane Tour’s visit to Southeast Missouri during the weekend of September 11 to September 13, 2020. The tour attracts dozens of car enthusiasts in the St. Louis area for weekend getaway drives. This year’s drive featured Ste. Geneviève County and its wine country. Several classic cars stopped in Ste. Genevieve on Friday, September 11, and parked at downtown parking lots. Organizer Matt Burcham was impressed with Ste. Geneviève, telling the Daily Journal: “The response that the Ste. Geneviève businesses had with us coming into town was crazy. Everybody had handmade signs welcoming the Octane Tour. “Some people had even made up some dash plaques and handed them out to us and other people met us, and it was really cool. All these people were taking pictures of these signs and putting them on Facebook. It was nice to see the area wanted us here. We want to try and patronize these places as we can.” Read more…

Monday, December 14, 2021 marks 1,211 days since the Great American Eclipse of 2017, and 1,211 days to the next total solar eclipse for Ste. Geneviève — on April 8, 2024. A solar eclipse did take place on Monday, December 14, 2021 and it was viewable in Argentina and Chile in South America. A photo of the 2017 solar eclipse taken in downtown Ste. Geneviève. Ste. Geneviève was included in the path of totality on August 21, 2017 — the first time that was the case since perhaps the 1400s. The St. Louis area had not previously been on the centerline for a total solar eclipse since 1442, and St. Louis won’t be on the centerline for the 2024 eclipse. The 2024 centerline will cross the United States from Texas to the northeast. The north edge of the centerline will not extend as far up as Festus but it will include Ste. Geneviève County. As the northern end of the centerline, Ste. Geneviève will have about 2 minutes of totality; Cape Girardeau will have about 4 minutes as the midpoint of the centerline. Ste. Geneviève had more than 2 1/2 minutes of totality in 2017 by being at the midpoint Read more…