Historic Vincennes

The Lincoln Memorial Bridge over the Wabash River

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One of two pylons on Indiana side of the bridge.

This bridge carries U.S. 50 Business across the Wabash River from Vincennes, Indiana to Lawrence County, Illinois. The east end of the bridge is in the George Rogers Clark National Historic Park. At this entrance to the bridge you will find two large pylons made of granite, each with a raised sculpture depicting  a Native American Chief.

The bridge is what is called a deck arch design, and has two traffic lanes and wide pedestrian walks on each side of the roadway.  It was opened to traffic in September, 1933, the same year that the George Rogers Clark Memorial was completed. President Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicated the monument in 1936.

View from the George Rogers Clark Monument

Wabash River walk, Illinois is on the other side of the river

Parked after crossing the bridge

This was one of the attractions we enjoyed on our trip to Vincennes, Indiana in August of 2020, during the height of the pandemic. We had a spot at a nearby RV Park, and were able to maintain the then acceptable “social distance” and had masks available.

Historic 1837 college

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Behind the Catholic Basilica in Vincennes, Indiana is a small red brick building. The information plaque on the wall describes Saint Gabriel’s college that was started by the Eudist Fathers in 1837.

You can see a bit of our RV on the far right

Information plaque

Original stone wall visible

The Eudist Fathers were founded in the 1643 in France. and the group is still active today promoting missionary work and education. This old college was one of several historic places we found during our first real RV trip since February since we have been isolated due to that deadly virus. It is always fun to stand in front of an old historic structure and imagine what it was like back when it was built.

Stay safe while your travel, friends, but go ahead and travel safely!

Impressive monument

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Sher

While Sher and I were driving around Vincennes looking for interesting things, we spotted the steeple of a large church.  We parked, got out and went up to one of the historical information signs. Then we looked to the right and wow, there was a huge structure that looked like a monument you’d see in Washington, D.C.

What we were seeing was the George Rogers Clark Memorial. The monument honors the 1779 victory of General George Rogers Clark over the British at Fort Sackville, on the Wabash River in what is now Vincennes. This was a hugely successful campaign during the Revolutionary War and led to the United States claiming the Northwest Territory from Britain.

Detail of the monument inscription

Francis Vigo, with the Wabash River behind

 

 

 

 

The State of Indiana built the monument in 1933 and President Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicated it in 1936. The site was turned over the the National Park service in 1966, and the NPS runs it to this day, along with a Visitor’s Center and other parts of the historic park. There is a lovely “River Walk” paved path along the banks of the Wabash River, which is the boundary with Illinois.

It was a hot day, however in the shade it was comfortable. We saw a few people out, most without masks, but no problem keeping safe distances. We really enjoyed finding this impressive piece of Indiana and American history!

Stay safe while your travel, friends, but go ahead and travel!

 

Cautiously getting back to traveling

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I guess we had had enough of the isolation, staying at home, watching the RV sitting in the driveway and general boredom. We decided that we would venture out for a short duration trip to see what the world was like in person. Sher and I knew we could not just take off without preparation. I’m in the age and underlying health issues related group. Neither of us want to get the virus. We wanted little or no physical contact with either things and/or of course people.

Preparing the RV

We had plenty of fresh water, the gray and black water tanks were empty.  We planned our daily menus, and had more than enough food and drink on board, so there was no need to go to a store. And of course we started with a full gas tank. The RV had not been used other than a couple of day trips since we got back from Texas in February (Before COVID seems like years ago…) so we dusted the inside, put up a new shower curtain, and added a new bedspread and loaded supplies.

Roadtirement back on the road

The RV Park

We found an RV Park about 10 miles north of Vincennes, Indiana, our first destination. They accepted Passport America for half price camping. That was good. But how to interact with the office? I did not want to have to go into it. I called and the park owner completely understood my wanting a “no contact” payment. No problem, they had a mail slot at the office, great for depositing our check. The park layout also was great, as there was plenty of room between sites.

Yep, that’s us being COVID tourists

Sightseeing

We were out and about mid week, thus avoiding what might have been large crowds on the weekends. As it turned out, there were very few people around where we walked about. We saw very few people wearing masks, which is now mandatory in Indiana. Social distancing was not really a problem, as there were only a couple of times where we moved away from nearby pedestrians.

In conclusion

We so enjoyed getting back on the road and staying in an RV Park. Sher and I both had a great time seeing the historic sites and monuments in Vincennes and then in French Lick on the second day. We do not yet feel safe going into for example any restaurants , wineries or antique shops. The frustrating part was seeing some places open and not feeling safe going in.  But, we had our own bathroom, food, and our house on wheels made for a very safe  “No Contact” outing. We’ll add some posts about the neat stuff we saw, complete with pictures soon.