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Cheramis, Castlewood
It’s a little blurry, but this photograph provided by Joyce Pharriss of her family’s Cheramis cabin records what many of the now completely lost cabins along the Meramec River would have looked like....
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Making the World a Better Place?
One of the last pieces of flat land left out in the western edge of St. Louis County, the fields once owned by the small Cahtolic school, Linda Vista, has finally been swallowed by “progress.” The...
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Old Homesteads, Far West St. Louis County
Out west are all sorts of surprises, tucked between the valleys and subdivisions are old log cabins, such as the one off of Valley Road, or the old farmhouse off of Strecker. This old farm house below...
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Old Farmstead, Demolition Looming
Someone died, and that meant it was time to sell off his land for a bunch of McMansions. He was one of the last holdouts, selling fruits and vegetables at a roadside stand at Clayton and Schoettler...
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Jarville House, Queeny Park
Jarville House is one of the oldest houses in St. Louis County, built in 1853. It was built in the Greek Revival style, but when it was purchased by Edgar Queeny, the son of the founder of Monsanto,...
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Return to Pevely Farms, Lewisburgh, Meramec Valley
The isolated southern side of the Meramec River Valley continues to fascinate us. We had previously spotted this railroad viaduct the last trip, and this time we drove down. It’s developed quite the...
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Zombie Subdivisions, Revisited
Beyond the manicured lawns off of Crescent Road, the zombies appear out of nowhere. Weeds, as tall as grown men, fill the fields of dreams where McMansions had once dared to tread. The pavement has...
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Route 66 Bridge, Revisited
The old roadside inn is looking good down in the Eureka area near the Meramec River compared to four years ago. Sadly, the bridge was condemned, its road bed removed. If you have interest in Route 66,...
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Oak Grove Mausoleum Dilapidation
Things are not going well for the Oak Grove Mausoleum and Cemetery. It’s been sued by the attorney general of Missouri, Chris Koster, and it appears to be adrift financially. It seems that taxpayers...
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St. Paul/Jedburgh/Sherman
We returned to one of the most isolated corners of St. Louis County, the small hamlet that goes by different names, including St. Paul (the eponymous road that leads to it), Sherman (the name of the...
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Deplorable Conditions Inside Oak Grove Mausoleum
Well then, I guess the realtor for Oak Grove Mausoleum and Cemetery took it upon himself to use my copyrighted writing and photographs without my permission! That’s alright, I’ll just post pictures of...
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Shaare Emeth, Temple of the Gates of Truth
After writing my recent St. Louis Magazine article about Centenary United Methodist Church, one of the oldest continually operating congregations in downtown St. Louis, and in the city in general, I...
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Return to Castlewood
One of my most popular posts was one of earliest out at Castlewood. It still draws me back, as I see changes over the years. The old road above, which had begun to suffer from terrible erosion, has...
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West From Castlewood
Many of the old lodges from the resort era at Castlewood still stand over on New Ballwin Road, but I’ve noticed an interesting trend recently. As can be seen below, in-fill housing, made to look like...
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Log Cabins, Drace Park
Given as a gift by the Drace Family, the small park in Town and Country contains three log cabins. This cabin above and below is the Kropp Cabin, from 1855, when this area was far out in the country....
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Cragwold, December 2015
Continuing a somewhat regular Christmas tradition, my father and I took a drive on the holiday out to look for more remnants of the Lemp estates out along the Meramec River. We returned to our search...
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Western Ridge, Cragwold Estate Animal Park
Proceeding south from the field surrounding the mansion, the original animal park that Edwin Lemp used to breed and keep exotic animals is largely intact, and the crags that gave the name to his...
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Valley Between Two Ridges, Cragwold Estate
Across what is clearly an old ford over a creek that feeds just to the left of the picture into the Meramec, my father and I found an interesting discovery. Beyond a doubt, there are the...
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