The poet T.S Eliot, who was born in St. Louis, called the Mississippi River, "a strong, brown god." The river, he said, had a more profound influence on his life and his work than anything else in his past.
Here in St. Louis' Illinois suburbs we don't always embrace the "strong brown god," which is the overwhelming geographic feature of our region, as closely as we should.
Sure we drive across the bridges to and from the neighboring state of Missouri, but aside from remarking that the river looks high or low, we don't pay much attention to the amazing big river that has inspired poets like Eliot, writers like Mark Twain, musicians like W.C. Handy and artists like John James Audubon down through the centuries.
Let's change that, shall we? Next beautiful day this fall, take a drive out to the Old Chain of Rocks Bridge and the Low Water Dam.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has created a terrific parking area at the Low Water Dam on the Illinois banks. To get there, just take I-270 west to the Route 3 exit. Head south on Route 3 and turn west on Old Chain of Rocks Road. You'll cross over a canal onto Chouteau Island and from there will enter the Low Water Dam site. (My husband's family once owned farms on the river island before it was federalized for construction of the canal, so the spot is very special to us.)
You'll see people enjoying themselves fishing or --as I did -- just watching the swirls and ebbs of the swift currents passing by. This portion of the Mississippi is closed to navigation. Barges and boats bypass the area in the Chain of Rocks Canal.
We saw large fish jumping around the shore and a red fox dashing off through the woods. The Mississippi hosts resident and migrating birds all through the year and the bird watching is great here and at the conservation areas near the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri rivers just a bit north.
Looming over the Low Water Dam is the Old Chain of Rocks Bridge. This structure was the original Old Route 66 span across the Mississippi River. It opened in 1929 as a toll bridge and became part of Route 66 in 1936 to carry cars traveling the Mother Road from its origin in Chicago to the shores of the Pacific Ocean in Santa Monica, California.
Today the National Historic Landmark bridge is open as one of the largest pedestrian and biking bridges in the world. It is owned by the city of Madison and operated by Trailnet, the non-profit organization that promotes active living, maintains and develops trails and anchors projects along the confluence of America's great rivers. You can learn more on Trailnet's site at www.trailnet.org.
Annual events on the bridge include the St. Louis Route 66 Festival on the first Saturday in October, Eagle days in January and a wide variety of bike rides that make use of the bridge. Individuals are welcome to use the bridge for recreation.
Park at the entrance to the bridge on the Illinois side for easiest access. Parking is open on the Missouri side for special events.
You can spot two of St. Louis' most interesting architectural features from the brige deck or from the parking lot at the Low Water Dam -- castles in the middle of the Mississippi.
Built to look like Roman fortress and a Roman villa, the "castles" are actually water intake towers for the City of St. Louis' municipal water system which is located on the Missouri side of the river.
The green-roofed tower was built in 1894 and the other followed in 1915. Originally crews lived in the quarters inside the towers and reached them via a dyke from the shore.Today the unstaffed towers provide water to the waterworks via a pipe system.
(A couple of years ago, St. Louis was voted as having the best tasting municipal water in the nation, so the river castles must be doing something right!)
Enjoy our natural heritage along the Mississippi River. And come back to the blog to let me know what you find along the shores and trails.
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About the Author: Nancy Milton, GRI, is a REALTOR with the GoshenRealtyGroup at RE/MAX Preferred Partners in Edwardsville, Illinois. She and Kristina Pratt help their customers buy and sell homes and investment properties in St. Louis' Illinois suburbs with special emphasis on homes for sale in Madison County and the communities of Edwardsville, Glen Carbon, Maryville, Collinsville, Troy, Bethalto and surrounding areas.
Goshen Realty Group takes its name from the earliest nickname for Madison County, Illinois -- the Land of Goshen -- coined when the region's first settlers compared their new home east of the Mississippi River to the biblical land of peace and plenty.
For more information, visit GoshenRealtyGroup.com or e-mail Nancy at Nancy@GoshenRealtyGroup.com. Text or call Nancy at 618-791-8007. REMAX Preferred Partners is located at One 157 Center, Edwardsville, IL 62025.
Please note that individual listings periodically mentioned in this blog are accurately described in terms of availability and price at the time of the posting. Because properties are constantly coming on and off the market, please contact Nancy for the latest information on those that are of particular interest to you.
About the Author: Kristina Pratt is a REALTOR® with Goshen Realty Group at RE/MAX Preferred Partners in Edwardsville, Illinois. She and Nancy Milton help their customers buy and sell homes and investment properties in St. Louis' Illinois suburbs of Madison and St. Clair counties with special emphasis on the communities of Edwardsville, Glen Carbon, Maryville, Collinsville and Troy. For more information, visit their web site at http://www.GoshenRealtyGroup.com or e-mail Kristina@GoshenRealtyGroup.com
About the Author: Nancy Milton, GRI, is a REALTOR with the 



As we zoom toward the end of the year, my Goshen Realty Group partner, Kristina, and I have been looking over our closed transactions to spot our business patterns and figure out how to build on successes for even better years in 2010 and 2011.
which we call a rose by another other name would smell as sweet." from Romeo and Juliet for the headline on this post, but I couldn't resist a little literary fun this morning.
I find a lot of our buyers are excited about seeing an older refrigerator in a house they're considering purchasing. Their first reaction is, "Let's get the appliance we want for the kitchen after we move in and move this bad boy to the garage/laundry room/wherever as the "Beer Fridge!"