Illinois' I & M Canal's 175th Anniversary-- Part 2

The importance of the Illinois & Michigan (I&M) Canal lies in the fact that it in effect, connected the Great Lakes with the Mississippi River via the Illinois River.

The miniature 16-by-24-foot museum is filled with interesting artifacts that lend color to the daily lives of the canal toll collectors.  On a shelf, you'll find a bugle and a conch shell, both used by boat captains to wake up the sleeping collector, whose rope bed was in the southwest corner of the building.

In 2009, a full-sized replica canal boat, previously featured in the film "Prairie Tides," was moved to the site.  The barge is lined with boxes and crates symbolizing the 150-plus tons of cargo those boats hauled along the canal.

For more information, visit pickusottawail.com/attractions/im canal-toll-house.

--Cooter

Illinois' I&M Canal's 175th Anniversary-- Part 1

From the April 8, 2023, Northwest Herald "Experience I&M Canal's 

Of course, people have heard of the Erie Canal, the Suez Canal and Panama Canal, but fewer are familiar with this one.

At the end of April, I wrote about Illinois Governor JB Pritzker declaring April as the official month of the I&M (Illinois & Michigan).

Here are some things you might want to check out in regards to this important canal, which connected the Great Lakes with the Mississippi River via the Illinois River.

Ottawa, Illinois, has a remarkable I&M Canal structure in the form of an original tollhouse which has many recovered items and fascinating displays about the waterway' storied history in a compact one-room footprint.

Located in the heart of Ottawa's downtown, right along the I&M towpath, you'll find the immacilate-looking, 175-year-old structure that a group of dedicated volunteers turned the husk of a building into a paonstakenly researched approximation of what the canal collector's tollhouse would have looked like back in 1848.

--Cooter

McHenry Outdoor Theater-- Part 2: Doin' a Retro Night

It is now open on weekends, but come June seven days a week.  Cost is $14 a person and includes two feature films.  This weekend it is "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" and "Ant-Man and the Wasp Quantumania."

I would like to do an ultimate retro night at some point this summer. That would mean going out to the Ingleside, Illinois, Don 'N Suds for a Coney Dog and some of that good root beer.  Carhops serve you. (We are lucky to have three remaining Dog 'N Suds here in close proximity.  The other two are in Grayslake and Richmond.)

 Then go the the McHenry Outdoor Theater for a movie(s).

My big problem, however, is that during the summer, the movies don't start until 9 which seriously pushes my bedtime.  And, if I stay for the second film (to get my money's worth), 2 am is REALLY past my bedtime.

Plus, these new cars have things on them that I do not know how to operate.

We'll See.  --CootFilm

McHenry Outdoor Theater-- Part 1

This drive-in theater is located about six miles from home and it is not one of those billboard theaters, but has a massive stone (or something like it) screen housing.

From Drive-In Movie.com.

Originally opened in 1951, the Skyline Drive-In, now the McHenry Outdoor Theater, is a single screen drive-in theater located in McHenry, Illinois.

It is the Chicago area's last  remaining drive-in.

Double features are shown seasonably.

In December 2020, the owner announced that he had bought ten more additional acres and plans to turn it into a three-screen venue.

--Coot-In

This Month in American Revolution: Tea Act, Ethan Allen, Some Intolrable Acts and Barren Hill and Waxhaws

From the American Battlefield Trust.

MAY 10, 1773

**  Tea Act:  An attempt by Parliament to undercut smugglers by reducing the price of tea to the colonies.

MAY 10, 1775

**  Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys seize Fort Ticonderoga, Second Continental Congress meets.

MAY 20, 1774

**  Administration of Justice Act and Massachusetts Government Act, two of the so-called Intolerable Acts, further anger colonists.

MAY 20, 1778

**  Battle of Barren Hill, Pennsylvania.

MAY 29, 1780

**  Battle of Waxhaws, South Carolina.

--Cooter