After all our fun at the the lake and cabin, it was time to pack up and head home. But first, being a genealogy buff, I took the family up through Cole Camp, Missouri. My grandmother, Alice Brandt, was the youngest of 13 children and she grew up in Cole Camp. As a matter of fact, we found the house that she once lived in.
And look at that - it is on the National Register of Historic Places. Note, we are no relation as far as I know to Augustus Sander. The entire town was German immigrants, and while technically my great grandparents were Danish, it really was more Prussia when they left Europe.
And here is the final resting spot of my great-grandparents. A very nice, quiet cemetery down a dirt road, outside of a town with about 1200 people. When we came up on the headstones, there was a turtle hanging out. Kinda symbolic, although I am not sure how, maybe that we all need to slowdown and visit?
These are just some of the highlights. The kind I was interested in, the knitting, the spinning wheel, the art, the loom. Imagining the people and their lives. They have stuff about the Civil War, and farming stuff too. Lots of stuff on barbed wire, many of these smaller museums do, it was a big deal. Of course, I totally encourage you to go to these small museums, go off the Interstate, take the back highway, and see the small towns. The lady at the museum was so sweet, they weren't really even open but she showed us all around anyway.
That is a painting of where my great-grandparents are resting. Before they were here! And the church they once attended, all those years ago.
Like I said, take that back highway, get stuck behind a tractor and eat some cookies, and most of all - Enjoy!