Bob's Civil War Fort

Tucked away in the rolling hills of Germantown is a Civil War Fort. There is a jail, civil war cannons, a stage coach, a livery, log cabins, and much more.

CITY: Germantown

National Shrine of Our Lady of the Snows

The Shrine has 200 beautifully landscaped acres of gardens and devotional areas, including the Outdoor Amphitheatre, Shrine Church, Lourdes Grotto, Stations of the Cross, Millennium Spire, the Visitors Center with a restaurant and gift shop, and the Shrine Hotel.

CITY: Belleville

Louis Latzer Homestead

Louis Latzer, the founder of the Pet Milk Company, built this homestead for his wife and family in 1901. The home had many modern features of the day, including running water pumped by hand to a holding tank in the attic, a manufactured gas light system, speaking tubes between many of the rooms and one of the first telephones in the community.

CITY: Highland

Dr. Poos Home - Heritage House Museum

Built in 1888, this home was occupied by Dr. Robert Poos, a local practitioner and druggist. Dr. Poos was also the staff physician at the Springs Hotel and Bath House, later known as the Okawville Original Springs Hotel.

CITY: Okawville

The Mermaid House

The beautiful house is an example of an 1830s hotel. Charles Dickens once visited there in 1842 while researching a book he wrote on prairies in America.

CITY: Lebanon

Schneidewind Barn Museum

Hundreds of interesting items amassed over a lifetime are housed in this unique gallery that was formally a working farm barn.

CITY: Marissa

Marissa Academy Museum and Coal Miners Monument

Memorabilia celebrating the city's growth from a coal mining town to the present makes this an interesting stop.

CITY: Marissa

Clinton County Historical Museum

This building was the former home of Judge Sidney Breese, who came to Illinois from New York. He studied law here and became Assistant Secretary of the State of Illinois.

CITY: Carlyle

Centralia Historical Society Museum

Centerpieces of the collection are newspapers and memorabilia from the coal mining days with tributes to railroad history.

CITY: Centralia

Heritage House Museum

Three properties -- Dr. Poos Home & Medical Museum; the Frank Schlosser Home, which includes a turn-of-the-century house, barn, harness shop, and commercial laundry; and the Joseph Schlosser Home -- make up the Museum complex.

CITY: Okawville

Emma Kunz House

Visitors are invited to walk through this home, considered to be the oldest Greek Revival-style home in Illinois.

CITY: Belleville

Labor & Industry Museum

The Labor & Industry Museum is the only public institution devoted to the history of the labor and industry of Belleville and southwestern Illinois. The centerpiece is Jumbo, a 19th-century steam engine along with coal mining, carpentry, and stove-making exhibits.

CITY: Belleville

St. Clair County Historical Society Museum

This Victorian adaptation of a Greek Revival home was built in the early 1800s. In addition to period furniture and vintage clothing, artifacts, and quilts, the museum contains an extensive research library and gift shop.

CITY: Belleville

Cholera Cross

The original wooden cross was erected in 1850 by a farmer in thanksgiving for his family being spared during a cholera epidemic. Subsequent owners of the property have repaired and replaced it.

CITY: Breese

Civil War Fort

Visit an exact replica of a Civil War Fort complete with a jail, one-room home, livery, and log cabins.

CITY: Germantown

Berger-Kiel Log House

The log house gives a glimpse into local life in the 1800s. While at the park, visit the refurbished caboose and passenger train.

CITY: Mascoutah

Mascoutah Heritage Museum

The museum focuses on the businesses that helped the city grow, particularly milling.

CITY: Mascoutah

Rieso Farm Museum & Antiques

There is a large collection of machinery and primitives dating back to the 1800s.

CITY: New Athens

Centralia Area Historical Museum

Artifacts, pictures of coal mining, railroading, business, farming in and around Centralia. A work in progress by the Centralia Area Historical Society to preserve the past of Marion County.

CITY: Centralia

Alfred Brown Museum

This museum has a large collection of post cards from the 1904 World's Fair, a drum from the civil war, Native American artifacts, old uniforms, and school artifacts.

CITY: Sparta

Centralia Carillon

Centralia's resident carilloneur performs on the town's 65-bell carillon, one of the few in the country. The surrounding park also features a museum and tours of the 165-foot-tall tower.

CITY: Centralia

Washington County Historical Museum

Built in 1871 as a private residence, this building now holds hundreds of artifacts from the country including a display of period wedding dresses.

CITY: Nashville

General Dean Suspension Bridge

Located just outside the city of Carlyle, this historic 130-year-old bridge is one of the oldest suspension bridges in the area. The original bridge served as a crossing over the Kaskaskia River.

CITY: Carlyle

Coal Miners Monument

Joseph Koch, who along with eight other local miners died in a mine explosion in 1947, is depicted here.

CITY: Beckemeyer

Bosshard Monument

The monument is a tribute to Swiss poet Heinrich Bosshard, who wrote Semparcherlied here in the 1850s.

CITY: Highland

Downtown Lebanon

Stroll brick-paved St. Louis Street in the Lebanon Antiques District, where you’ll find more than 20 antique and specialty shops in this historic town that was founded in 1804, during the time of the Lewis & Clark expedition.

CITY: Lebanon

Charter Oak "8-Sided" School

This building is a great study in physics as well as history. It was designed to withstand strong winds and capture light throughout the day.

CITY: Sparta