Galena, The DeSoto House, & the US Grant Museum

The hotel used to be two stories higher (5 Stories total). The upper 2 floors were removed in 1880.

http://desotohouse.com/hotel-history/
Yep. They said the decision was influenced by the fact that the town firefighters didn't have equipment to reach the top 2 floors.

Galena has turned into a playground for Chicagoland...It is THE weekend destination to go to if you want to get away from the city, but you don't want drive far.
You know what's interesting ~ we started asking shop owners and employees about living there. Turns out a lot of Chicagoland area people move to Galena. Many retired police and fire, and families who decided they wanted a slightly different lifestyle.

We've been so busy looking around the South for our future home. It hadn't occurred to me to seriously consider Galena until now.
 
I love the painting, notice everybody wears bears or moustaches, I once made a caption of it -but in French-I should try a translation but it may be not funny finally...
Here's the french version:
ZZ6.jpg
 
Just one critic about Thomas Nast's masterwork, the saber cover (sheath ?) in the middle is tooooo high, it should be at the level of boots ; not ankle size.
Question to members: is there a topic about the Appomattox surrender paintings ? There is many of them and all are interesting pieces of art...I like this paintings, try to recense them, some are great, like this one : ...unfortunatly didn't catch the name of the artist when I saw it (it's seems actual artist's work...looks to many masters, but I can't be sure...)
LG12.jpg
 
I find the height difference in the painting to be quite disproportionate. Lee was said to be 5' 10.5" and Grant was said to be 5' 8". Mr. Nast shows Lee to be a good 8" approx. taller. Perception doesn't factor in as both are on the same plain.
 
Next we have the Galena & US Grant Museum. Again, if you're staying at DeSoto, you can walk to this. It's just up a few steps to Bench Street, and then over a few houses.

My little surprise for you Grant fans ( esp. @KansasFreestater and @Bee ) ~ this museum has more Grant "stuff". Wanna see his boot? :smile: (Uploaded for maximum zooming in case you're weird like me and need to see this up close. I know. It's a boot. It's still cool.)

View attachment 145141

View attachment 145142
Thanks for posting.
Any idea what size?
 
This final shot made me chuckle a little. First, the story...

View attachment 145348

And here's the flag. Can you imagine doing all this work, only later to find out the whole thing was rejected?!
(I accidentally caught Tom in the reflection. :smile: )

View attachment 145349

I can hear the ladies now:

"What?!"
"I told you it was the wrong blue!"
"My God, please tell me someone thought to at least count the stripes."
"That blue was perfectly fine! Since when can men tell the difference between Midnight blue and Egyptian blue?!"
"We'll never hear the end of this. You just KNOW that Mildred is laughing her head off."
"I have a suggestion as to what they can do with their star arrangement."
This surprises me, given all the variations in the arrangement of the stars in that period. Every era has its self-important bureaucrats....
 
I find the height difference in the painting to be quite disproportionate. Lee was said to be 5' 10.5" and Grant was said to be 5' 8". Mr. Nast shows Lee to be a good 8" approx. taller. Perception doesn't factor in as both are on the same plain.
The painting was completed in 1895. Perhaps he succumbed to the disease known as The Lost Cause. There was a lot of that going around....
 
Back
Top