The park staff provided us some directions to Gateway Arch NP, which lies on the edge of the Mississippi River downtown St. Louis. We had to drive through the downtown area to get to the NP. There were a lot of boarded up windows and they had the downtown streets blocked off to single lanes with concrete barriers. We decided then that we were not going to stay long. We found a place to park the Behemoth and walked to the entrance to the Arch. It was a bit surprising that there were so few people. We had to get tickets to enter even thought they are not charging for them at the moment. Then we had to go through security before entering the Museum under the Arch. The trams up to the top of the Arch were closed due to the COVID. But the museum under the arch was very interesting. We picked up our Park Stamp and
visited the park store to get David’s hat and Leslie’s post cards. We walked around the NP Grounds and took pictures of the Arch. We learned something new in the process. Turns out there was a Revolutionary War battle fought in St. Louis. The British and their Indian allies attempted to capture Fort San Carlos in 1780, which was the center of fur trade in the western territories. 300 Town folks, consisting of Spanish Soldiers, French settlers, free men and slaves, fought off a force twice their number along what is now 4thstreet preventing the British from taking control of the Mississippi River.
We decided on the way back to the Wanderer to explore old town St. Charles. St. Charles was established in the early 1800s. Many of the buildings in the Old Town district date back to the mid 1800s. Another part of town, called French Town, contains some beautiful examples of French Colonial Architecture from the French Settlers to the area in the 1800s. We walked the old town district. Some of the stores were open but nothing peaked our interest. We finally ended up at the Schlafly brewery. The beers were really good and so was the food. So much so we went back later in the week.
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Entrance Sign
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Arch from the river front
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Entrance to the Park
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Arch from the North base
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Arch from the South base
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From the shadow
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| Old Town St. Charles |
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| Schafly Brewery sign |
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