Editor’s note: This feature by blogger John Purvis was posted Sunday, December 3, 2017. Click here to read Purvis’s posts: https://offthebeatenpathinillinois.blogspot.com/. The photos were taken by Purvis.
On a recent outing Tom Anderson, Lil’ Nick, and I were up in Galena[, IL,] and we visited Grant Park. The park sits on a beautiful stretch of manicured land, overlooking the east bank of the Galena River and opposite downtown. It has historic pavilions as well as an enchanting fountain in the middle of the park. A stone and wood footbridge connects the town with the park.
There’s an imposing statue of the park’s namesake, Ulysses S. Grant. There are several historic cannons in the park, including what I consider the crown jewel of the collection. An 1860 Blakely rifled cannon was one of the actual guns that fired on Fort Sumter at the beginning of the Civil War. [The Confederate Army bombardment near Charleston, SC, lasted 34 hours over April 12, and April 13, 1861, before the United States Army surrendered.]
The Blakely was state-of-the-art in its day. A sympathizer gave it to the Confederacy just in time for the war to commence. The cannon survived the war. Eventually a Galena veteran arranged for it to be brought to town as a memorial.
If you ever get up that way, be sure to stop by. Spend a couple hours wandering through the park and just relaxing. You won’t be sorry you did.