Enjoy a tour of Monroe County,
Illinois and find some caches along the way. This tour will take
you around the county to historic and scenic places. Most of the
containers are micros so if you do not like those you might want to
skip the tour. Please respect the location of some of these caches
and when parking along a roadway stay safe. The majority of the
caches are close to the road or within short walking distance. One
is a hike up a hill but I guarantee the view from the top will be
worth it.
As of this date the caches are
numbered from north to south with # 1 being the northern most
cache. Since people will be starting from different locations there
is no set route. You do not have to do these in numerical order,
and you may not want to complete all of the tour in one
trip.
Some of the placements are not the
very "exciting" type, but you will have something to look at while
there and upon completion of the tour I hope you will say it was
worth it, including the common hides. At a couple of locations if
you have not been there before you may want to include the time to
stop and stay awhile.
There is only one rule for this tour
and it is that the hours are daylight only. There will be less
problems if you follow this rule and I am sure the residents and
police will appreciate it. Illinois state law prohibits the entry
of a cemetery after sunset. Enjoy, bring your own pencil and
additional stages may be added later.
# 30 - Fort de Chartres
The original fort was built in the
1750 and was the seat of French government in the Illinois Country
until 1765. The fort was occupied by British forces from 1765 until
it was abandoned in 1772.
Lewis and Clark in Illinois.
On December 4, 1803 William Clark and several recruits passed by
this place on their expedition west. In his journal, Clark noted
the stone ruins of Fort de Chartres. The party continued on to pick
up supplies and them meet Meriwether Lewis in Cahokia.
Sad to say that nothing remains of the original for except for the
footings. Most of the stone removed from the fort is now the
foundations of the houses in nearby Prairie du Rocher.
This is definitely one of the stops you will want to take time to
visit. This area will be especially busy the first weekend in June
of every year. It is on this weekend that the annual rendezvous is
held.
Many way marks here if you are into
that.