On 9/4/10, Jill and I went to Palmer, Missouri.
On Highway Z, shortly after turning on to it from Highway C, is a memorial to an unknown
soldier who died in the Civil War. It looks like a cairn burial.
The photo on the Palmer website, taken in 2000, shows the statue still having a head.
The church at Palmer is at the intersection of several roads.
The sign has a typo.
It does look more professional than this handmade sign nearby.
Across the street from the church is a walled spring.
According to the Palmer web site, the inscription reads "WHEN YOU DRINK HEAR THINK GOD" but
the text is faded, now.
Scenic. As we watched, bubbles rose from the bottom of the spring and made ripples
on the surface [Movie: 19 MB]. I bent down to see if the water
was cold — it was [Movie: 7 MB].
There were a large number of butterflies sunning themselves on the gravel nearby.
[Movie: 51 MB]
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[Movie: 8 MB]
[Movie: 7 MB]
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[Movie: 47 MB]
[Movie: 30 MB]
A lizard was on the rock wall of the spring.
Flowers were near the spring.
We took the road that went north of the church. It lead to the old lead mine area.
We wandered the area looking for rocks. Here and there there were tiff piles near the road,
and we took a look. Some of the best finds were found on the road itself, though.
This is not a place to go if it has recently rained, and having four wheel drive
vehicle would have been helpful at times. This is one area that was not passable in
a Honda Civic.
Although we were alone for most of the time, there was traffic now and then.
We found a number of good things, there. For instance, Jill found these — a nice block of
pyrite and another of galena (it used to be a lead mine, after all.)
I found a number of shell casings of these two types.
Tree.
Not far from the church is the Palmer cemetery.
Sergeant David Crockett Mason and Solomon Gilliam were two casualties,
killed by the Confederates as part of Price's raid. The Confederates were trying to trap
the Federal army that had stopped in Palmer after fleeing Fort Davidson. Other Civil War
soldiers are also buried in this cemetery.
Sarah Wyman was the "relict" (widow) of Richard Redman.
This stone has an inscription which is not apocryphal — it really does exist.
The town of Sunlight was not far away.
Unfortunately, the town seems to consist now of just a cemetery, outhouse, and boarded-up
church.
On our way back to STL, we passed this
odd collection of school buildings
in Caledonia.
