Rather than fight the crowds at the mall on Black Friday, we took off for southern Illinois to see my cousin and her husband and to visit several family cemeteries. On the way to my cousin's house, we stopped in Elizabethtown, the county seat of Hardin County, Illinois. E'town is small, but full of history. One of my favorite places is the county courthouse. Many records for my family are found in this courthouse.
Two earlier courthouses were destroyed by fire so the earliest records, except for one deed book, date from 1884. At the bottom of the courthouse hill is the historic Rose Hotel
In front of the Rose Hotel, facing the Ohio River, is a Gazebo, providing a cool place to sit and watch river traffic.
Among older buildings in E'town is an old public school building. I don't know the when or how long this school was open, but I would guess sometime in the 20th century.
It was a beautiful day for a drive through one of the historic towns along the Ohio River. There are other old buildings in E'town, but I'll save those for another day.
Copyright on text and photographs
by Brenda Joyce Jerome, CG
