My Corner Online
Thebes, Illinois
Thebes, Illinois, is a historic town not too far from Cape Girardeau which makes it a great day trip to visit and explore. Just cross the bridge at Cape and head down Highway 3 in Illinois. It is easy to find. We visited in August 11, 2018.
At Thebes you will find the historic Thebes Courthouse, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972. The building is high on a hill and towers over the rest of the town.
This is a view of the plains below from the courthouse. You can imagine watching a bustling city with a lot of river traffic back in the day. Abraham Lincoln practiced law here and legend is that Dred Scott, a slave whose freedom suit reached the Supreme Court, may have been imprisoned in the local courthouse jail for a time while his case was heard at the Old Courthouse in St. Louis.
The Thebes Bridge is along the Mississippi River. Directly across from Thebes you can see the The Riverhouse wine place in Scott City, Missouri. You can sit at the winery in Missouri and watch the trains cross the bridge which is kind of awesome.
Thebes Bridge opened for rail traffic in 1905 and is still in use today. When the river is low enough, you can walk along the banks all the way down and under the bridge.
Back in its day, the town was busy because it was a steamboat port along the Mississippi River. Union troops passed through Thebes on their way to attack the South during the American Civil War.
You can still see the chain of sunken rocks as referenced by Mark Twain. "Thebes, at the head of the Grand Chain, and Commerce at the foot of it, were towns easily rememerable, as they had not undergone conspicuous alteration. Nor the Chain, either --in the nature of things; for it is a chain of sunken rocks admirably arranged to capture and kill steamboats on bad nights. A good many steamboat corpses lie buried there, out of sight; among the rest my first friend the "Paul Jones;" she knocked her bottom out, and went down like a pot, so Page 277 the historian told me--Uncle Mumford..." -- Mark Twain, Life on the Mississippi, Page 276, 1883 (read book for free)
The pole shows river levels.
I love seeing the curved arches on the columns.
Be careful, as always, walking on the beach of the Mississippi River. Sometimes it is deceiving and water pools underneath and it could collapse in and suck you in to a vortex.
Ahhh! Textures!
A light twinkle!
Chain of sunken rocks. We did walk out on a few, but the river was low enough. The Mississippi River is nothing to be taken lightly though. Tread with care.
Here you can see that the courthouse is high above the plains.
This is the entrance to the courthouse with the Mississippi River in the background. When we were here, the building was not open.
This is a view from the front (or is it the back) of the courthouse on the hill.
These are the steps in the back of the courthouse.
Walking from the back to the front on the side of the courthouse.
A view of the Thebes courthouse from below.
This is a trailer with fun painted doors that was just on the side of the road.
When you first enter the City of Thebes, there is a small boardwalk and park to be sure to stop and visit. This is the sign there with information.
This sign is at the boardwalk too (it is blurry photo but can still be read).
The fir trees and the light at the end of the day was a delight! You can see the Mississippi River in the distance.
