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Your readers should call 1-800-916-0040 (USA and Canada) or 1-314-421-1023 for a free copy of the Official St. Louis Visitors Guide or point, click and explore St. Louis online at www.explorestlouis.com
St. Louis Day Trips
St. Louis is one of America's greatest getaways. Within less than a two-hour drive of the Gateway Arch, you can sample Missouri's award-winning wines, dive in a mine, see the past come to life in historic towns and villages, visit Mark Twain's boyhood home and Abraham Lincoln's final resting place, learn about the region's French colonial heritage, explore enormous caves and canoe on clear rivers. Extend your stay by making one of our hotels your home base for amazing day trips to the north, south, east and west of St. Louis.
Missouri Wine Country
America's first wine district was founded just west of St. Louis. In the mid-19th century, immigrants from Germany's Rhine River valley planted vineyards, built cellars and created a wine culture that is still flourishing today.
Along Highway 94 in Augusta, sit back and enjoy the view at the Mount Pleasant Winery, (800) 467-WINE or (636) 482-WINE, located on top of a beautiful terrace high above the river valley. Sample wines, listen to live music and nibble on snacks while enjoying breathtaking views. Bikers and hikers will enjoy the area's KATY Trail, a former railroad right-of-way converted into a scenic path through the valley. Nearby is the site where Daniel Boone once lived - Historic Boonesfield Village, (636) 798-2005, near the town of Defiance.
In the picturesque town of Hermann, Missouri's German heritage is celebrated with great wines and Old World fun. Visit the Stone Hill Winery, (573) 486-2221 or (800) 909-WINE, where visitors are welcome for tours, tastings, just-for-fun grape stomping, food and music throughout the year. In the heart of Missouri Wine Country, the charming town of Washington offers restaurants, gift shops and galleries along the river where visitors can shop, dine and relax before heading back to St. Louis.
From St. Louis, take I-70 west to Hwy. 19 south into Hermann (70 miles). Travel back to St. Louis along scenic highways 94 or 100 which lead through the towns of Missouri's Wine Country. For more information on Washington, MO, dial (888) 792-7466 or (636) 239-7575, or visit www.washmo.org.
Historic St. Charles
Nestled on the banks of the Missouri River, just 30 minutes west of downtown St. Louis, is the colonial town of St. Charles. The community was founded in 1769 and served as the state's first capital. Shoppers will enjoy strolling along South Main Street where more than 100 shops, restaurants and cafés welcome visitors to the beautifully preserved historic district. Nearby the Frenchtown area, known for its antique shopping, has 58 historic buildings of French Colonial and German architecture. Visit the Lewis & Clark Boat House to learn more about the famous explorers or try your luck aboard the Ameristar Casino. The First Missouri State Capitol building and the Shrine of St. Rose Philippine Duchesne are also open for tours.
For more information, contact the St. Charles Convention & Visitors Bureau at (314) 946-7776 or (800) 366-2427 or visit its website at www.historicstcharles.com. From St. Louis, take I-70 west to the Fifth Street exit.
River Towns & Cave Diving
Located south on I-55 just 30 minutes from downtown St. Louis, the tiny river town of Kimmswick was founded in 1859 by German immigrants. Today, the community is a living museum stocked with homemade crafts, antiques, historic architecture and simple charms. Browse through specialty shops and enjoy a leisurely lunch at one of the town's famous restaurants, known throughout the region for hearty Midwestern cuisine and tempting baked goods. Shops are open year-round and are closed only on Mondays.
Continue south on I-55 to Bonne Terre where you'll find the largest fresh water dive resort in America. The legendary Bonne Terre Mine, named one of National Geographic magazine's Best Adventures, offers guaranteed diving year round. Even famed underwater explorer Jacques Cousteau visited the mine and called the billion-gallon lake's cobalt blue waters, constant air and water temperatures, and 100-foot visibility "magnificent."
Divers will see the former lead mine, which closed in 1961, exactly as it was left with abandoned ore carts, locomotives, picks and shovels, lunch pails and even buildings. Non-diving visitors can enjoy the unique attraction by taking a narrated walking tour or boat ride through the mine's enormous underground rooms. Bonne Terre, which means "good earth" in French, was first founded around 1750 by French miners.
For more information or to make dive reservations, contact West End Diving at (314) 731-5003 or (888) 843-3483 or click on www.2dive.com. From St. Louis, take I-55 south to Highway 67 south and follow the signs to Bonne Terre. For more information on Kimmswick, contact the Historic Kimmswick Visitor Center at (636) 464-6464.
Mark Twain's Hannibal
Enter the real world of Mark Twain just two hours north of St. Louis. The town that shaped America's most famous author welcomes visitors to tour Samuel Clemens' historic boyhood home and the Mark Twain Boyhood Home & Museum. Mark Twain Cave, guided trolley rides and riverboat cruises provide an overall view of the town where young Sam created the adventures of Tom Sawyer, Huck Finn and Becky Thatcher. Becky's home, the Clemens Law Office, Grant's Drug Store and the 30-room Rockcliffe Mansion river estate also are open for tours as is the birthplace of the Unsinkable Molly Brown of Titanic fame. On the way back to St. Louis, you'll get a view of the unspoiled Mississippi that looks the same today as it did when Mark Twain was a young riverboat pilot.
For more information, dial the Hannibal CVB at (573) 221-2477 or click on www.visithannibal.com. From St. Louis, take I-70 west to Highway 61 north. Hannibal is 120 miles north.
Underground Wonders
Meramec Caverns was the most famous visitor attraction on Old Route 66. Today visitors can still take guided tours of the rarest and largest cave formations in the world. Located in the foothills of the Ozark Mountains southwest of St. Louis, the cave was used as shelter by Native American tribes and later as a source of minerals by French colonial miners. Civil War garrisons used the cave's minerals to manufacture gunpowder, and outlaw Jesse James hid both men and horses in the dark passages in the 1870s. Legend also says the cave was a stop on the Underground Railroad for escaping slaves. Don't miss the Stage Curtain, the largest single cave formation in the world, and the Underground River. The cave is handicapped accessible. At Onondaga Cave, state naturalists lead tours of the underground wonder. Adventurous spelunkers can explore nearby Cathedral and Fisher caves with hand-held lanterns. Canoe float trips, a popular pastime in Missouri, are available along the scenic Meramec River and the crisp, clear Huzzah and Courtois creeks.
Take I-44 south from St. Louis to exit 230 in Stanton, Missouri for Meramec Caverns (800) 676-6105, www.americascave.com. Take exit 214 at Leasburg for Onondaga Cave (573) 245-6600, www.mostateparks.com/onondaga.htm.
Meeting of the Great Rivers National Scenic Byway
Some of the St. Louis region's most dramatic scenery is located along the winding road north of Alton, Illinois. Drive along the Great River Road - formally called the Meeting of the Great Rivers National Scenic Byway - with the Mississippi River on one side and soaring limestone bluffs on the other. The bluffs, noted in the journals of 17th-century explorers Marquette and Joliet, were home to the fierce Piasa Bird of Native American legend. Just north of Alton, you'll find an image of the serpent-like bird painted on the limestone cliffs. Enjoy antique hunting in Alton and charming Grafton, Illinois to the north along the River Road. Picnic beside the river, bike on the trail under the bluffs, or explore the grounds of Pere Marquette State Park and its classic log-style lodge. Cross the Mississippi or Illinois rivers on one of four ferries at Kampsville, Grafton, Brussels and Winfield or stop in the Center for American Archeology in Kampsville to learn more about the prehistoric heritage of the region. On the way back to St. Louis, visit the Argosy Casino Alton or stop in the National Great Rivers Museum at the Melvin Price Locks and Dam. Learn about the Corps of Discovery at the Lewis & Clark State Historic Site in Hartford, Illinois, located at the site of the explorers' Camp Dubois, and climb to the top of a new observation tower for a view of the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri rivers.
For more information, call the Alton Regional CVB, (800) ALTON-IL or click on www.visitalton.com.
Abraham Lincoln's Springfield
The new Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library is a must stop for history buffs. Located in Springfield, Illinois, just two hours northeast of St. Louis, the new facility is the centerpiece of sites dedicated to America's 16th president. Also open to the public are Lincoln's Home, the Old State Capitol where he debated Stephen Douglas on the issue of slavery and Lincoln's tomb at Oak Ridge Cemetery. Visitors can walk through the restored living history village of New Salem on Highway 97 just north of Springfield where young Lincoln lived before his political career. Also in Springfield, Frank Lloyd Wright's spectacular Prairie-style Dana Thomas House is open to the public and the Illinois State Museum depicts the history of the Prairie State. Don't miss the sights on historic Route 66 in Springfield including Shea's, a quirky gas-station-turned-museum dedicated to the Mother Road.
From St. Louis, take I-55/70 east and I-55 north 120 miles to Springfield. On the way back to St. Louis, follow the signs to Route 66 and travel the two-lane highway through the heart of small town mid-America.
Southern Illinois
Twenty minutes east of downtown St. Louis, visitors will find two historic districts, the serene Our Lady of the Snows Shrine and the Midwest's largest "Pick-Your-Own" farms and orchards - Eckert's - with locations in Belleville, Grafton and Millstadt, Illinois. In Collinsville, the Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site, a U.N. World Heritage Site, is worth the short drive from St. Louis. Thirty-five miles southeast of St. Louis, the charming 19th-century German village of Maeystown, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, offers historic homes, restaurants and specialty shops. In Mt. Vernon, located at the junction of Interstates 64 and 57 an hour east of St. Louis, travelers will find outlet mall shopping, a historic village, a motorcycle museum and much more.
For more information contact: Historic Maeystown, (618) 458-6660; Mt. Vernon CVB, (800) 252-5464, www.mtvernon.com; or The Tourism Bureau Southwestern Illinois, (800) 442-1488, www.thetourismbureau.org.
French Colonial Territory
A new brochure, available at St. Louis' visitor centers, can help you explore the Creole Corridor of Missouri and Illinois on a self-guided drive.
Begin in Ste. Genevieve, Missouri. Named after the patron saint of Paris, the village was founded in 1735 as the first permanent European settlement in the Louisiana Territory. Stop at the Great River Road Interpretive Center - less than an hour south of St. Louis - for an overview of the town's French Colonial roots or take a tour of historic homes including the Maison Guibourd-Valle (1784) and the National Historic Landmark Bolduc House (1770), the most authentically restored Creole house in the U.S. Stop at the nearby Crown Valley Winery, (573) 756-9463, to taste Missouri wines on the 320-acre estate before crossing the old Mississippi River channel onto Kaskaskia Island where the Liberty Bell of the West is preserved.
On the Illinois side of the Mississippi River, visit the archives of the Randolph County Museum in Chester where French Colonial records are kept. High over the river, the remains of Fort Kaskaskia, built during the French and Indian War, are located in a scenic state park. Stop at the Pierre Menard Home State Historic Site in Ellis Grove and drive north through the village of Prairie du Rocher, past the Creole House to the restored Fort de Chartres State Historic Site (1753). Continue north on Route 3 to Cahokia, Illinois just minutes east of downtown St. Louis, to see the Cahokia Courthouse (1740), Jarrot Mansion (1818) and the French vertical log-style Church of the Holy Family (1799), all of which are open to the public.
Back in St. Louis, the French-style Old Cathedral (1834) stands at the edge of the Gateway Arch grounds on the site of the city's first church. Founded in 1764 by French fur traders, St. Louis was named for King Louis IX of France. Mosaics memorializing the Crusader King's life can be found in the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis in the Central West End neighborhood. St. Louis' City Hall, modeled after City Hall in Paris, and St. Louis Union Station, designed to look like a French fortress, also give visitors an architectural taste of St. Louis' French heritage. St. Louis celebrates Mardi Gras before Lent and Bastille Day in July while Ste. Genevieve hosts Jour de Fête in August. Fort de Chartres recreates a French Rendezvous - a gathering of fur trappers and Native Americans - in the spring and fall.
From St. Louis, take I-55 south to Highway 32 just 55 miles to Ste. Genevieve. A Mississippi River ferry crossing north of Ste. Genevieve transports cars from Missouri to Illinois or drivers can cross the Chester Bridge at Highway 51 south of St. Mary, Missouri into Illinois.
MEDIA NOTE: For more information or photography of St. Louis, send an e-mail to pr@explorestlouis.com or call Becky Sharp at 1-314-992-0652. For up-to-date information about St. Louis, your readers should call the St. Louis Convention & Visitors Commission at 1-800-916-0040 or check out our website at www.explorestlouis.com. This news release is also available in electronic form. To obtain an electronic version, e-mail your request to pr@explorestlouis.com or go to St. Louis’ online media center at www.explorestlouis.com/media.
