Prairie Du Chien

We spent part of one day and a night in Praire Du Chien, Wisconsin. Chien  is pronounced "Sheen," by the way. It is right on the Mississippi River and was named and settled by French explorers/trappers, Marquette and Jolliet. A sign states it is the second oldest city in the Wisconsin, having been established in 1673.

We went there to use a gift certificate to Cabela's, but we found other things of interest, as well.

It was our first time in one of their stores. It is very similar to a Bass Pro Shop.

We found too many things that we needed! But it was fun.

We had a yummy lunch in a little Mom-and-Pop local restaurant. For three bucks, we decided we needed to experience fried green beans. From the empty bowl, you can tell they were just "terrible!!" 

I was fascinated by this tall building that did not appear to be in current use and had some boards in windows, showing needs of some repair. I had to go online to find that it was known as The Old Rock School, built in 1857, and is on the National Register of Historic Places.

If you look at the replacement door that is a standard sized door, you get a little better sense of the proportions of this building.

Look how the stones were worn down from all the little feet that went up the middle of each step over the more than one hundred years that it was in use as a school.

 The schoolyard now contains a nice veterans memorial park. It honors the local soldiers who fought   in wars from the Black Hawk War (1832) to W.W.II.