Marengo

Sunday’s afternoon bike ride was to Marengo. I had been to the Pioneer Cemetery on Territorial Road once before, maybe ten years ago. But I had never been to Marengo itself.

I was a bit surprised when I got there. There were a lot more houses than I had expected to find. I took the above photo, not because it typified Marengo, but because I have a weakness for old, rundown houses, and also because I wanted a photo of something on that side of the road. The land was bought from the federal government by a man who operated one of the early taverns in the area.

It was a tavern site that drew me to Marengo.

One anecdote had caught my attention way back when before I even decided to do a Black Hawk project. In my WikiAtlas, it’s in an article titled Mrs. Pierce sings Home, Sweet Home. (I don’t seem to have her first name anywhere.) It sounds as though she was used to a finer, gentler life than the one her husband brought her to on the Michigan frontier. The man who told the story happened to join the Pierce party for the last part of the journey to Marshall. They stayed at a cabin about six miles from Marshall. The weather was cool and rainy, and there was not quite enough dry space on the floor for everyone to sleep. In the morning it was still dreary and raining. Mrs. Pierce sang Home, Sweet Home, and then broke down and cried.

The place where the Pierces lived in Marshall has a historical marker. It happens to be a place that figures in the Black Hawk war scare story. But I was wondering where this incident took place. The place now known as Marengo seem the likelist possibility. I don’t yet have all the information on early taverns along the Territorial Road figured out, so don’t know if it’s possible to pinpoint it further. I’m still working on that.

Total mileage for the day: 40-plus miles. (The bike is now up on the car roof, and I forgot to make a note of the exact mileage before putting it up there.)