Sep

8

Penn Yan, from Stefan Jovanovich

September 8, 2015 |

Our last Ulysses Grant-inspired pilgrimage was to Penn Yan. It has one of the few monuments to the cause of Union from the Civil War. There are literally a thousand courthouse square monuments here in the South for the Confederates but there are almost none for the Unionists in the towns of the North. The winners seems to want to have forgotten the cause of the thing as fast as possible, while making sure that everyone however remotely connected to the Federal army and bureaucracy got a pension.

I mention all this because many of the Amish from Pennsylvania have moved up there–cheaper land, far fewer tourists. The local merchants are welcoming; the local Aldi has spaces in its parking lot with hitching posts.


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  1. Bill Herrmann on September 15, 2015 12:10 am

    There are many statues like the one pictured (mostly not as tall) in the area of Western Illinois known as the “Tract.” Much of this land was originally deeded to returning Union civil war soldiers.

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