A Day in St. Charles, Missouri!

My sister Debbie and I decided to have a sister’s day. We picked the town of St. Charles, Missouri as our destination. While there, I learned two things about St. Charles. One, it has a lot of history. Two, it is also called Saint Chuck by the locals. We saw T-shirts saying such in a local St. Charles store.

The History

It is easy to see how St. Charles originally got their name. Founded in 1769 as Les Petites Cotes, this means “The Little Hills”. Debbie and I drove over hill and dale before parking near Frontier Park. It was French Canadian fur trader Louis Blanchette that first settled the area located on the banks of the Missouri River.

In historic downtown, I saw a placard sharing that this was where explorers Lewis and Clark first met to begin their expedition. On the plaque it states, “President Thomas Jefferson to Meriwether Lewis. “The object of your mission is to explore the Missouri river and such principal stream of it, as, by its course and Commuinication with the waters of the Pacific Ocean…”

Such an amazing experience started right here in this very town!

There is also Daniel Boone history in St. Charles with a fun Daniel Boone sculpture. The Discover St. Charles site shares” Daniel Boone and his family built a homestead in nearby Defiance, MO. His Boone’s Lick Road later became the eastern starting point of the Santa Fe Trail and the Oregon Trail. Daniel Boone was a true frontiersman. He was known for his fairness and honesty in fur trading and became very good at trading with Indians. Boone and his wife, Rebecca, had 11 children, 70 grandchildren and more than 250 great-grandchildren.”

My friend Janna and I traveled to the Daniel Boone Home and Heritage Center and loved our visit.

The Visitor’s Center

Debbie and I stopped at the Discover St. Charles Visitor’s Center first thing. The wonderful guide provided us with a map, and ideas for lunch. We even spied the future Ebenezer Scrooge out of costume as well. St. Charles, Missouri is famous for their Christmas holidays and characters.

We loved the historic buildings and little shops. Debbie is particularly enamored with Polish Pottery, and we enjoyed perusing this cool shop.

The historic buildings, many on the historic register often have plaques explaining what they were. The brick streets make for tricky walking but are quite picturesque.

Fraser Leonard Fine Arts Gallery

Debbie and I enjoyed a visit with artist Frazer Leonard who shared a picture with us that he had created free hand of Jesus. He said he had been visiting with his students and just tapping on the canvas and he created an amazing likeness of Christ. He then finished it and now shares it with customers. Mr. Leonard had a lot of fun and innovative sculptures and paintings in his gallery. His work is in the US and has been sold internationally!

We loved the little tucked in place where you can stop and play chess!

With several blocks up and down main street, we took our time stopping in one shop after another. Some shops also offered a wilderness aspect like this big black. bear!

With noting that it is the oldest restaurant in St. Charles, we dined at Magpies in the outside area enjoying salads and I had a half a Portobello sandwich. It was tasty with great service.

Shopping was fun and what made it best was topping in the historic buildings! One shop I loved was The Bathhouse Soapary and Caldarium where I indulged in buying Gardenia, soap, perfume and even deodorant. Everything here is handmade and wonderful.

At the end of the day, we headed back towards Frontier Park where they were setting up for the Oktoberfest Celebration. Before leaving, I had to take a picture of The Wurst Bavarian Band, a German Polka band I wish I had time to hear play! What fun!

St. Charles, Missouri is a place to return to again and again for architecture, food, shopping and history!