Native American Artifacts at the Grove

One place that I felt nostalgic about while in St. Louis was the Grove for some 
reason. I'd gone there when I was younger, but I hadn't been there in nearly a 
decade; perhaps I remembered the Grove because it sparked a sense of curiosity about Illinois 
wildlife and history. Yesterday I biked to the Grove and toured the trails and museum. 
Although the main attraction was the zoo of Illinois wildlife, they also had a trove of
 artifacts from early settlers and Native Americans.

In junior-high I went on a field trip to the Mitchell Museum in Evanston, which 

has a nice collection of Native American artifacts, and on the drive to St. Louis

 I saw a few Indian Mounds next to the highway. The disconnect between 

modernity and Illinois' pre-Colombian past is sort of bizarre. Admittedly 

it's less relevant than the history of Eastern/Southern European immigrants

in Chicago, especially when taking into consideration the modern demographic 

make up of the North Shore. I've always found Native American art to have an 

authentic and almost meditatively sentimental quality to it, especially when I 

recently discovered Edward Curtis' "The North American Indian" portfolio. Maybe 

my impression is based on this modern disconnect between the 

history of the land and the history of the people.

Glenview

Taken in September 2012