1820 Colonel Benjamin Stephenson House — Attraction in Edwardsville

This is better than Williamsburg Virginia. I'm biking across the country, and Edwardsville is one of my Route 66 stops. Unfortunately, the home was closed because there were no guides to conduct the tour. However, the gift shop was open. That's where I met Maxine Callies. Max asked director RoxAnn Raisner if she could escort me through the home. This surprising and excellent customer service is hard to find anywhere. What wonderful people to have running a non-profit profit venue. I had the opportunity to ask a lot of questions and take great pictures to share with my family when I return to my home state. My hat's off to these two...

Edwardsville has a beautifully restored / preserved home, the 1820 Colonel Benjamin Stephenson house, with an excellent docent-led tour. The family has an interesting history reflected in the (comparative) opulence of this pre-civil war frontier home. The decor, furniture and fixtures have been collected to accurately reflect the home of this period. In addition to the docents (in period costume), there were two young girls demonstrating typical household skills -- candle making, milling corn meal, grinding sugar, and baking corn bread. Superb! Note there is an admission fee, but it's...

We were made very welcome to this wonderfully restored home by tour guides (RoxAnn and Jeffrey). Not only were they very knowledgeable and gracious, but they also encouraged questions and made us feel more like guests being welcomed into their home rather than employees just going through the motions of giving memorized presentations (as has been my experience at some other historical sites). The accurate period clothing that they wore was wonderful as well. We look forward to...