jfs Loc: Illinois

Located, not in Haight-Ashbury district in California, but in the sprawling corn and bean fields in East Central Illinois. Arcola, IL is the home of the Hippie Memorial, located on I-57, 7.4 miles south of Tuscola, IL. I had found the Memorial online and on a recent day trip to the outlet mall in Tuscola we decided to drop South to Arcola to check it out. It easy to find, located on the West side of Arcola. We used Route 45 South out of Tuscola, which parallels I-57.

Apparently the Bob Moomaw, who created the Memorial was not a hippie, but was in college at the time and was influenced by their liberated life style. The picture of the Memorial dedication pretty well explains the reason he built it. The old saw, "One mans junk is another's treasure" applies here.

Arcola is primarily an agricultural spot on the road with a population 2900+. It is also part of the Amish area that is centered on Arthur, IL which is 10mi to the West. You will see the Amish busy working their fields with horse powered implements and driving their buggies on the side lines of the highway designated for their use to travel to and fro.

When you drive around Arcola you will notice the murals painted on a number of the buildings in the area which detail some of the early history of the town. Some of the history was new information. As Paul Harvey use to say, and that is "The Rest of the Story" (now I have dated myself!).

Having been a life long citizen of Illinois, and I continue to find unique and strange attractions in this state, trip after trip.

Camera: D7100 and Tamron 10-24.

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alliebess Loc: suburban Philadelphia

Interesting information and good photos. I live near a little community in Pa. called Arcola.

Curmudgeon Loc: SE Arizona

Nice set. Too far to travel now but being an unreconstructed hippy I sure wish I could.

hettmoe Loc: Rural ND

Peace!!!

hoola

Hippies turned out to be hypocrites when they grew up . They turned into their parents and "the man" they ranted against obsessed with money & materialism . Definitely not deserving of a memorial .

Curmudgeon Loc: SE Arizona

People who speak in generalities are generally wrong. I think you make a mistake when you generalize about any group be they people, dogs, cats or photographers. Intolerance was not appropriate in the 60s and is not appropriate now.

hoola

Mr. Curmudgeon : I was merely stating my opinion which certainly I am entitled to express . I was not being intolerant. Rather you appear to be so . Sorry if you disagree with my opinion of hippies . Lets just agree to disagree . Just what did the hippies achieve ? Peace & love ? Nope . Charles Manson ? LSD ? Hard drug usage & addiction ? Altamont ? Draft dodging ? Disregard for morality ? Yep . Again just my opinion .

tomcat

I was going to post in a separate comment, but you gave me a soap box to stand on. I agree with you, generally. I was one of those hippies from the 60's. Our only contribution was to wreck the country. We showed the world that we could be a bunch of condescending spoiled jerks too high on drugs to realize that we lost our common sense. I feel responsible for a lot of the lawlessness now in our country because of the social changes that our government and society were "coerced" into because of our childishness and lack of responsibility. "If feels good do it"--what a stupid mantra. "peace and free love" created quite a lot of helpless children that grew up with no parental guidance....so don't hand me this crock about how the hippies made the world a freer, more tolerant place. We should have been beaten with clubs to get us back in line....

JRiepe Loc: Southern Illinois

I've been up and down I57 countless times and also in Arcola. Stopped there to eat on many of my trips and have visited Rockome Gardens but I was totally unaware of the hippie museum. Also used to camp and fish at Lake Shelbyville which isn't that far from Arcola. If you've never visited farther south in Shawnee NF country you should shoot on down to explore that. Enjoyed looking at the pictures.

Curmudgeon Loc: SE Arizona

I am with drawing from this thread. I agree we all have the right to disagree. Enough said.

jaymatt Loc: Alexandria, Indiana

Nice, interesting set of photos; I really like your shots of the murals.

AzPicLady Loc: Behind the camera!

Now that's my stomping ground! Interesting, and I didn't even know it was there. When was it done. That guy's name is familiar to me and I'm trying to remember why.

rikhar Loc: Ct. shoreline

frankraney Loc: Clovis, Ca.

Nice series and article. I grew up in Mt. Vernon, and didn't travel out much. I left in 65 to join the air Force. I came back a couple of times to visit, staying in Mt Vernon. The last time I came back, to bury my mother, I did travel a little. I spent a week in the Arthur, Arcola area visiting and photographing the Amish country, and completely missed this. Paris is also another little town.

I actually went to Farina to buy a new 5th wheel and had to wait some time for them to get it ready, thus the travel North.

Again, nice series. Thanks for sharing.

Earnest Botello Loc: Hockley, Texas

Very good series.