Its too bad the French didnt colonize the hell out of the entire Mississippi River Delta region in Arkansas, Tennessee, Illinois etc. We could have had other New Orleans all over the South. I mean St. Louis qualifies but unfortunately they tore down basically their equivalent of the French Quarter with the St. Louis Arch.
I was in Cahokia, Il earlier this year, its a very cool place with tons of French colonial houses preserved. The 1699 church was closed so I couldn't get in it, sure wish it would have been open. I dont think there is any surviving French colonial architecture left in the city of St. Louis. Ive never made it down to St. Genevieve, MO though to see the beautiful examples of French colonial buildings left there. Arkansas had some French forts during the 17th century and early 1700's but to my knowledge, no above ground architecture remains of the French colonial days in Arkansas. Detroit, MI also was originally a French fort, but none of that remains either I don't think. Michigan does have Fort Michilimackinac though near Mackinac Island, it has French colonial architecture, but it was rebuilt in the 1960's, so it doesn't really count. One of the most impressive French buildings Ive been to in the US however is Fort Niagara, north of Buffalo NY. The French Castle in the fort was built in the 1720's and is very impressive. |
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St. Charles, MO also has a solid collection but the lines blur with very early american architecture. http://img.groundspeak.com/waymarkin...2b6e57ed06.JPG waymarking.com https://i.pinimg.com/originals/7f/6d...0de53a766a.jpg pinterest.com |
St. Charles is mostly all Federal styled architecture, but it was originally a French town, probably the furthest west town the French ever colonized in the US, wherein it didn't fail. St Charles however is probably also the furthest west main street in America that has an intact Federalist styled architecture.
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For Ohio, I would say the Over the Rhine neighborhood of Cincinnati is the most architecturally and historically unique neighborhood in the state. There just aren't many places in the country that look like this anymore, unfortunately:
https://www.google.com/maps/@39.1107...7i16384!8i8192 https://www.google.com/maps/@39.1087...7i16384!8i8192 https://www.google.com/maps/@39.1095...7i16384!8i8192 Columbus' German Village might also be considered one of the more unique built environments in the state, but it's very quaint and sleepy compared to OTR's intensity and urbanity. In terms of culturally unique places in the state, I think Yellow Springs might be a contender. It's home to Antioch College, and has been a very progressive town essentially since its founding. It was founded in 1825 as a utopian community, was an important stop on the underground railroad, and banned discrimination based on sexual orientation way back in the 1970s when basically no one in Ohio (or the country outside of SF and NYC) was thinking about protecting the LGBT community. It's unabashedly 'crunchy' and home to many artists and creatives, including Dave Chappelle. It has amazing parks in and around the town, including Glen Helen Park which contains the actual yellow spring for which the town is named: http://www.anexplorersheart.com/wp-c...s_Ohio_013.jpg It's surrounded by deep red rural areas, which make it even more of an oasis of sorts. Little bright blue dot in a see of red. It's a pretty special town, I think. |
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http://img.groundspeak.com/waymarkin...1339edc47e.JPG img.groundspeak.com http://img.groundspeak.com/waymarkin...5a5f469d75.JPG http://img.groundspeak.com http://img.groundspeak.com/waymarkin...d326e3afbc.JPG img.groundspeak.com http://img-stage.geocaching.com/wmst...9204b5318b.JPG img-stage.geocaching.com http://img.groundspeak.com/waymarkin...db21c45750.JPG groundspeak.com |
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https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.town...ize=1200%2C652 stltoday.com https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.town...ize=1200%2C629 stltoday.com |
Wow I didnt know that, hope they take all of the crap siding off and restore those.
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i dk if you would call this cultural exactly, and its not about structures, but here's another interesting or at least quirky ohio one for urban planners that most people do not know about.
additionally, its fodder for conspiracy oriented folks! :uhh: sandusky -- laid out by the masons: https://www.google.com/maps/@41.4427786,-82.6816344,12z https://freemasonry.bcy.ca/history/s...y/sandusky.jpg Laid Out in Form of Square and Compass As far as I have been able to check in the past several years, Sandusky is the only city in the world originally laid out on Masonic symbols. Hector Kilbourne, the first Master of Science Lodge No. 50, Sandusky in 1818, was the surveyor who made the original plan of the city. He proceeded with well-defined ideas and painstaking care in making the original survey as well as giving names to the streets in honor of the statesmen, warriors and others prominent in the early history of the country. Brother Kilbourne in laying out the city ran the lines or streets in order to form a true representation of the Square and Compasses. This has been clearly shown in the accompanying illustration. The original plan of the city, as here represented, may be said to represent an open Bible, Square and Compasses in correct position to proceed with labor upon opening the Lodge. Taking Columbus Avenue as the center of the Book, the blocks and squares on either side of the avenue are equal in number and dimensions, excepting the twelve blocks along Water Street, which on account of the water or shore line indentation, slightly reduces the area of each block when compared with the other blocks south of the present Market Street. Master Masons well know the position of the Square and Compasses used in the Lodge room when in sessions. https://freemasonry.bcy.ca/history/s.../sandusky.html |
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Then for Philadelphia I would probably vote for the Chestnut Hill and Wisshickon Park area. Most people think of Philadelphia as a tightly packed rowhome city, but Chestnut Hill is the complete opposite of what people think of Philadelphia: Germantown Ave in Chestnut Hill is the main commercial street, which is cobblestone and tree-lined: https://www.google.com/maps/@40.0758...7i16384!8i8192 The neighborhoods street just off of Germantown Ave in Chestnut Hill are tree-lined twin home streets https://www.google.com/maps/@40.0724...7i16384!8i8192 Head a little further off of Germantown Ave, and the streets give way to massive multi-million dollar mansions that you can hardly see from the streets: https://www.google.com/maps/@40.0809...7i16384!8i8192 Then you reach the Wissahickon Valley Park. If you dropped someone off in the Wissahickon, they would never guess they were in a major city: https://www.google.com/maps/@40.0379...7i13312!8i6656 |
To me, the most unique city in Pennsylvania is Erie. It is the only area in Pennsylvania with a shoreline and where you can go to a beach. Being on the lake, Erie has as much connection culturally with Buffalo and Cleveland as it does Pittsburgh.
Gettysburg would maybe be second place in Pennsylvania. There is very little Civil War history north of the Potomac, and Gettysburg oozes it. |
In Canada North Preston, Nova Scotia (an almost all-Black community dating back to the 18th century) comes immediately to mind.
In rural Ontario, there are the Kashubian settlements around Barry's Bay in the Ottawa valley dating back to the mid-19th century. Today over 50% declare Polish ancestry - the only rural Eastern European area in Eastern Canada. https://www.insideottawavalley.com/c...ubian-culture/ Also there are sizeable German-speaking Mennonite communities such as Wellesley Township in Waterloo region. 100 years ago Berlin (now Kitchener) would have stood out as a German rather than British-dominated city but in the post-WWII period the Kitchener-Waterloo region grew rapidly, diversified and today is no longer majority German descent. |
interesting enough, many Northern Ontario resource towns and cities used to have strong Finnish, and to a lesser extent Polish and Ukranian communities. These communities were a strong presence at one time, and community halls and gatherings were prevalent all throughout the North country.They are now in their 3rd or 4th generation, and their culture is sadly pretty much absorbed, and not as apparent even from when I was young..Places like Thunder Bay and South Porcupine (just outside of Timmins), come to mind. This group of Europeans came to work in the mining and logging industries, and the rugged landscape and the Canadian shield/boreal forest also reminded them of their homeland. The abundance of cedar trees must of also been welcoming, because of the Finns' love for saunas.
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Finnish immigrants settled around Lake Superior on both sides of the border - NW Ontario, NE Minnesota, Michigan's Upper Peninsula.
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What's interesting about this community is how early they arrived - mid-19th century - and that otherwise that area pretty closely reflects rural Eastern Ontario demographics.
Northern Ontario received a lot of early 20th century European immigration to work in mining and logging: Italian, Finnish, Ukrainian etc. Not that different from NE Minnesota, say. |
Another unique place in Ontario is Leamington, known as the tomato capital of Canada. The large migrant farmworker population gives it the most visible Mexican population in Canada (even has a Mexican consulate) and there's also a large German-speaking Mennonite community that came from Mexico.
https://geo-mexico.com/?p=5682 |
I passed through Leamington a few years ago, while visiting Point Pelee, and noticed a lot of (apparent) Africans on the main street.
Perhaps seasonal workers, or recent migrants? I don't believe they were West Indians, due to attire. Kinda odd in rural Ontario farm country. |
ne ohio has lesser known finnish history too, east of cleveland along lake erie. in fact, dr. amy a. kaukonen, born in lorain, but of finnish ancestry, was the first female mayor of ohio in fairport harbor.
another older quirk in ne ohio are serbians living west of akron-canton. their noted legacy in ohio is a unique style of fried chicken fast food restaurants around barberton that ohioians just call barberton style fried chicken: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barberton_chicken and lastly are the summer mexican farming immigrants of nw ohio. the state has seasonal school in local schools and trailers for the kids around the farms while the adults are picking tomatos and soybeans. it has its own temporary/annual school district. of course, these days trump is mucking it all up: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/18/u...t-workers.html |
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