Category: Illinois
The Giant Museum
https://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2025/07/05Aug25-Giants-Museum-2.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)A stop in Atlanta, Illinois holds a lot to see and do in a place that isn’t very large. They’ve…
Some Very Unique Giants
https://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2025/07/04Aug25-Giants-Museum-1.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)You probably would not think a company making fiberglass boats would have a big impact on a major highway. But…
Mastadon Park
https://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2025/07/30Jul25-Mastodon-Park.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)Imagine you unearthed the bones of an animal and had little idea of what you found. Now imagine making up…
The Story of the Spencer Rifle at the Illinois Military Museum
https://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2025/06/20Jun25-Illinois-Military-Museum-Spencer-Rifle.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)Imagine you had invented a new type of rifle that could be helpful to the U.S. military. How would you…
Named for Lincoln Before He was President
https://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2025/05/06May25-Named-for-LIncoln-Before-He-Was-President.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)It’s common that towns, school and other sites are named in honor of U.S. Presidents. So it’s natural that most…
The Phone Booth on Top of City Hall
https://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2025/05/05May25-Phone-Booth-on-City-Hall.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)Today technology can help us predict and spot several storms that may be headed our way. Of course, there was…
Cahokia Mounds
https://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2024/10/05Nov24-Cahokia-Mounds-2.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)We’ve probably all heard of Native American mounds scattered throughout parts of North America. Here just east of present day…
The Largest City in North America
https://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2024/10/04Nov24-Cahokia-Mounds-1.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)Before there was a United States of America, this was the largest city within its modern boundaries. In fact, its…
The Perfector of the Plow
http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2024/08/09Sep24-John-Deere.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)Although you may associate his name with tractors…he never saw one…yet his name is synonymous with the equipment used in…
Housing the Purple Martin
http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2024/07/18Jul24-Purple-Martins-2.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)On the surface, it may seem like an odd pairing–a man who manufactured television antennas became the champion for a…
America’s Most Wanted Bird
http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2024/07/17Jul24-Purple-Martins-1.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)It’s been called America’s most wanted bird. Not wanted in the sense that it has committed a crime, but rather…
John Phillp Sousa
http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2024/06/04Jul24-John-Phillip-Sousa.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)Today we look back to a story who’s music captures the spirit of the fourth of July…
The Story of the Heath Bar
http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2024/02/12Feb24-Heath-Bar.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)Many of us have a favorite candy bar…or maybe we can’t narrow it to just one, but have a few. …
The Moonshine Cafe
http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2023/11/05Dec23-Moonshine-Cafe-2.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)Imagine serving hundreds of people out of a small store in very rural Illinois. That’s the setting that takes place…
A Little Bit of Moonshine
http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2023/11/04Dec23-Moonshine-Cafe-1.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)If I told you people were traveling hundreds of miles to this spot for moonshine, you’d probably think there was…
The Van Doren Brothers
http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2023/09/11Sep23-Van-Doren-Brothers.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)The Van Doren brothers hailed from Vermilion County, Illinois. Their father saw great potential in his sons and even made…
Mr. Speaker
http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2023/08/08Sep23-Speaker-of-the-House-Joe-Cannon-3.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)The Speaker of the House is an important position in government and this man is often regarded as the man…
Joe Cannon’s Early Lessons
http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2023/08/07Sep23-Speaker-of-the-House-Joe-Cannon-2.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)What happens in a kid’s life can have an impact on what they do later in life. That was the…
A Name Within a Name
http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2023/08/06Sep23-Speaker-of-the-House-Joe-Cannon-1.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)A name may say a lot about a person. In this case, there was a man’s name within a man’s…
An Old Pontiac Wagon
http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2023/08/17Aug23-Pontiac-Oakland-Museum-2.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)Today we take a look at a very old Pontiac wagon. No, we’re not talking about a station wagon, but…
