Step back in time in Cape Girardeau and see what everyday life was like hundreds of years ago at these historic attractions.

Through rebuilds and war, Bollinger Mill and covered bridge survive today to tell the story of smalltown industry in Southeast Missouri.  Construction began on the log mill in 1800, and it was rebuilt in stone in 1825.  Union forces burned the mill to ensure it didn’t fall into Confederate hands, though the limestone foundation dating from 1825 survived.  The current four-story mill was completed in 1867, and the covered bridge in 1868.  Bollinger Mill has been restored as a water-powered grist mill and contains milling machinery such as bran dusters, conveyors and chutes, millstones and more.  Live demonstrations illustrate the making of stone-ground cornmeal.  After you’ve toured the mill and learned all about 19th century milling practices, grab a table along the Whitewater River under soaring shade trees and enjoy a peaceful picnic.  You can also walk across the 140-foot-long covered bridge built by Joseph Lansmon in 1868 and check out the Howe truss design that holds the bridge aloft.  Tours are available mid-March through mid-November Monday-Saturday from 10 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. and from Noon – 4 p.m. on Sundays.  

When you step into the Glenn House, you step back in time to life in a well-to-do merchant family in Cape Girardeau, circa late 1800s.  Built in 1883 as a wedding present for Lula Deane and David Glenn, the Glenn House was converted from a vernacular farmhouse style to a Queen Anne Victorian with Free Classic influences in 1900.  The very latest in Victorian tech and gadgets fill the home, and this handsomely restored property features many original architectural features as well as authentic period furniture.  Take a tour on Saturday and Sunday afternoons from 1-4 p.m., May-October.  

Mass at Old St. Vincent’s was a part of daily life for many Cape Girardeans in the mid 1850’s, and Old St. Vincent’s English Gothic Revival style of architecture has been beautifully preserved for future generations.  Tours of this magnificent Chapel of Ease are available Saturday afternoons from Noon – 4 p.m., May – September, where you’ll find out what the 100+ medieval design plaster masks portray and maybe even hear the 27-rank Schantz pipe organ in action! 

The lives of Cape Girardeau’s first settlers in the early 1800s are reflected inside the Red House Interpretive Center, a historically accurate recreation of the trading post and home of Cape Girardeau’s founder, Louis Lorimier.  Meriwether Lewis ate dinner at Lorimier’s Red House on his way west with the Corps of Discovery, and this visit is also commemorated.  Walk through this piece of history on Saturdays from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m., May – October.

Step back in time in Cape Girardeau, where everyday life of yesteryear comes to life.  Additional historic attractions in Cape Girardeau include Civil War sites, the largest collection of unbroken Native American pottery in North America and more; learn more here.