Autumn Bluff Road Drive to Church Ruins

Drive-by haunting church ruins, have a German-style meal in Bavarian decor and seeing a rainbow of autumn colors are highlights of our backwoods adventure along Bluff Road.

Each year we take a drive in the MetroEast going south on the Bluff Road towards Valmeyer, Illinois. Here you drive along the valley with the bluffs to your right with the golds, reds, and yellows of the trees changing on the hills above you.

Bluff Road with the cliffs above you. — The Bluff Road with the cliffs above you, we were a little early for the complete fall effect.

The drive also goes out into the valley for better views as you pass by a large tree-lined lake. It is a quieter trek than the more popular ones up north.

Maeystown

Then we turn and go up through the hills sometimes heading through Maeystown on aptly named Maeystown Road. Sixty significant buildings still exist here, including the town founders Jacob Maeys’ log house, the original church, the stone bridge entry into town, Zeitinger’s Mill, and various outbuildings, barns, and smokehouses made of limestone, brick, and wood. These buildings, constructed in the mid to late 1800’s, form this quaint little village listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Old barn near Maddonnavile — Old barn near Maddonnaville

Village Ruins

This time we went through the country to Maddonnaville on KK Road which has the historic St. Mary’s Catholic Church. Along this drive you’ll pass ruins of former cottages and barns, some built of white stone in the villages of Monroe City and Maddonnaville.

From Maddonnaville we head north to Foster Pond to a German restaurant that we eat at with this drive. This drive goes north on Deer Hill Road then right on Ahne Road then a left on Old Baum Church Road.

Roofless Church

We go by the ruins of the Salem-Baum Church on Old Baum Church Road. It is a stone church that once housed an Evangelical congregation until 1939. Then in the 1970s, the Salem-Baum Cemetery Association Board was started to keep up the property. The nearby property owners helped a family cleanup the church for a wedding and now the roofless stone church is a wedding venue.

We came to find this out when we passed this way this time and were going to take pictures but it was filled with a wedding party. We’ll just have to do the drive again in the future. Note: Blog photo by Laine Sutherland

Inside Dreamland Palace German Restaurant

German Bierhaus

The restaurant that we go to is Dreamland Palace German Restaurant. It serves American and German food in a “bierhaus-style” setting within an 1870s half-timbered building.

The decor includes a number of coo-coo clocks and other German adornments. We usually find a Groupon each year and have a discounted German meal. They also have a small selection of German draft beers on tap. The meal includes a German-style salad bar and I am a fan of their beets.

Hiking Opportunities

David on the hillside of the Salt Lick trail. — David on a high point along the Salt Lick Trail.

Valmeyer Trails

The Salt Lick Point Land and Water Reserve is a 594-acre park area in Monroe County has several gentle flat trails. The Salk Lick 1.8 mile trail ascends up a Mississippi River hill and allows for bluff views and you can even see the St. Louis skyline in the distance on a clear day. Below you see the floodplain along with railroad tracks and across the Mississippi River to the Missouri hills in the distance.

If you don’t want to go vertical you can explore the 1.3 -mile Johnsons trail along the bottom with wildflowers and boulders strewn about.

Park at 1309 Limestone Lane, or start at St. John’s UCC Church, 201 S. Meyer Ave. in the new part Valmeyer.

Fults Hill Prairie Nature Preserve

Fults Hill Prairie Nature Preserve consists of 532 acres of uplands and includes woodland, prairie, and glade communities. It has the largest complex of high-quality loess hill prairies in Illinois.

The preserve includes a 1.4-mile trail from a small parking lot along Highway 155. The trail heads straight up some stairs from the parking lot. The landscape includes tall bluffs and deep ravines and from the top, you have expansive views of the countryside. It is a loop trail across the top of the hillside.