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a mural on a brick wall
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a sandwich board outside an antique shop
Home Front - Day Tripping
Beat it to Belleville.
By Christy Marshall
Photography by Frank Di Piazza
The next time you are at a trivia night or contending on Jeopardy and a query comes up about the longest continuous Main Street in the country, consider yourself safe answering Belleville, Ill. Forget blocks. This main artery runs 10.5 miles long.
The best of the street borders a fountain downtown. And the best of Belleville is that it is less than 20 miles from downtown St. Louis, features some wonderful shops and has delicious spots to lunch, dine and have a fine piece of pie. And, if need be, lawyers absolutely, positively everywhere.
A visit to Keil's Gifts and Hardware Store alone makes the trip worth it. Now an antiques and odds-and-ends kind of place, Keil's offers a treasure trove of all sorts of items--from colored glass to linens from the 1940s, original flour sacks, handmade quilts, washboards, children's cupboards, rug beaters, tin milk containers, old irons and tools, every cookie cutter imaginable and an entire line of McNess products (from vanilla to seasonings, soup mixes and pain oil). My friend and traveling companion was particularly taken with a lamp made out of a blue starfish and a base of shells--what she dubbed "a clever use of natural resources. It's a night light for your night life."
Farther down the block is Church Street Antiques, which features a fine collection of crockery, some great furniture and interesting old pieces. Owned by Morris Snively, the shop is spacious and the goods are easy to see. "We specialize in anything that is a true antique and very unique," Snively says. "We are very eclectic, just the general mom-and-pop antiques store." Also, if you are an antiquer (like us), don't miss Ben's Antiques, also on Main.
Catty-corner to Church Street Antiques (across the back parking lot) stands Washington Street Grill--a delicious spot to stop. The lunch fare was varied and our choices were perfection. Be sure to leave room for dessert--for a mainstay of the town is the Pie Pantry back on Main Street. You can take your pick of some 30 kinds of pie. That alone is reason enough to beat it to Belleville.
