Great River Road - Illinois
Fort de Chartres State Historic Site, IL

Fort de Chartres, located in Randolph County, features the reconstruction of a stone fort built by the French near the Mississippi River in the 1750s. The site also features the archeaological remains of two earlier wooden forts. The powder magazine is an original structure. Interpretation at the fort describes life in Illinois under the French regime, before the fort was abandoned in 1771. Every Spring, Fort de Chartres hosts the "Rendezvous," which is a grand interpretive exposition of French/English frontier life with period costumes, food, crafts, trades and lifestyles.