Historic Millburn, IL(Old mill creek) - A blink of an eye and we would have passed it by

Sometimes we stumble upon interesting places when we least expect them..





We were driving through wooded roads on our way to Lake Villa, IL to attend our daughter's Vocal Jazz concert.  It was just past noon but the weather was pretty lousy; dull, overcast, cloudy and raining lightly.  The long straight road with the trees alongside made me reach for the cell phone and take a picture though the wipers were busy. 

 

The GPS lady spoke breaking the silence in the van, we had to make a right and a quick left.  Soon, the intersection was upon us, as we waited for the light to change, the "Millburn Masonic temple" written in white across the red bricks caught my eye and I hastily asked my husband to stop the wiper blades and clicked a couple of quick pictures just as the light turned green.

While making the turn saw another sign past the masonic temple which read "Millburn Congregational".   It looked old and pretty and I felt this place must have some importance and clicked a couple more pictures.



The Millburn Congregational(church), see the Strang store at the far end with the attached house
Read more here http://www.hmca-il.org/hchurch.htm

Almost immediately, we had to make a left, and I spied the Martin's Gen'l Store at the corner of the street just as we were turning, it's when I saw the "Historic Millburn" sign.



Around the corner Martin's Gen'l store
Read more at http://www.hmca-il.org/hgenstor.htm

As we straightened up, saw the pretty brick houses and hastily took a pictures.  There was one more that I managed to get as we sped past. It was all over, in the span of a minute but it feels like much longer as I write about the experience.

 

The first brick house
Read more here http://www.hmca-il.org/hefoster.htm

A quick right and a quick left, History passing us by in the blink of an eye. A green light and we would have missed it all.

    

The duplex brick house
Read more here.. http://www.hmca-il.org/hefoster.htm

After reading more about the buildings from the website, I feel bad that we couldn't linger a few minutes longer to take in some of the history we had stumbled on.  Family and friends always kid me about the million pictures I click as we drive, but this 'one' minute makes my passion for pictures taking absolutely worth it!   So be it good weather or bad, local ride or a long road trip, you never know what's you can expect at the next intersection. 

Had to sneak in the pictures of this white church down the road from the historic intersection.



  

 

As I conclude.. while trying to find the location, "Milburn Strangler, Old Mill Creek, IL" came up and I had to know why.  Thankfully, it isn't a strangler as in a criminal but it's a strangler as in a traffic nightmare for the residents and folks who use Rt45 to get from the freeway I94 to their homes and neighborhoods.

Lucky for us it wasn't a strangler but a beautiful experience as we continue to drive and discover more everyday about this beautiful country we live in "from sea to shining sea".