While in Rock Island we visited the Arsenal located on Arsenal Island. The Island is on the Mississippi River between Davenport, IA and Rock Island, IL. It was originally established as a government site in 1816 when Fort Armstrong was built. It is now the largest government owned weapons manufacturing arsenal in the USA. It has manufactured military equipment and ordnance since the 1880s. A prison camp was built on the premises during the Civil War which housed Confederate prisoners. That camp was destroyed after the war.
There is a museum built in 1905 which contains the second largest collection of small arms weapons in the US Army. There is also a National Cemetery as well as a Confederate Cemetery on the island. To gain access to the museum as well as the cemeteries you will need to obtain a military visitors badge at the gate to the island. The badge is good for one year of visitation.
The two cemeteries:
The Arsenal Museum:
While on Rock Island we went down to the end where Lock 15 resides and we watched as a double length barge came through the lock on the Mississippi. It was one that was too long for the lock and so it had to separate once it came into the lock before it could close and then the water could go down. If you have a few minutes watch the video below, it was interesting to see the process including the swinging bridge to Davenport (sorry for the occasional finger in the shot).
From Rock Island we headed to St. Louis. We did not do too much while there as we took a week to take a vacation from RVing and headed to Hawaii. Though the day we were leaving, our phones went off with a warning on emergency flooding. Unbeknownst to us, there was a creek running along the edge of the camp we were in. Last picture is of the flooding after it had started to recede. We were lucky as we were on higher ground then most so the water only go to the bottom of our rig.
St Louis:
Next up our Hawaii travel.
Fran and Jeff’s Retirement Adventures 