409. Charleston, Mississippi County (MO003)

This looked like a more modern courthouse that has been build to emulate an older style. I could be wrong. I’d have to do some research to confirm it, but I had other things on my mind up to this point, primary of which being…

…local son and former Governor Warren Hearnes. He was the first Missouri Governor to serve two terms, and, based on his implementation of Missouri’s first civil rights laws, seems to have been a decent person as politicians go. He’s buried here in Charleston, though I had no chance to go to that cemetery. I had already grabbed my cache on the way here.

It seems that gnomes are also a theme this trip. On the way here, I pulled off in the town of Bartlett and found a fairy village in a front yard. And contained within that village was a trackable hotel. The CO was also into Scouting, which was perfect since I had picked up a Boy Scout trackable that preferred to travel between Scouting caches. Being a former Boy Scout (full disclosure: I have a few issues with Robert Baden-Powell based on some of his decisions during the Siege of Mafeking) and a recent Girl Scout myself (I helped run my daughters’ troop for a few years), I felt a certain obligation to oblige. I took some time to switch out a few trackables with some from the hotel and, once some semblance of parity had been achieved, I was off into town. Once my photography was complete (along with an almost awkward encounter as I offered the county my water), I was off again. It was, once again, time to cross a bridge. For the third time this trip, I would cross the Mississippi River and come to a stop in…