The Starlit Path

My spotlight today falls on a place that feels frozen in time—Galena, Illinois, a three-hour drive from Chicago. More than 800 preserved buildings line its crooked streets, their brick faces glowing under old lanterns. Walk here, and you half-expect a stagecoach to rattle by or a whisper to echo from an upstairs window.

Galena was once a booming lead-mining town on the Mississippi River. Ulysses S. Grant lived here before he became president—and they still talk about how his footsteps echo past the Grant Home on foggy nights. But Thanksgiving changes the town. Just as November turns gold and copper, Galena lights up for its Holiday Kickoff Parade—jeeps strung with fairy lights, Santa’s sleigh gliding through the chill, and the whole town gathering for the tree-lighting on Main Street.

If you want a Thanksgiving that feels part storybook, part ghost story, Galena is waiting.