Princeton, Illinois
For the past 2 summers our daughter has worked at a summer theater in Princeton, Illinois called Festival 56. They put on 4-5 plays over a 4 week period which include technical specialists and actors from all over the country. This year we went up to see 2 productions, Romeo & Juliet and Godspell. They were very well done, and luckily the rain had held off as due to covid restrictions, they were held outdoors.
The last time we visited Princeton, we stayed at a B&B in Tiskilwa, which is about 5 miles south. The house was darling, with a great breakfast, nice rooms, and managed by 2 charming owners. This year we tried another B&B closer to Princeton, and what a fun adventure it was. We stayed at the Chapel Hill Golf & Event Center which had 4 B&B rooms on the second floor. When we say we had the place to ourselves, we mean WE HAD THE PLACE TO OURSELVES. No one else was staying at the facility on these days, and the golf course was only open during the day, so we had the keys and control. After the golf course closed for the day, it became very quiet. Quite a funny feeling having this all to ourselves. The Clubhouse is a beautiful old building (from 1902), and was originally a private country club. The place has some new owners who are working hard to bring it back to life. The rooms were updated and nice, the golf course was in good shape and you can tell there will be more to come in the future. Oh did we mention that we also had the golf course to ourselves? Yes we felt like royalty.
The town of Princeton is adorable with some great boutique shops - Milk Mustache and Rachel Raven to name a few, as well as some good restaurants (Spoons is fantastic), and Barrell Society is a great place to try some bourbons . As we had more time on our hands - since we previously had visited most of the common local tourist spots: Starved Rock, the Owen Lovejoy House, the Red Covered Bridge, and Hornbecker Gardens - all are definitely worth a visit - we decided to venture further out, and take a couple side trips.
The first was to drive to Wisconsin to pick up some Spotted Cow (yes I know it's crazy to drive 2 hours to get this but that is what adventures are all about!). On our way back we decided to stop in Rockford, and eat lunch at Prairie Street Brewing Company. (We have more about this wonderful place on our Restaurant Reviews page.) After a great lunch we headed back to Princeton.
Our second side trip was to a small town to the east of Princeton called North Utica. I’m not going to lie - we chose this place as it had a wine tasting room, and well we love wine. North Utica is only about 30 minutes east of Princeton so it was a quick hop over. However when we arrived there we were surprised to find this cute downtown area where the street is closed off and filled with tables from the various restaurants. Our first stop was the Austin Hill Winery which had a great tasting room, a large lounging area to sit and enjoy your wine, as well as a back patio. We each did a tasting of 3 wines and then of course found some we had to purchase to bring back to STL. After enjoying our tasting, we then walked across to have a quick bite at Skoog’s Pub & Grill before heading back for our dinner and show that evening.
Both the side trips were great choices and great fun. And again, the town of Princeton is the epitome of a small midwest town full of pride for their city. We should also mention that there is an Amtrak station that stops right in the middle of downtown making it a fun day trip in itself. We hope our daughter returns to the Festival 56 next year as we would love to go back again. Check it out on their website - www.festival56.com. Also to learn more about Princeton and the surrounding sites go to https://www.princeton-il.com
