It is really rather silly, but the name of the next port city where the Countess docked is Havana, because it’s adjacent to an island earlier settlers thought had the shape of Cuba and so named that island; with this city so close, they thought it should be Havana.

It doesn’t look anything like the capital city of the island off Florida. It’s farmland with lush fields, lots of corn and soybeans, and friendly people. It is also near New Salem, another charming little town in Illinois where Abraham Lincoln lived for six years long before he even thought of becoming President. The enterprising folks in that community lasted a short time, then the town was abandoned and left to pasture. In the 1930s and 40s the CCC, Civilian Conservation Corps, created a village with 23 furnished stores, shops, homes, tradesman’s shops, a tavern, school and even saw and first mills to recreate the town where Lincoln lived.

It was more reason to appreciate the diligence, creativity, hard work and pride our New Jersey State Parks and our Monmouth County Parks systems pour into the magnificent parks we enjoy in the Garden State. Not that this was not interesting and great to visit, but it lacked the pride and attention of its people

This was a very nice presentation of the many offered by the Countess along the way with the museum filled with lots of interesting items from Lincoln’s day, stories of his youth, and the people he knew, and charming period dressed docents in some of the homes to give more details of each. But the reconstructed Village is in need of more upkeep, more funding, and the state doesn’t even provide a gift shop as an easy fund raising idea. Stopping to speak with some state workers on the road, they said “nobody wants to come here” meaning volunteers to keep the Village alive are hard to find.  A sad commentary for Illinois pride in its past.

It was different getting off the Countess in Havana, however where a lovely couple, knowing of the cruise ship’s arrival, set up a table at the dock displaying honey, honeycombs, and so much more about bees and honey from their Imperial Valley Honey farm. They also featured their award winning wildflower honey offering spoonfuls to willing guests and promising  its taste was “to infinity and BEEyond,” which it was.  Even  Mayor Brenda Stadsholt showed up in the morning to welcome guests to her town. While New Jersey honey is among the best you can learn more about this Illinois variety at imperialvalleyhoney@gmail.com.

The Village was a charming stop that included an archaeology walk and the gift-shop absent museum, visitor center and amphitheater, and walking through rows of houses, each property names for the families who lived there in an earlier era, together with stories about Lincoln and where he cast his first vote, lost his first election, the only popular election he ever lost, and where he purchased a store with William Berry. He also served as postmaster in the town before being elected to the state House of Representatives and earning his license to practice law.

But it was also a day to take some time to enjoy some of the events aboard the Countess,  and take in one of the power point presentations by Ted Mueller, the Riverlorian aboard the Countess. Serious about his work and teeming with historic knowledge and fascinating tales about the Illinois river, how it as formed, what problems it faces, how ships can get through and so much more, Ted provided daily river stories with pride and accuracy, and always waited around to answer any questions from passengers who wanted to learn just a little bit more. He also invited guests to visit the ship’s chart room and chart their own routes along the river in the many charts and maps laid out on tables and open for inspection to all who wanted to visit the room just below the Pilot House.

Ted also accompanied the smaller groups that got to visit the Pilot House on the Countess, the top deck quarters of the pilot, not the Captain, the officer who actually runs the ship.  On the first day of visits, the young and very experienced pilot was surprised to see guests in his pilot house, but greeted them with joy and so much knowledge about the river and all its intricacies. A graduate of the Maritime Institute in New York, he was more than affable in spite of always having to keep his ear to the radio and his eye on the river even while docked. Lower water levels and muddy bottoms are a problem on the Illinois as on the Mississippi.

And in the evening, there was always more entertainment before a late dinner. The ship offers a Riverbill with the backgrounds and talents of the Countess Ensemble featuring the husband wife team of Clark Roberts and Melissa Roberts joined with a very talented Doronte Evans, a Georgian who first learned to sing in church where his father was a Bishop then earned a degree in arts and traveled around the country and internationally during a more than two decade career. The trio were spectacular individually as well as in pairs or threes,  offering everything from jazz to country in nightly surprises, and backed by world class musicians on drums, bass, piano and woodwinds.several of them.

For those of us who love literature, figures in literature, and stories we’ve read from childhood, a “visit” from Mark Twain was yet another highlight. Though the Countess did not make it to Hannibal…and that’s another chapter in this Countess story….Mark Twain came to the Countess, not once but twice, delighting us with his homespun talents of how he created Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer, and on whom he patterned all his fictional characters in real life.

Late evenings, after dinners offering too much variety and too many dishes of too many delicious foods, there’s always another cocktail or nightcap in the Grand Lounge and dancing and making new friends listening to more of the talents of the talented and tireless Entertainment Team of the American Queen Countess.