cantigny baby!

On a lovely afternoon in April, a good friend of mine, Mike-who is also in our class, decided to take a tour of the First Division Museum of Cantigny with me for our humanities project. After commonly butchering and slandering the name all day in front of people looking like fools, we would later come to discover the ‘g’ is silent. Pronounced can-tee-knee, the 500 acre lot is well kept and maintained at all times and serves as a lesson in cultural arts as it stands itself. The grounds contain very elaborate gardens filled with sculptures and other artistic displays. A mansion owned by Colonel Robert R. McCormick turned museum along with a war museum that takes you through every war America has been involved in starting with the First World War which the colonel was in.
Mr. MacNamara decided to carpool to the museum together since it was quite a hall out to Wheaton from our hometowns. Undecided and cutting it close, I remembered a really cool exhibit I had once seen before (Cantigny) and we went on Tuesday the 28th of April. The really cool thing about the place was that it is this huge open area and the landscape is just amazing. Every inch of the place was so well kept and very well and the wooded lot makes a beautiful place just to walk around on any nice day. It is also free admittance besides the five dollar parking fee, other than that, what a goldmine!
The story of Cantigny we had learned from a tour guide was a war hero and highly influential figure, Robert R. McCormick, had inherited the lot originally named Red Oaks. He was a colonel during the First World War and fought in the battle of Cantigny in France. He was very moved by his experiences by the battle so he named his home after it. The home and all the land would later be donated and turned into a museum. He was extremely wealthy and well known figure well liked by the people and represented a generation as a great figure in time-similar to the many outspoken and notable characters of the past we have learned over the course of the semester.
We ended up spending a few hours just bumming around and checking out the museums. The war museum of the First Division is extremely cool because it is a huge walk through museum you can go at on your own pace. It is similar to walking through a time portal with each next consecutive room leading into the next war. They are each decorated and portrayed as you are a bystander during the each era. For example there is a room decorated like Omaha Beach with tanks and men and bullets scattered on a beach landscape or even a Vietnam room that is filled with plush greens and trees in a bog to represent the jungle. Each room shows off heroics of men and their stories like we hear of long ago about Achilles or Odysseus and the advancements in technology as far as warfare. Similar how guns have advanced, so did the type of weaponry of the past, from bronze to iron or the idea of use of animals or ships to help give advantages during wars.
The First Division is a group of soldiers who were well known for their strength and courage is the beginning of our military. They were strong and taught well to be warriors for our country like the disciplined Spartans or the Mycenaean culture. Just like the story goes the brave 300 Spartans held off and army of thousands, the battle of Cantigny in France was against odds and held its ground (although unlike the 300, they were not betrayed and all slaughtered). Many of the battles and wars are very famous as well as the courageous acts of our time like the past wars like the Peloponnesian or Punic war we learned about. They had all great impacts in the times they had occurred and shape our history and culture.
Just like the Herodotus, the said to be father of history, the once home to McCormick now museum is a collection of history. McCormick loved to collect things especially his wives who were very much into the arts. The house is scattered with paintings or sculptures and books that cry artistic devotion. The rugs, the furniture, walls and ceilings are all highly detailed and overall architecture is an over whelming vision of arts from all over like we have studied the past months. McCormick also loved collecting swords or guns. The love for violence or the hunt has never left mankind since the time of the gladiators we studied. Like Democritus who was ahead of his time with the idea of atoms, McCormick was very involved with new technological advancements. His mechanical fireplace, his hidden bar, the electricity, and the modern day remote for his television and many others throughout the mansion not only show high class, but concepts and theories and ingenuity like the many marvelous minds we have studied like Da Vinci or Democritus. He was also very hospitable like the Greeks and threw many parties and invited guests over or stay the night.
We had a lot of fun going through the two museums and around the grounds. Surprisingly, we found out how much of the material we learned can be found all around. I would highly recommend a visit to Cantigny. The whole area is beautiful, it is extremely interesting to see all the old stuff in the buildings, and personally the 20’s were my favorite American era so I loved it.