Established by 1750, Ste Genevieve was the first permanent European settlement in Missouri. Early French-Canadian settlers were drawn here by the rich agricultural land know as le Grand Champ (the Big Field). After the flood of 1785, the town relocated to its present location on higher ground approximately three miles to the northwest of its original site.
Oct 4, 2026
If you like touring homes from the late 1700 - early 1800's this is a Unit for you. We started at the Visitor Center to find what tours were available today. We signed up for two tours and was given the okay to bring Daisy Mae along for the town tour. They have four short films to take in at the Visitor Center, but we decided to skip them. We met up with Ranger Alex for our town tour, and we had her undivided attention as we were the only ones on this tour. The tour gave us a great overview of the history of Ste Genevieve and the meaning of this unit. The afternoon tour was with Ranger Nick and a tour of the Jean Baptiste Valle House. Once again, we had Ranger Nicks undivided attention. The house is not furnished yet and the tour was more of a sit-down discussion about family traditions and saving those traditions and tying this into why this unit come to be. We then walked around the house. This house was occupied till 2010 and has gone though many changes and modifications, but the bones are still there of the 1794 house. We enjoyed our time we spent here and look forward to a return to see some of the other homes. We spent a day here and that may be enough for many, or you could add a day to get in a few more home visits.
Click here for photos of our visit
Our 189th NPS Unit
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