Buena Vista

Except for the Community Bible Church and a tavern, the Midway, there are few other reminders of the settlement that existed between British Hollow and Rockville. The church is a 1980s building where as the tavern was built by Tony Udelhoven and Roy Kerkenbush for $350 in the 1930s. The name of the former village, drawn from one in Mexico where U.S. forces defeated Mexicans at a battle site on February 1847, means "good view," which seems to apply to this slope.

Uppena Home

Descendants of Henry Uppena (who built this attractive brick house atop a mine shaft and attached a wrought iron date "1850" to its south wall) still keep this home in their family. Terrance Coyle built his original cabin in 1828 here, miles from other settlers; and his family was taken by soldiers to seek refuge at Galena's block house during the Indian skirmishes. Uppena married Coyle's daughter. Deeds to the property contain signatures of Presidents Polk and VanBuren. Two century-old chestnut trees remain here from a line of them planted by Henry Uppena. The variety is fast becoming extinct in America. The adjacent pines were planted in 1853.