One of two remaining restored Meramec Caverns painted barns resides along the west side of the highway. |
County: Livingston, ILCayuga isn't much. I'd give you the population, but technically it's just an unincorporated area of rural Livingston County, so there isn't an official number. What the small village just to the east of Route 66 does have to offer, though, is a treat hidden right under the nose of the ignorant sillies flying by on Interstate 55: a restored Meramec Caverns barn.
Restored by the Route 66 Association of Illinois in 1998, it was one of many such barns throughout Illinois - and for that matter, the country - that Lester Dill, longtime proprieter of Meramec Caverns in Stanton, Missouri had painted to inform Mother Road travelers about his business. It was a good deal: he got advertising, and the farmer got a freshly painted barn. Over the years the rudimentary billboards began to disappear, and now only two remain along Route 66 in Illinois: this one in Cayuga, and another north of Hamel, IL. The latter barn is quite visable for southbound Interstate 55, but here in Livingston County all the freeway folk have to look at is the naked back of the barn. You have to be on America's Main Street to take in this beauty.
With Cayuga sitting to the east of the road, no bypass or deviation from the original 1926 alignment was constructed until Interstate 55 replaced the highway. The northbound lanes of the four-lane remain open to traffic, with the southbound lanes remaning in spots but inaccessable to traffic. Near the Meramec Caverns Barn the southbound lanes serve as a small parking lot for the turn off before disappearing under Interstate 55.
