Along the Way

Dr. Bill Shell stands in the swale of the Old Kingshighway Road, also known as the El Camino Real, while in front of the Applegate House Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2019, in Sikeston.

Kassi Jackson ~ kjackson@semissourian.com

Dr. William C. Shell hikes historic roads to learn about the past

Dr. Bill Shell talks about the historical roads he's walked while looking at photos laid out on his dining room table Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2019, in Sikeston, Missouri.

KASSI JACKSON ~ kjackson@semissourian.com

Dr. Bill Shell, a Dexter, Missouri, native who has lived in Sikeston, Missouri, most of his life, has walked approximately 50 historic roads throughout the country, many of them in Southeast Missouri. A member of the Scott, Stoddard, Bollinger and Wayne county historical societies, hiking these historic roads has helped expand his knowledge of the area.

r. Bill Shell looks at photos he's captured of historic roads as they lay out on his dining room table Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2019, in Sikeston, Missouri.

Kassi Jackson ~ kjackson@semissourian.com

Shell began finding, hiking and documenting historic roads approximately 12 years ago, after he retired from practicing internal medicine for 40 years at Ferguson Medical Group in Sikeston. He first became interested in historic roads through researching his family’s history at the courthouses in the Southeast Missouri towns where they lived. One of the first historic roads he hiked was an old road in the Marble Hill area on which his grandfather carried mail. As he walked and took photos in the places his family lived, he noticed many old road beds, and his interest in historic roads grew from there. He started exploring in Southeast Missouri and says he has “radiated out” from the area to explore other nearby regions. Now he is discovering roads and their history around Sainte Genevieve, Missouri, and Potosi, Missouri.

Dr. Bill Shell points to historic road swales in photos he's captured while in his home Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2019, in Sikeston, Missouri.

KASSI JACKSON ~ kjackson@semissourian.com

“I kindly get that feeling that when I’m walking on the Trail of Tears, I’m kindly with the wagons,” Shell says of his experience walking along the trail. “And I certainly enjoy doing that and taking pictures of where I’ve been.”

While many of the roads Shell has hiked are in Southeast Missouri, he and his wife, Pat, also have traveled to the American West and hiked the Oregon Trail, the Cherokee Trail and the Overland Stage Trail. They have three children and three grandchildren. One of Shell’s daughters has taken after him and his passion for hiking: she and her husband have hiked the Appalachian Trail and the El Camino de Santiago, and are currently hiking the Pacific Crest Trail.

Before walking historic roads, Shell researches the road on the internet, mapping out its latitude and longitude. It is best, he says, to go in the winter when there is less vegetation to hide the swale — or the indent in the ground that shows where the road originally ran — from view.

Shell says the internet has made it easier to find the location of historic roads. National trails like the Oregon Trail and Trail of Tears have been mapped out by the National Park Service. People also seek him out to give him leads on locations of swales. Shell says many people who have swales on their farms are happy to show them to him and tell him about the history. Shell also has worked with a historian and archivist at the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) to document the history of the area’s roads.

While discussing his photo of what Shell says many people would call the first road in Missouri — the Mine La Motte road from Ste. Genevieve, Missouri, to Mine La Motte, Missouri — Shell says roads were first trails made and used by Native Americans while following animals. These trails were marked with three notches in trees along the trail so people could follow them. They then became traces, which were large enough to ride a horse and drive an oxen-pulled cart on. These traces then became what we refer to as roads today.

Among many other historic roads in Southeast Missouri, Shell has hiked parts of the El Camino Real, which goes from St. Louis to New Madrid, Missouri, and parts of the the Old Mine La Motte Road. And he’s hiked parts of the Southwest Trail, also known as the Old Military Road, which goes from St. Louis to Natchitoches, Louisiana. Of all the roads he’s hiked, Shell says his favorite is the Bloomfield to Cape Girardeau road. He says he enjoys the history of its importance during the Civil War: the Confederate Army used it to invade the Union Army in Cape Girardeau. In the past, Shell has co-led a group tour of the trail.

Photography is one way Shell documents the roads and their history, although he says he would like to document it more thoroughly. He has also submitted reports of his findings to MoDOT for their records.

Shell enjoys talking with the people he meets along the way and learning about them as he discovers old roads. He also enjoys learning about the history of the area and what it has to teach.

“I think I’m kindly a little different maybe in I do get a pleasurable feeling in walking out through the woods. I enjoy seeing that,” Shell says.

His research begs the question: why historic roads?

“I just think that it’s a shame to let anything historically die,” he says. “I hate to lose anything.”