The Last Cocked Hat Bowling Alley

Last weekend I joined up with RØb & Co for cocked hat birthday bowling at the Corner Bar in St Charles!



The Corner Bar has been around since 1865 - no lie! They have had cocked hat bowling in the basement since 1875. It is the last remaining cocked hat bowling alley in the United States. The last one!





I think this is probably the last bowling alley in the St Louis/St Charles area that still uses human pinsetters and a manual ball return, although you do still score by hand at Saratoga Lanes in St Louis.





They also have CCTV, which makes it much easier to see what is going on after a crowd forms at the rails.



Also, a bitchin' jukebox. If you have a sharp eye you should be able to pick out Loggins & Messina in that picture.



So here's what I can tell you about cocked hat bowling. You have three full size bowling pins to knock down: what would be the 1, 7, and 10 in "regular" bowling (yes, it is exactly as frustrating as you are imagining). You use a duckpin bowling ball, which is 2-4 lbs, 5" diameter, and has no holes. You get three rolls, with a strike being possible on the first roll, a spare being possible on the second, and the third roll is just kind of extra.



Here's what I cannot tell you: how to score, beyond the strike/spare rule. Above is our scoreboard. We found out that we were doing it wrong when the next group started, but at least our scoring was consistently wrong, so who cares. Keep score however you like. But if you want to try to decipher it, here is the proper scoring:



The Corner Bar is located at 571 1st Capitol Drive in St Charles. Here's the tricky part: as you can see, there are only two lanes and it is the last place left in the country. You have to make reservations, and from what I've heard they book weekends a couple months in advance. Call for pricing: (636) 724-4220.

I also have to add that contrary to the reviews I read online tonight, the staff was exceedingly friendly, the prices are great, and the bathrooms were clean. I don't know how people expect a 145 year old bar to be in immaculate shape.

Special Edition!

I have a surprise for you today, ladies and gents! As you know, I rarely (never) allow guest blogs on Craves, Caves & Graves, but I'm making an exception today. When am I going to see the port of Umm Qasr? Probably never. So today I'm handing over the reins to Sgt Francis Horton. Show some love so we can keep learning about Iraq this summer!


If ever you find yourself on an airplane headed to the Basra International Airport in southern Iraq, hop in a cab and go see the port city of Umm Qasr on the Khawr az-Zubayr canal. It is the largest working port in Iraq and oversees the export of millions of gallons of oil each day, as well as imports of everything from clothes and food to toys and other trinkets.

During the first gulf war, the port was a highly contested area as the canal it sits on forms the lower border between Iraq and Kuwait. The port was bombed during the war and reopened afterward to allow goods to flow again. This is a move of both necessity and punishment to the people of Basra for standing beside the American forces when they rolled through in the early 90s.

Fast forward to our current predicament. British Marines, with the help of American Marine forces and Polish GROM troops (Polish special forces), came in and flattened the port. In a fierce battle that raged several days, Iraqi insurgents were removed from the port and British and American Naval forces cleared the Persian Gulf and the canal of mines and other dangerous traps with the help of trained seals and dolphins.

Now the port is open for business and hums with a new life. British commandos here are training Iraqi Navy to patrol their waters and guard the ships and oil drilling platforms in the Persian Gulf. It is one of the few places in Iraq that British forces still occupy, and even in that respect they are merely taking a back seat and allowing the Iraqi forces to stand on their own.


We opted to take a Chinook helicopter rather than a taxi. They have a bit more room than a car.


The British, being fantastically polite as always.


One of the few structures from the original port that survived the Iraq war. When American forces were touring the base, an Iraqi commander pointed to this old bomb shelter and said with a grin, “You missed.”


We didn’t miss much though.


English is a third language around here. We will forgive them the confusion since this wasn’t in a text message or posted on an internet forum.


Umm Qasr housed many prisoners during the war until the eventual shut down in 2009. All of the inmates were transferred to other detention facilities in Iraq. This prison is still used as an Iraqi Naval brig or if someone just needs to be cooled off for a few days. Iraqi military and civilians are both placed in this jail from time to time.


Patrol Boats bought from the Chinese before the second gulf war. Intrepid Iraqi mechanics have been working to restore these old ships for eventual use. A Navy can never have too many people patrolling the seas.


One of the ships used today by the Iraqi Navy. While they are not outfitted with explosive ordinance (missiles, torpedoes, ect), there are plenty of heavy guns on the decks with plenty of people to man them. These ships are taken out to patrol the waters of the canals and the Persian Gulf to protect ships importing and exporting, as well as guarding Iraqi and coalition owned oil rigs.


Everyone on the ships knows as much as they can. This Iraqi Navy seaman is an assigned gunner, but spoke well about the power and maneuverability of the ships.



Smaller skiffs like these are used for interception as well as close shore patrols. Two to four Iraqis can cover a wide area of shore in these ships.


It wouldn’t be a trip if you didn’t get a picture of yourself with the local attractions!

Sgt Francis Horton is an Army Journalist currently serving in Basra, Iraq. When not winning wars, he can be found reading, writing, creating video blogs, smoking too many cigarettes or melting his brain with violent video games. If he is hungry, he can be fed Cheez-Its. He likes to run sometimes, but likes it even more when he stops.

Francis is an Aries.

You can read some of his stories and look at his photos here. Just click on his name next to news or images.

If you want to see his sweet video blog, here is his YouTube channel.

You can be his friend on Facebook too. I'm sure he won't mind.

Happy Blogiversary!

I sat down to write tonight and realized, it's May! Didn't I start this blog in May? Indeed I did! The blogiversary is not until next week, but I got this idea and decided to run with it. Since launching cravescavesandgraves.com last summer (prior to that it was on Livejournal), I've gained a modest readership, so I thought you might like a handy guide to the best places we've visited in the last 2 years. Here they are in chronological order. Clicking the highlighted words will open the original post in a new window.



1. May 2008 - Dan, Shelly and I went ghost hunting at The Mineral Springs Hotel in Alton, IL.



2. June 2008 - Still my favorite South St Louis Cemetery, Old St Marcus Park



3. July 2008 - Best Place to Take Visitors to St Louis, The Laclede's Landing Wax Museum. We returned after a massive renovation in September 2009, which you can see here.



4. September 2008 - Bring Your Club, Get Some Grub at Caveman BBQ in Richland, MO. (Sold and reopened as The Cave Restaurant and Resort in 2009, which we visited in last August.)



5. October 2008 - When you say "Nuclear Waste Adventure Trail", people think you are joking. It's real, and it's in Weldon Spring, MO.



6. December 2008 - It's tricky to plan a tour of the backstage area of The Fabulous Fox in St Louis, MO, so click here to get a peek at some of their world famous murals.



7. June 2009 - No Craves, Caves & Graves Top 10 list would be complete without the Greatest Show Under the Earth, Meramec Caverns!



7 1/2. June 2009 - I didn't want to include two from the same month, but I have to give the People's Choice Award to the Jesse James Wax Museum in Stanton, MO. This post consistently gets more hits per month than anything else.



8. October 2009 - I have to include the History and Hauntings Ghost Tour in Alton, IL not only because they are my favorite ghost hunters, but also because this post contains some of my favorite pictures taken by Keith.



9. February 2010 - We ate bugs. Not those bugs, but bugs all the same. This post contains epic Action Cam video taken at the Sophia M Sachs Butterfly House in Chesterfield, MO.



10. Right in our own backyard, the World's Largest Set of Teeth at the Dental Health Theater in St Louis, MO

Honorable Mention to Bonne Terre Mine, which I didn't include because it's just two posts down this page, but it's DEFINITELY one of the top places we have been.

I'm afraid if I name names I will leave someone out, but I just want to say thank you to all my awesome friends who come along on these adventures, share pictures and video, send links to their friends and family, and update my Twitter. You guys are awesome and CC&G would not have made it two years without you!