Christmas Light Installation in Gillespie, Illinois

A coal town that kept its bones

Gillespie is one of the old Macoupin County coal towns — a straight grid, modest well-built housing, a small commercial centre and farm country starting at the edge of the last street. It is quiet, and after dark it is genuinely dark.

A modest house lit precisely looks considerably better than a large one lit roughly, and in a town this dark the effect is amplified. One warm run, even the whole way, the porch traced, and a wrapped tree at the front. That is the whole plan and it is enough.

What works here

• One warm-white run, evenly spaced — with nothing competing, restraint reads best
• The porch line picked out — most houses here have one worth showing
• A wrapped tree at the front — doubles the display without touching the house
• Wreaths and garland at the door — the finishing touch, not the whole plan
• Timers and mid-season checks — so it is lit every evening without you thinking about it

Gillespie sits with Staunton and Litchfield on our northern Illinois run, grouped into set weeks each season.