Galena Country Journal

The Galena County Journal was an idea we came up with to help visitors experience the best of what the county has to offer, told by the locals. We didn’t want to limit ourselves to one medium. We wanted to include short documentaries, candid photography and tailored content, written in a style not to “sell” anything but to entertain and storytell.

To house all of this, we decided to make an online magazine, updated quarterly, that focused on one topic relevant to the area. For the first “issue,” we decided to focus on the history of Galena and Jo Daviess County. For the articles within the issue, we interviewed a local B&B owner (who was also a civil war reenactor) a working blacksmith, and the head of the historical museum. We learned quickly that this type of content is what people look for, and the idea took off. We did multiple issues with many local business owners reaching out for features as well. Some of the other topics were local hauntings, “made in Galena” featuring local artisans, and distilleries and brewing.