Something About Seeing Shimer from the Sky

Eye in the sky.

John Bellairs taught at Shimer College during the 1966-67 school year. At the time, the school was in the northwest Illinois city of Mount Carroll. The college moved across the state in 1979, leaving behind a campus of buildings and structures, all eventually placed on the National Register of Historic Places the following year. The Campbell Center for Historic Preservation Studies moved onto the former campus in 1980 and has maintained the area these last forty years.

Five years ago, based on the upload date, user Adventures in Rc took a drone out for a 15-minute flight above the old Shimer campus. Seeing the wintery weather makes me envision a similar frigid February back in 1967 when Bellairs ended a six-week winter semester break, having sequestered himself in McKee Hall to complete work on The Pedant and the Shuffly.

At about 12:40 into the video we're behind McKee Hall, where Bellairs lived.