They offer a unique geography, flora and fauna (including a pleasingly spine-chilling collection of venomous creatures), fascinating traces of the country's first inhabitants, and enough emptyspace to give visitors from more crowded places agoraphobia.
Ed Marx, who worked at the Chrysler plant in the 1960s and now owns retail space in downtown Belvidere, said he is holding a number of his empty storefronts fromthe market because he knows the interest isn't there yet.