Land of Lincoln

First I would like to apologize about the long gap between posts. I had way too much to do for school to write anything. Spring break has rolled around, but spring seems to be evading us. Today, the second day of spring, we have accumulated at least three inches of snow and are under a winter storm warning. I wish the Easter Bunny good luck in all this muck. This post may seem pretty long but there are a lot of pictures to accompany. To see a larger version of any of these photos, just click on it. Enjoy!

My dad and I were able to enjoy the first few days of Spring Break down in Springfield, Illinois. Springfield is the capital of Illinois and is famous also because Abraham Lincoln lived (and is buried) there for many years. There are a lot of different Lincoln sites around the city. The city itself isn’t that big; it’s smaller then Madison or Bremerton, but still pretty big. It reminded me a lot of La Crosse, where I go to college. The capitol itself is quite spectacular. Unlike most of the capitol buildings I’ve seen, it didn’t have Greco-Roman architecture, but seemed more Italian in nature. It has a very ornate dome.

As you can see, the weather was overcast the entire time we were there. Regardless of the slightly rainy weather, dad and I visited a pretty good variety of the Lincoln sites. We started off at what was Lincoln’s law office. Back in the 1840’s, the requirements to become a lawyer were pretty lax. According to the lady conducting the tour, all you had to do was complete an oral exam and pass a background check. Lincoln himself never went to college. He read dozens of law books to prepare for his work. One of his associates went to college, but didn’t study law. Instead, he chose to work for the county clerk to learn law. Another of his associates actually went to law school.

I also learned another interesting tidbit at the office. When Illinois was being made into a state, the Illinois representative in D.C. pushing for statehood (I believe his last name was Pope) didn’t like where the northern border of Illinois was; it barely scrapped the bottom of Lake Michigan. So the lobbyist managed, after weeks of adroit maneuvering, to push the border of Illinois 50 miles north of where it was. The result was that the Chicago, then a small trading settlement, would grow under the jurisdiction of the State of Illinois. If this had not happened, Chicago would today be a city in the State of Wisconsin.

After a quick tour of the offices, we moved on to Lincoln’s actual house. The house and the surrounding blocks are all a National Park. It reminded me of Colonial Williamsburg. By modern standards, his house was pretty complete. It had a family room, a kitchen, a dining room, a foyer and ‘entertainment’ room, four bedrooms, and a guest room. The only difference between his house and a modern house is that most of these rooms were tiny. It had a ‘three-holer outhouse,’ though I’m not sure when you would have three people going to the bathroom at once. Much of the furniture in the house was Lincoln’s actual furniture. It was pretty cool to be in the same room with all this history.

Here’s a shot from the outside of his house.

And here’s my dad and I in the backyard.

On our way to our next destination (the Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum), we happened to pass this interesting little post office drop box.

These were put out last year to celebrate Star Wars’ 30th Anniversary. I thought they were all gone by now, but luckily Springfield still had at least this one.

The presidential museum was incredible. It blew away my expectations and is among my favorite museums. It was incredibly interactive the whole way through. The mannequins were very lifelike, almost creepily so. Here’s an example. That one in the middle next to Abraham is so realistic!

One of my favorite exhibits was a room like a TV studio where Tim Russert ‘hosted’ the 1880 election for NBC news. They put together TV ads for the four major candidates and ran them as a ‘what if the 1880 election had today’s technology.’ It was great to see the different perspectives of the candidates. On one hand there were totally pro-slavery commercials, while others advertised a candidate who said a lot of vague, inspiring words and rallied voters like never before…who promptly lost the actual election. Another great exhibit examined the truth behind the ‘Lincoln Myth,’ the idea that his presidency was one big hunky-dory time of agreement. Nothing could be further from the proof. He started a war that he felt he had to win at all costs, going so far as to suspend certain personal freedoms for US citizens. There was a very vocal portion of the population who disagreed with ‘Lincoln’s war’ and made sure the world new it. His reelection was so unsure that the Republicans had to admit some new states to ensure he would win…

To finish off our Lincoln excursion, we headed over to his tomb. I have visited at many gravesites and tombs of famous people, but this one was truly impressive. The outside, a giant obelisk, stands surrounded by four statues, each representing one of the four services Lincoln commanded during the war. The hallways inside the tomb leading to Lincoln’s grave are lined with marble and statues of the president. Excerpts from his speeches adorn the wall. The resounding echoes of your footsteps in the hush really add something to the experience.

Later on we headed to New Salem, another Williamsburg like park. It was here that Lincoln established his store…which failed. It was here that Lincoln started reading law books. By the time he left, he was well on the way to becoming a lawyer. Here’s a picture of my dad cleverly showing the irony of Lincoln's econmic misfortunes...

No trip would be complete without a little geocaching. Dad and I did a cache called “Lincoln Sites,” (GC963C) which took us to six waypoints all around Springfield. Fortunately, we wanted to visit all of the Lincoln sites and this cache gave us extra incentive. The final cache was in this great park a little south-west of the capitol. If we ever go back to Springfield, this is definitely the place to have a picnic. Here I am with the final cache.

All in all, our trip to Springfield was incredible. I would go back in a heartbeat. The only problem we had was finding restaurants (that weren’t fast food) to eat dinner at. The whole city’s food service seems to shut down after three.

The trip seems to have gotten some of my juices flowing, so expect to hear from me again soon.

Thanks for reading!

-Sean