a. lincoln, the rest of the story

After Coles campground on the Carlyle Reservoir we went to Springfield, IL and completed our tribute to Abraham Lincoln.  There we visited the house he lived in with Mary Todd Lincoln and their growing family. The house where three of his sons were born and one died. The house they lived in when he was elected President. The house that was his home. The National Park Service has taken a four block cross section with the Lincoln home in the center and recreated how it would have looked in the 1860s, just after his first presidential election. It was well done with several of the houses open for touring, and an outdoor performance by "the Lincoln's" (Abe and Mary Todd) and some others, but the heat was getting to me so we just walked down one of the wooden sidewalks and visited the house. We were able to tour the house with a guide and saw how the Lincoln's rooms were arranged, their wallpaper and rug choices (personally, I thought they were a bit gaudy, bold colors and prints mixed together in odd combinations, but maybe they were all the rage at the time 😳? The guide told us the wallpaper in the bedroom came from France and seemed quite proud of it 🤷). We also saw a few pieces of their actual furniture, in addition to other period pieces.

 

After visiting his house, we finished our tribute by visiting his tomb in Oak Ridge Cemetery, also located in Springfield.  This, to no surprise, was also a moving experience. The inside was built as a rotunda that leads one on a journey to view  bronze cast sculptures representing Abraham Lincoln, at various stages in his life, with many of his most impactful words and speeches inserted on bronze tablets in-between the sculptures. And then you come to his tomb. Goosebumps, chills, tears.

He was not perfect. Not all of his decisions were correct. I'm sure given a second chance he would have chosen to do some things differently. 

Wouldn't we all?

I'm grateful that I was able to show respect and thank the Lord for this President, this leader, this man.

Early political advertising 

This was Lincoln's home, where he was a husband and a father. Where his law practice thrived and life blossomed with possibilities.

ironwork balcony 

Lincoln's writing desk in the bedroom. (Note the wallpaper and then add the rug , yikes! 🤷)

The family stove.  They decided to leave it in Springfield, to come home to, looking forward to those happy times when they would be an ordinary family living under one roof again. Of course that never happened. None of the Lincoln family ever returned to live in their former home again.

Lincoln's Tomb. Oakridge Cemetery, Springfield, IL 

Inside. Just a few images to share the impression. Not fabulous photography here, I was too pensive to consider that. I wasn't going to take any photos, then decided I had to.

We spent the night in Springfield at our first Harvest Host stop. Harvest Hosts is an organization of farms, orchards, breweries, wineries, etc, often family or independently run that allow travellers to spend the night for free as long as they patronize the host. There are no hookups, but it is free. It's usually a one night deal as you are travelling to your next destination. We tried out Springfield Beer Company.  The beer was good. I liked the logo. It was right next to a movie theater so we went to an actual movie! That was fun.

But ………the brewery was at an intersection so we had a major (read as multi-lane) road in front of us, one behind us, an in-use railroad track behind the road, and a road beside us. 🙄

It was "quite" bright (I considered sleeping in sunglasses 😎) and as for noise… Let's just say, you couldn't have heard any crickets even if there had been an orchestra in our camper!  Oh and the train went through about 3 times between 11:00pm and 6:00am, and it blew it's whistle a lot because there were a lot of roads to cross.🤷

Lessons learned: 🧐

harvest host works well. 

Be a bit more discriminating re: location of host. 

Next stop: Mark Twain Lake Reservoir, Missouri