I began my trip to Illinois at Springfield on Labor Day. I wanted to take in as much Lincoln as possible, so I began at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library & Museum, which is the state museum to commemorate the 16th President of the United States. It had a number of nice features and rooms to visit, but it was a mild day in late summer, and I was eager to get Tamu out of the car and visit the National Park site before it closed. So I headed over to the Lincoln Home National Historic Site, which features the house Lincoln lived in before he moved the White House. Since he was assassinated in office, the house passed to his son Robert Todd Lincoln upon his death. Robert worked in Chicago, so the house was never occupied again. In order to protect it from memorabilia-seeking vandals, he sold it to the federal government for $1 with the stipulation that visitors be allowed to visit for free.
The house is beautifully preserved. It is not as grand as Washington’s Mt. Vernon, a place that is very familiar to me. In Springfield, you see Lincoln the accomplished lawyer at this point in his life, settled in a prominent house with his wife and family. Lincoln lived in a number of states in the area, and each offers a glimpse of his life at that point. In an effort to tell this one, the National Park Service has restored other houses in the neighborhood, and you can move around and read a bit of the social history of the area as it existed in 1861. One house was part of the Underground Railroad, as Lincoln had a neighbor who had escaped and then ran a station a few blocks from the future president. Tamu enjoyed stretching his legs, and I thought the greater neighborhood offered tremendous insight into the man who became President, which is harder to do for the Presidents who have been more isolated in their land holding.
We had arrived in the mid-afternoon of a holiday, so many things were closed or closing while we ambled around the Lincoln Home. I headed into the town center to get a sense of place. The state capitol dominates the built environment, but Lincoln’s old law firm is easily spotted. Outside it stands statuary of the man with his wife and son. A few steps away, a plaque marks the spot where the ill-fated Donner Family departed for the West and their destiny, which was a break in the Lincoln narrative.
From the town, Tamu and I headed over to the Lincoln gravesite for one last stop in Springfield. We had no guide, but I was delighted to have access to it on the evening of a holiday. It is a well known history: Lincoln was assassinated at the Ford’s Theater in Washington in 1865 and then transported back to Springfield by railroad for burial. Ford’s Theater was within a block of my work place, so almost every step of that area of DC is well known to me. The Springfield grave was peaceful and impressive. Judging from the shiny nose, presumably Lincoln dispenses good fortune to those who visit him.
