The heat is still hanging on this morning. We only had to step outside and immediately begin to sweat. The air was heavy with humidity. In spite of this, we headed into downtown Springfield to visit the Lincoln Museum before heading east to Ridge Farm, Illinois later in the afternoon.
The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum is actually composed of two buildings that sit across the street from one another joined by an above-street walkway. Across from them is the restored Union Depot which is a beautiful building. Union Depot serves as a visitor center for historic Springfield and Illinois tourism. Upon entering the Gateway and purchasing our tickets we immediately moved into the Plaza, which is a circular area offering the opportunity to make discoveries about the Abraham Lincoln from his birth to his death. It is from the Plaza that we began our journey; and what a journey it was!
Union Station, which now serves as a visitor center, lies across the street from the museum. As statue of Lincoln sits on the southeast corner of the courtyard.
The Plaza of the museum is on a floor of marble. Around the perimeter are entrances to two theaters, the gift shop, two exhibit galleries, and replicas of a Kentucky log cabin and the White House in Washington. To explore Lincoln’s early life visitors enter through the cabin.
Wax figures of the Lincoln family who occupied the White House greet visitors. To explore Lincoln’s presidential years visitors enter the door of the portico.
The “Lincoln’s Eyes” presentation was about to begin in Union Theater, so we headed there first. The presentation was about 15 minutes in length and very well done. The multi-screen presentation. with tremendous sound and lighting effects, implements the use of scrims on which are displayed static as well as moving images. It was a tremendous way to set the stage for the remainder of the visit. The presentation tells the story of an artist and the things he discovered in the process of researching information about Abraham Lincoln and compares the popular image of the President with other, little-known facts so that visitors can capture the “real image” of Lincoln.
A life-size wax figure of Lincoln as a young teen awaits visitor to the log cabin.
Upon leaving there we worked our way through Lincoln’s development years by entering the replica of cabin in which Lincoln was born in Kentucky. The wax figures, the music, the displays brought his story to life right before our eyes. We learned that he particularly liked reading Aesop’s fables as a child. The wax figures depicting a slave auction in New Orleans (Lincoln made one trip down the Mississippi to Louisiana early in his career) made us begin to understand his position on slavery and the weight he would carry with him during the presidential years. When Lincoln was serving as an attorney in Springfield he was quoted as saying: “When the white man governs himself, that is self-government; but when he governs himself and also governs another man, that is more than self-government — that is despotism. If the negro is a man, why then my ancient faith tells me that ‘all men are created equal’ and that there can be no moral right in connection with one man’s making a slave of another.” (Springfield, Illinois, October, 1854)
We next went to the presentation called “Ghosts of the Library” in the Holavision Theater. The presentation is sponsored by AT&T. Again, the music and the excellent technological effects elicited strong emotions of events in Lincoln’s life as the “curator” took viewers on a tour of some of the Library’s archives. This presentation helped us prepare for the journey through the White House years.
After entering through the White House portico there is a display of Mary Lincoln and some of the dresses worn by her and wives of other political dignitaries of the time, some of whom who were not fond of her or of Mr. Lincoln. As we continued through the area we encountered the may political posters that were critical of Lincoln. We saw that politics was as cruel then as it is today. The tour includes a visit to a room where Lincoln and his cabinet are debating the release of The Emancipation Proclamation, an executive order issued by Lincoln on January 1, 1863. In this area one learns that Lincoln was trying to deal with slavery in an delicate and politically astute manner while driven by his strong desire to preserve the Union.
The impact of the war, the loss of a child (Willie) took their toll on the Lincoln and could be evidenced in the pictures displayed of him from the beginning of the presidency to his death. Near the end of the walk through this area we viewed the Ford’s Theater display with wax figures of the Lincoln’s. Next came the map of the train trip carrying Lincoln’s body from Washington to Springfield. By this point we were both dealing with the sense of loss as we walked into the final exhibit, a replica of Lincoln’s coffin lying in state in Illinois’ Capitol — a very powerful, moving experience indeed.
In the park across the street in front of Union Depot stands the bronze replicas of two chimneys that depict the racial tension of 1908 in Springfield which erupted into mob action. From this sprang the development of the NAACP organization. A bronze statute of Lincoln also stands at the entrance to the park, the pose giving one the perception that Lincoln is striding toward the museum and library.
The Old Capitol Building, as it is known today, was constructed in Springfield after the capital moved from Vandalia to Springfield. The building was completed in 1840. It is constructed of locally-quarried yellow Sugar Creek limestone. In the mid-1960’s it was totally disassembled and rebuilt. The fence that surrounds the building is a replica of the original fence. It was in this building that Lincoln served the state legislature, gave his now famous “House Divide” speech in it’s Representative Hall, and where he made his announcement to run for the Presidency of the United States. In 2007 Barack Obama used this building as a backdrop to his presidential announcement.
We had an unexpected pleasure while returning to our car. On the sidewalk, while trying to stay in the shade of the buildings, we literally bumped into some friends from Yipsilanti, Michigan who are member of the GMC Eastern States Motorhome Club, Nick, Theresa, and Athena Chapekis.
After leaving Springfield we continued on to a small town south of Danville to spend the night with Larry and Peggy Stahl in Ridge Farm, Illinois. Larry and Peggy were family to Byron for many years before his divorce. They chose to continue to call him family and have welcomed Martha as well. Anytime we are in the area we stop in to visit and are always welcomed into their home. It was a delight to visit with them on our last night “on the road.” We also had the pleasure of visiting with two of their children, Glenn and Brian and some of their families. It seemed only fitting that since our trip began with visiting family that it should end that way as well. Family is important.
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