Today, we decided to drive up to Springfield, IL to visit the museum and grave of Abraham Lincoln. It was a wonderful warm, sunny day for the visit. On the drive to Springfield, we saw a lot of farmland with wheat ready to harvest and waist-high cornfields. It was easy to see that we were closing in on our objective. Right next to the freeway was a large white industrial building with a sign painted on it, "Visit Mr. Lincoln's Hometown - Springfield, Exit 98B". We turn off at Exit 98B and was soon driving down to the center of town. There is a large square (4 city blocks) were blocked off to traffic and was restored to what it would have looked like when Lincoln was living there. First we went into the Visitors Center, where we were given a map of the town, showing where Lincoln's house, Museum and Presidential Library was located. While in the Visitors Center, in the auditorium there was a "senior citizen" dressed like Mary Lincoln giving a one-person performance. She was great! You would think she really was Mrs. Lincoln! After her monologue, a group of young people sang a few of the old favorite songs acapella. If this new blog site accepts videos, we will include one here. Next, we were off to take a tour of Lincoln's home. Most of the furnishings were "period pieces"...however, during the restoration, they found some old wallpaper that had actually was in the house. So, they had it made and wallpapered the room(s) where it was found. I believe also they had the original bed that Lincoln slept in. You can take a photo visit to the home. Very interesting - notice the water pump and the outhouse out back!

We walked down the street and had lunch at Obed & Isaac's Microbrewery. (Don't worry, for me the drink problem has been solved, as long as I take a few simple steps and listen to my Higher Power!) After lunch, we walked about 4 blocks to the Lincoln Presidential Museum. On the way, we passed the building in which Abe Lincoln and William Herndon had set up their law offices. Abe was known to have argued cases before the Illinois State Supreme Court successfully.

Onward to the presidential museum, the museum was laid out so that you could see Lincoln's life - pre-presidential era and during his presidency. When we entered the pre-presidential era, we started with Lincoln as a young man learning to read by fire light in his parents log cabin. Later, he worked in a local merchantile, waiting on customers - Honest Abe. As a young man, he made several trips down the Mississippi River to New Orleans, where he often saw slaves on the "auction blocks" and came to revile slavery for how it dehumanize blacks and tore apart families. Obviously, it became his "mission" to abolish slavery, believing that the Constitution was correct, that "all men are created equal."

We saw Abe during his courtship of Mary Todd and soon their wedding. They purchased their house two years after their marriage. All four of their sons were born in Springfield. Robert Todd Lincoln was born in 1843. Edward Baker Lincoln was born in 1846, but died at age 3 in 1850 of tuberculosis. William Wallace Lincoln was born in late 1850. Thomas "Tad" Lincoln was born in 1853.

Ten years later, Abe Lincoln received the party nomination to run for the Illinois Senate seat after meeting with Whig party officials in the parlor of his home. The house became a magnet to people after Abe received the nomination. In 1858 came the seven Lincoln-Douglas debates in the state of Illinois. It looked like Douglas was the heavily favored candidate to win the election, and win he did. However the debates had elevated Lincoln to national status and in 1860, was asked to be the delegate for the newly formed Republican Party. The rest is history. Lincoln was elected president in 1861 and gave his farewell speech from his railcar before departing for Washington.

The years in the White House are covered in the next section of the museum. Lincoln's election signaled the southern states to start seceding from the Union. By the time of Lincoln's inauguration, seven state had seceded and formed the Confederate States of America. A month later, the Civil War began at Fort Sumter, SC. The war took a heavy toll on Lincoln.

The heavy toll that came to the Lincoln family on February 20, 1862, one week after the Inauguration Ball, Willie died of a fever. Scene of Mary dressed in black were shown as she wore her grief on the outside. However, Abe kept his grief in as he struggled to maintain day-to-day duties as president.

The Civil War raged on. Confident that the Civil War would be won by Union troops, Lincoln began working on the Emancipation Proclamation. It was issued after the decisive Battle at Antietam on September 22, 1862. One of his more notable speeches given at Gettysburg occurred on November 19, 1863. The end of the Civil War is considered to be over on April 9, 1865 when General Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox Courthouse in Appomattox, VA. Five days later, President Lincoln was shot on the evening of April 14, 1965 while attending a performance at the Ford Theater. He died the next morning, across the street at a boarding house. His body lay in state on a catafalque for three days. Three days later, his body and that of his son, Willie (exhumed) and placed on a train. Thousands of people lined the train route from D.C. to Springfield, IL. They were buried in Oak Ridge Cemetery near Springfield.

Our last visit on this day was to Oak Ridge Cemetery to see Lincoln's tomb. The entrance to the tomb had closed when we arrived, but still it had been a full day of history of Abraham Lincoln from young adulthood to his presidency to his death and burial.