Looking for Lincoln

It was an exciting weekend for the history nerds of the family. We started off our weekend with a trip to El Paso.

El Paso Illinois that is. Betcha didn't know there was an El Paso, Illinois did you? Neither did we. I have to say the name seemed really out of place here with the surrounding cities named Rockport, Lincoln, Bloomington, etc. There weren't any cacti either. Oh well, it didn't stop us from going into town to try to find a Taco Cabana or a Carlos and Mickeys. Just kidding.

On to the real adventure. We took a little trip down to Springfield Illinois to check out all of the Abraham Lincoln cites. I have always been fascinated with Abraham Lincoln so this was very exciting for me. I did some research on the Internet before we left and found several things that I want to see. I think we are going to have to go back. By the way, if anyone is doing church history anytime soon and you go to Nauvoo, Springfield is less than 3 hours away and would be completely worth the drive.

Since I have never been to Springfield, I had no idea what to expect. Since we have been living near a huge city, I expected Springfield to be similar since it is the capitol of the state. Not so. It's population is only 100,000. It is very slow paced and a very nice city. We really liked it.

First we went over to the only home that Lincoln owned. He lived in it for 17 years and it is one of the only homes that was photographed in this time period. Apparently, his political party took a picture of it during the election to show everyone that he wasn't a redneck (sorry couldn't think of a better term) living in a cabin out in the middle of nowhere.
The tour was very interesting. The guide said that people lived in this house until 1950. Can you imagine living in Abraham Lincoln's house???? Unfortunately, Garrison and I missed the last of the tour since Garrison very nearly passed out. He is slowly recovering from bronchitis and the flu and doesn't quite have his energy back yet. After that I had him ride in the stroller so he wouldn't get so tired and he was NOT happy with that but eventually agreed.

Next we went to the Lincoln depot. This is where Lincoln left Springfield for Washington DC when he became president. He gave an impromptu speech there that later became famous and I have to admit it brings a little tear to my eye.

We went to the Old Capitol building. This is a very interesting building. I love seeing how things were in the early years of our great country.

This is where Lincoln practiced law before he became president.

I've always wanted to go to a presidential library. The museum is right next to it but we will go back to Springfield for that. We need more time for that than we had this time around.

Lincoln's tomb was our next stop. This was really neat. Pictures just don't do it justice.





At the cemetery where Lincoln's tomb is we saw a bunch of these trees.

Look how huge their blossoms are. Does anyone know what kind of tree this is?

Lastly we went over to the Illinois state museum. The kids thought this was great. They got to make recycled paper:


and look at some neat animal exhibits and historical things pertaining to the state of Illinois. My favorite quote of the day is by Garrison. We were looking at some broken tools and pottery from a dig and Garrison said "Look Mom! A bunch of ancient broken things!" ha ha.

I was surprised when I walked around the corner and saw a picture of something familiar.

I don't know why it surprised me to find a picture and information about the Nauvoo temple. It is an important part (in my mind) of the history of the state of Illinois. Still, it was exciting to see it in the museum. Also, in the museum it said that Joseph Smith told all of the saints to scratch the name of Abraham Lincoln off of their voting ballots. I'm not sure if this is true or not so I am going to research that one. However, it also said that regardless of this, Lincoln was a true supporter and kind to the Latter Day Saints.

Also, there was a map of the slave underground railroad. I was surprised to see that it went right through Plainfield, Illinois. It's unreal for me to see all of these things and know that so many historical things have happened right were I am. When we are studying church history in Sunday school I remember that some of the things we are discussing happened just a few of hours away from here. I imagine Abraham Lincoln living just a few hours away, sitting in this living room that I just saw and hearing the news that the state of South Carolina just left the union.
Amazing!

Yes, I know. I'm a nerd.......and congratulations to anyone who suffered through this incredibly long, boring to anyone but me post.