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Saturday June 7, 2008
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We headed out on our Midwest Adventure – Part II – on Friday night making it all the way up to Murfreesboro outside of Nashville for our first night away from home. We knew that would make our trip to Springfield, Illinois on Saturday much better. Saturday morning we got an early start and after a quick lunch stop in St. Louis, we arrived in Springfield – the home of Abraham Lincoln. We made our first stop at the Lincoln Home National Historic Site. This is the only home Lincoln lived in during his adult life other than the White House. He lived her for 17 years with his wife and his four children. One of the children, Eddie, died at age four in the home. All of the children except for the oldest, Robert, died before reaching adulthood. We enjoyed touring the house and street that has been set up to resemble the way the street looked in Abe’s time and learning more about our 16th President. We spent the night in Springfield and plan to visit the Lincoln Presidential Museum and Library on Sunday.
Sunday, June 8, 2008
We got an early start today and headed downtown. Our first stop was the Union Station Visitors Center which is located directly across from the Lincoln Presidential Museum and Library. We gathered some information and set off for our day. We first headed to the Lincoln Presidential Museum. It was a great museum! We spent about 4 hours there exploring the different exhibits. It as very interactive and the kids thoroughly enjoyed there time there. They weren’t that excited about going there initially, but both left saying how much they enjoyed it. There were two shows included in the museum – one is called “Ghosts of the Library” and it depicts a Civil War “ghost” telling his account in the Lincoln Library and the other includes special effects is called “Lincoln’s Eyes” providing a wide overview of Lincoln’s life. The exhibits were divided into Pre-Presidential Years and the White House Years. We learned a lot about Lincoln, his wife, as well as experiencing the pulse of the United Sates during that time frame. From the museum we went over to the Train Depot where Lincoln me his famous farewell speech as he headed off to Washington DC to begin as President. It was neat to think about that as it was the last time he was ever alive in his “hometown” of Springfield. From the Depot we headed over to Oak Wood Cemetery to Lincoln’s Tomb where the body of Lincoln, his wife Mary Todd, and their sons, Eddie, Tad, and Willie are buried. Mark became fascinated with the plot to steal Lincoln’s body and read up on that failed scheme with a book he purchased at the museum store. Robert Lincoln is buried at Arlington Cemetery in DC but the tomb contains a memorial plaque to Robert. From the tomb we headed out of town on our journey to Waterloo, Iowa.
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