Lincoln Museum

Springfield, Illinois
Springfield State Fairgrounds

Bill and I have visited Presidential Museums in the past, but nothing can compare with what we saw today.  Our day began with Joe and Alice Knox agreeing we should leave by 9 am when they open.  The Lincoln Museum was close by and there is no traffic.  

The docents were kind enough to take our photo with the Lincoln's.  Notice the background is one exhibit called the presidential years.  

It was suggested that we  visit the first theater and then do the second one immediately following.  The first theater was about the library and had ghostly special effects that left us in awe.  The second theater was about Lincoln's history.  The chairs vibrated and there was smoke during the war scenes.  There was a main stage and then two other screens the same size.  You had to keeping looking all around so you didn't miss anything.  You were very limited in what you could photo, but this would be a place where photos couldn't give you the experience of being there.  

The next exhibit was the boyhood cabin but once you entered it you just keep winding around to the story of Abraham Lincoln.  It began with his young years and then a timeline of his life until he was elected.  

They had a broadcast room which showed how the media in present day would have portrayed him and the other candidates that ran against him.

  The next exhibit was the Presidential Years.  Bill took this photo from outside as you couldn't take photos from inside.  This is the first lady and portrayed all the problems she had trying to fit in.

Bill assassinated the assassin. 

There was an interesting map that traced the Civil War and the casualties.  The scale was one week equaled a second.  

Our tickets for the play was for 1:30 it gave us time to stop in their Subway for a bite to eat and to get off our feet.  

The play was about Ford Theater and very well done but we were getting tired.  One person in our group had a power nap. 

As we left the museum Bill suggested we visit the Lincoln Library right across the street. Someone had a second wind and I wonder who had a power nap. I remember when we visited the Gerald Ford Museum with the Del Rosario's in Michigan it turned out the Ford Library was in a different city.

There was a "Boys in Blue" exhibit that had some statistics of Andersonville, a mural of Andersonville and a list of happening to the individuals incarcerated.  It was a very sad time in our history. 

This is the Union Depot that we walked pass on the way to the parking lot. 

I had noticed the Charred Chimneys from my cell phone app Sandy Dixon told me about.  The sculptures were called Acts of Intolerance.  They were representative of the Springfield Race Riot of 1908.

The scenes on the sculpture represent intolerance and also redemption. The news of this race riot just blocks from the Lincoln home swept across the country.  It became the catalyst for the founding of the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) which was founded in New York City on Lincoln's birthday 1909.

Joe and Alice are staying another day to see some more of the sites.  Our plans are to head to Indiana tomorrow.  

There's so much to see and do here, three full days aren't enough.  Springfield will be on our come back list as we've thoroughly enjoyed our stay.  

Turtle Safely.......