8/29 - Springfield: Lincoln Museum

Our final day of sightseeing was a leisurely visit to the Lincoln Museum.....leisurely only after spending a lot of time circling blocks looking for a surface lot where we could park. There are lots of parking garages but they don't work for us. I finally called the museum and got directions to a nearly empty lot where we could park which was actually for buses. No one bothered the truck and we couldn't find anyone to pay so it worked out fine.

Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum

We didn't get into a position to get a good picture of the buildings so here's the one from their Facebook page. The museum is on the left, the library on the right.

Wax figures of Lincoln family in front of the White House

Replica of Lincoln's childhood home in a one-room log cabin

Lincoln's family was poor by today's standards but not so much for a frontier family. At one point there were his father, step-mother and seven children living in a one-room log cabin so Abe had little time and space for himself. He had a hard-working childhood helping his father provide for the family. The death of his mother when he was nine had a big effect on him, but he loved and totally accepted his new step-mother Sarah when his father remarried a year later. He had very little formal schooling, teaching himself to read and studying everything he could get his hands on. Sarah encouraged his reading and was extremely proud of him.

No flash photography is allowed in the museum and there are several areas where photography isn't allowed at all, so we have few interior pictures.

Gutzon Borglum sculpture of the President

This plaster cast was made by Gutzon Borglum, of Mount Rushmore fame, in preparation for a 1908 marble version now in the Rotunda at the U.S. Capitol. The piece has no left ear. Borglum told Congress that Lincoln's "right side was determined, developed, ancient. The left side was immature." 

Union Station, side away from tracks

Union Station's track side

Union Station is across the street from the museum and library. It has been beautifully preserved. It was the site of Lincoln's farewell speech when he left for his inauguration and the destination of his funeral train.

Tomorrow we head 325 miles south to Clarksville, TN, which is on the Kentucky line slightly northwest of Nashville. We are hoping to stay ahead of the remains of Harvey over the next two days.