Friday September 6 - Abraham Lincoln

     It was a sunny, but very hot day in Springfield because of the humidity and lack of cloud cover.  Somehow 92 degrees can feel like the middle of summer in Dallas! 

     After a short drive in from the campground and parking, the first site one sees is Union Station across from the Museum proper.  While it contains a visitor information center, we didn't go in as we were anxious to see the museum.  Note the two concrete pillars in the lower left of the picture.  They are iconic totems created by the sculpture Preston Jackson commemorating the infamous 48-hour race riots in 1908, when mob violence in Springfield led to the deaths of seven folks, 40 homes and 24 businesses destroyed.  This event specifically led to the founding of the NAACP in 1909.
     Probably one of the most popular photo ops in Springfield is located in the rotunda of the Museum when you first enter.  Becky was the lucky individual to pose with the Lincoln family, and if you look closely you will see John Wilkes Booth watching from the background!
     This Museum is phenomenal, and so well done.  The visitor has several choices to make on where to go, and to us the most logical was to start in the walkway through his boyhood home cabin.  You basically walk from one setting in his life to the next, each with well done mannequins, photos, dioramas, and explanations of events.  One follows his life from his birth in Kentucky up to the time he enters the White House.  You then follow through the historic events we're all familiar with, ending with a recreation of the hall in the old Illinois state capital building where his casket was displayed.  One really neat experience is a small room set up as a TV newscast studio, where Tim Russet is shown as a TV anchorman explaining the Presidential race of 1860 that Lincoln won.  There were 4 candidates, and he narrates and shows photos and reenactments of each as if they were real candidates today.  Very entertaining, and very informative. 
     There are additionally  two separate theatres leading off the main hall, both unique and both great experiences.  The first was the a holographic theatre where the stage is set up as the Lincoln Presidential Library, and an actor, representing the ghost of a Union soldier that died, explains the events of the war.  The other theatre is a 3-screen multi-media presentation of many of the events of Lincoln's life, with the narrator again explaining those events.  It uniquely uses sound an light effects to create the feeling you're participating in the action.
     We drove out to the Oak Ridge cemetery, the location of the Lincoln tomb and Memorial.  Note the bust of Lincoln and the shiny nose from millions of tourists rubbing it for luck!  We chose not to.
     There are also a number of Memorials to different wars at the cemetery, but we didn't locate them.
     The rest of the day we just relaxed out at the campground.  It was really too hot to do much else.
     In summary, it was a good place to visit, and one we would highly recommend!