Springfield

Wednesday Jared took the day off and we headed up to Springfield to see the Abraham Lincoln sites. We started at the Lincoln home where he and Mary Todd had lived before going to Washington. They had closed off several blocks to pedestrian traffic only. We got to go inside a couple other houses also.

Then we continued down the street to the church they attended. It was fun to learn that Mary Todd had "her" pew also. She even wrote their pastor from Washington asking him to keep her pew for her.(My pictures from the church didn't turn out.) From there we saw the Law Office Lincoln worked at and the Old State Capitol.

My friend had recommended a little deli that happened to be right between the offices and old capitol so we ordered sandwiches and ate on benches outside.

These guns and swords were used in the Civil War.
This was one of the drums used in the Civil War also

From there we returned in our cars and drove to the cemetery. We were not expecting the monument there to be so big. One of the workers asked Jared to remove his hat before entering the tomb. While making this request, he noticed Jared's BYU-I alumni ambassador shirt. He asked Jared if he was mormon. When Jared replied in the affirmative, he said he had a story that would interest us. He then proceed to tell Jared that when Joseph Smith was brought to Springfield on false charges he was taken to the Federal Courthouse adjacent to the Lincoln Law office. (the only Federal courthouse in Illinois at the time) The judge released him due to a lack of evidence. Joseph went across the street and rented a room at a building there were he gave a few sermons. It is believe that Lincoln and Mary Todd may have been in attendance. Don't know how much of that is true, but its pretty cool if it is. We weren't expecting to get any church history from this trip.

Soldiers used to come rub the nose of Lincoln before leaving for war. It was supposed to bring them back home safely. That led to people of all sorts rubbing his nose for good luck.

We then headed about 1/2 north to a reconstruction of an old town named New Salem. Lincoln lived here as a young man. He moved to New Salem after leaving his parents house before getting married. The old log buildings have been reconstructed so the village looks like it would've during the mid 1800's. In the summer months, there are demonstrations and volunteers in period clothing. We were too early for all of that, but we did get to walk along and peek in the buildings. There was a gift shop with all kinds of neat item in it. It actually reminded me of the gift shops in Nauvoo with the pioneer dresses and bonnets. They also had all the children games from that time period for sale. I bought the kids a candy stick as a treat. I remember selling candy sticks as a child for 4-H.