Day 27 and 28, Our last two days!

 Lincoln's Home, Springfield, IL, the only one he and Mary ever owned

 View from across the street.  The whole neighborhood was part of a National Historic Site with the US Park Service.

 Round Barn, Park County, IN

Round Barn, Park County, IN

On Friday, we drove from Chillicothe, Missouri, to Springfield, IL.  This was our first time to visit Springfield though we both grew up just a little over two hours away.  

We started with a visit to the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum.  It was a wonderful, user friendly museum.  What struck us was that the times Lincoln lived in were as politically contentious, probably even more so, than today.  Lincoln and his wife were demonized for their stand on slavery.  Mary Lincoln spent many hours looking after and reading to wounded soldiers but got little credit for her good deeds in the press.  Instead, the press and much of the public considered her a traitor because she had a brother-in-law who served in the Confederacy.  Very harsh personal attacks were aimed at President and Mrs. Lincoln.  Lincoln was cartooned often as a monkey -- sound familiar??  The Lincolns lost three of their four sons to diseases that today could have been cured, they were vilified by the Press and public, Mr. Lincoln suffered severe depression while in office, and Mrs. Lincoln was committed to an asylum for the insane after his death.  It is a shame they were visited with so much tragedy.  I think both Mary and President Lincoln would be very surprised that he is so revered today.

We next visited the Lincoln home.  It was a bit eerie in a cool way to be in this home furnished with many of the pieces the Lincolns used.  The Lincoln's did quite a bit of enlarging and improving the home which they purchased for $1500 in May 1844.  The wood stove in the kitchen was amazing.  There was gas at the time, but Mary was afraid of it.  The stove was only eight month's old when they moved to the White House. 

On to our home town of Cayuga, IN, where we visited with my family.  The barn is about a quarter of a mile from my brother's home.

We made it home late Saturday evening.  Loved our trip.  Glad so many of you came with us.

Signing off till our next trip, Bill and Marsha, happy to be home