Figurines of the Lincolns at the White House. Photo by Richard Varr
Earlier this year, I visited Springfield and Alton, Illinois to follow the footsteps of Abraham Lincoln when he was a lawyer and before he left for the White House. I spent the day at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum and was particularly impressed with the life-sized dioramas of the 16th U.S. president. My story was published in the Good Sam RV Club magazine Coast to Coast, and includes some Route 66 places to visit as well. An excerpt is below. To read the full story, click on this link:
Click to access Lincoln%27s+Illinois+C2C+Fall+2023.pdf
=====================================================
Diorama of Lincoln as a boy. Photo by Richard Varr
EXCERPT: LINCOLN’S ILLINOIS
By Richard Varr
A teenage boy sits on a tree stump, his eyes staring blankly and deep in thought. He’s clutching a book of Aesop’s Fables, perhaps imagining a life that awaits him beyond his log cabin home in a rustic setting. I walk up to the boy with his dark eyebrows and thick brown hair, getting a feeling that if I spoke with him, he would talk back.
“This young boy around ten years old in Indiana is taking a break during the day, reading for a few minutes and daydreaming about going out and exploring the world someday,” says Christopher Wills, Communications Director with Springfield’s Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum. “He did not like the life of chopping wood and raising corn. So whenever he could, he was reading Aesop’s Fables, the Bible, and trying to connect with a bigger world outside.”
Young Lincoln reading at the fireplace. Photo by Richard Varr
We’re standing in front of the latex figurine of a young Lincoln, one of the many incredible life-like figures depicting the 16th President from childhood and his years in Springfield, to his final years in Washington. Lincoln spent his most formative and perhaps happiest times here, raising a family and working as lawyer that had him traveling around Illinois. “Everything is very meticulously researched and placed,” continues Wills. “One of the great things about this place is the way it lets you step into Lincoln’s Life, to feel like you’re surrounded by it and right there besides him.”
Lincoln’s home in Springfield. Photo by Richard Varr
The museum’s many artifacts include the skirt wife Mary Todd Lincoln was wearing when she was married, a doorplate and key from the Lincoln’s Springfield home, and many of his letters from day to day business. Soldiers’ uniforms and photos highlight the Civil War years, while the Slavery in America exhibit details the horror of how enslaved families were separated at auctions. Key historical documents stored inside the adjacent Presidential Library building include a signed copy of the Emancipation Proclamation and a handwritten copy of the Gettysburg Address – displayed only on a rotating basis to preserve them.
Lincoln-Douglas debate diorama. Photo by Richard Varr
What I find most interesting, however, are the life-size dioramas of key moments in Lincoln’s life and presidency depicting, for example, his kids frolicking in his Springfield law office, his cabinet discussing the Emancipation Proclamation, and a sullen Mary Lincoln grieving for her son Willie who died in the White House. Figurines of Lincoln and a finger-pointing Stephen A. Douglas re-imagine one of the famous 1858 debates to win an Illinois Senate seat. And there’s the iconic scene of a young Lincoln reading by the fireplace.
Diorama of Lincoln at the Ford Theater. Photo by Richard Varr
Yet what captures my attention the most is the diorama of the President and Mary Lincoln at the Ford Theater with assassin John Wilkes Booth lurking in the background, and the animated audio-visual theater presentation, “Ghosts of the Library,” telling Lincoln’s story with stunning hologram-like spirits.
Ghosts of the Library hologram presentation. Photo by Richard Varr
CLICK BELOW for the rest of the story:
Click to access Lincoln%27s+Illinois+C2C+Fall+2023.pdf
Welcome to my blog!
Richard Varr's Travel Blog 