DAY 15 – July 13, 2012 – Springfield, IL – Abraham Lincoln

We did camp last night at New Salem and it was great.  The campgrounds are nice, large, and very shaded.  We woke up this morning and headed to Springfield.  We had planned to go to Clayville Historic Site in Pleasant Plains, Illinois.  I believe it is a smaller site similar to New Salem.  I don’t have the map in front of me, but I think it is on the way to Springfield, but having seen two “old cities”, I think we have covered that, we decided to go on.

When we got into Springfield the Visitors Center told us we should go straight to the Lincoln Home Visitors Center, because even though going to Lincolns Home is free, you do have to get tickets, and they run out sometimes.  So we went straight to the Lincoln Home Visitors Center.  We picked up tickets and also little booklets for our kids to be become Junior Park Rangers.  The booklet had some games that the kids had to do while we were touring, and if they finished they received little badges that they became Junior Park Rangers at the Lincoln Home.  They were very cute, and the younger kids were very intent on getting it.

They have vignettes and other events scheduled all week.  But glancing at the schedule, I would say their best events tend to be on Friday or Saturday.  So we were lucky to end up here on a Friday.

Our kids have been reading books like crazy in the motorhome, and they decided they hit the jackpot in Springfield.  Jawbreaker bought “The Price of Power” by Hersh and “Team of Rivals” by Goodwin.  Warhead bought “A History of the World in 100 Weapons” by McNab.  Their fun reading always boggles my mind.  But their names fit their reading interests I guess…

Lincolns Home

The Lincoln Home Visitors Center had a vignette with Mrs. Lincoln.  But our tickets overlapped the vignette, so we missed it and headed on the tour.  The tour is just for Lincolns home.  It isn’t long, but the rangers did a great job telling about the home, and helping the kids relate to what they were saying.  They were entertaining, and informative, and it was an enjoyable tour.

They have blocked off a small neighborhood surrounding the home that they are trying to restore.  Even though there are a handful of homes, there are only two others that you can go in.  They are not restored inside, but just museums with artifacts and plaques to read.  It was fine for the older ones, but the younger kids were very bored.  So we walked the street and looked at the architecture and headed on our way.

We headed to the Lincoln-Herndon Law Office.  I was excited for my kids to see the law office.  They are very interested in those types of things, but this turned out to be so disappointing, and it shouldn’t have been.   The highlights there are Lincolns Office, and the Courthouse that had many cases brought there, including (and this was a surprise to us) the Joseph Smith/Porter Rockwell trial over the attempted murder of Governor Boggs.

They had a tour guide that was really questionable, his name is Carl, so if you ever get him, ask for another tour guide!  He started out by talking about the buildings additions and tear downs and remodels.  It wasn’t very interesting.  Then he started talking about reported ghosts in the building.  He really talked about this for a while, which was kind of disappointing, since we were there to learn history not listen to ghost stories.  Then he started talking about rumors in town, and next thing he did was accuse Mary Lincoln of murdering their laundress over jealousy.  At that point, I was starting to get angry.  We’ve tried to explain to our kids, that just because somebody writes a book, or claims to be an expert in something doesn’t mean they are…there is so much crap out there.  Sometimes my kids have understood the point, but they are teenagers, who sometimes prefer to believe others over their parents, so I was really annoyed with this tour.  Even if the rumor existed, if there was no proof, please don’t talk about it on a historical tour!  I’m going to rant, because I can’t even begin to tell you how much this disturbs me today with how people cover history.

There is a lot of deconstructionism in history lessons today.  Historians, or “claimed tour guides” smear historical people by posing “a continuous critique”.  They want to lay low what was once high.  The steady flow of belittling and negative portrayals of American heroes is so destructive.  If we become a people that think nothing can be good, what is left for us to believe.  It seems our kids can tell us all the flaws of historical heroes, but know little of their values and virtues that honor or affirm them.  Okay there, now it’s been said.  But the tour didn’t end there.

Next he asked if there were any Mormons in the room.   We raised our hands, but he didn’t look our way, and it was apparent he didn’t see us.  I don’t know what that had to do with tour either, until he continued on.  He proceeded to tell us that he was told to ask that before he told this story…then starts to tell his version of the story of Joseph Smith coming to trial in that courtroom.  I very much understand that history can vary widely by the person telling it.  People’s views are different.  But similar to my feelings about Mary being accused of murdering an employed person in their home, rumors or feelings should not be a part of a historical tour.

The tour guide went on to tell the story of the Mormons being kicked out of Missouri with an extermination order from Governor Boggs.  Then he talked about them coming to Nauvoo and building the largest city in the state and having the largest militia.  Then he said that the Nauvoo militia went down and tried to kill Governor Boggs, they were then brought to trial here, but they were never convicted because of technicalities.

Well that “technicality” was that there was no proof or evidence of any kind that they played a part in it, but he didn’t mention that. They were brought to trial based on Governor Boggs suspicion of the Mormons…knowing that he killed many Mormons with his actions, and imagining that he would probably kill a person that did it to him, so it must have been the Mormons.

I understand the tour guide perhaps saying that many people believed that the Mormons had attempted it.  But to say they did it, when it was never proven in court, or outside of court is not historical.  This is were the bigotry that has followed Mormons comes from.  At that point I was sick about what he was saying, but didn’t know what to do about it and just sat and listened.  He even started quoting Joseph Smith supposedly, but they were quotes from Porter Rockwell and not Joseph.  I was grateful my children study history enough, that at least on this point if he had any credibility, he had lost it, and I no longer needed to really discuss it.

He went on to talk about Abraham Lincoln being a modern day batman…I won’t even start explaining that one…he brought in more ghost stories, and it was painfully over.  Had I paid for that experience, I would have demanded my money back, as it was a comment card was filled out.  It was a very disappointing tour, that could have easily been a great one.

Then we crossed the street to the Old Capital Building.  It is very cool and very old.  They had an actor dressed as General Grant speaking in one of the rooms.  It was enjoyable, and they were good.  The old building is beautiful and enjoyable to walk through.  While we were there, there was a Troubadour Concert and it was phenomenal.  Seriously some of the best singing I have ever heard, they were very talented.  On the main floor there is a room where they have some kid’s activities.  There are old toys, and some things they can make.  Our kids enjoyed it and came out with some things to bring home.

From there we went to the Lincoln Library.  I expected the library to be like the Ronald Reagan Library, but it’s not.  The Lincoln Library is for historians really, they have old letters to read and old photos.  They have rooms for historians to go in and study artifacts.  So we wondered the halls and looked at the displays, while our younger kids ran around bored.  After about 20 minutes of that we left.  Had I been alone as an adult, I probably would have told them I was a historian, and gone into the rooms and looked at artifacts and read more.  But it wasn’t really a family place, although my older boys that love history insisted they read every display before we left, thus the 20 minutes.

Then we crossed the street to the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum.  This is the first thing that cost anything.  But it was well worth it, and was what we were expecting the Lincoln Library to be.  It was great.  They have a couple of movies that are phenomenal with special effects, and holographic people.  They were very fun to watch.

I just read a biography of Lincoln (I wish I could remember the name of it…hopefully my sister is reading the blog and will blog the name of the biography she recommended to me…hint, hint.)  It was fabulous and very thorough.  And I really came to love Lincoln from that book.  I thought that the museum showed all the struggles, decisions, and conflicts that he had to deal with really well.  It was very moving.  All the kids enjoyed it.  We were there for hours.  We left when it closed at 5pm.

We only planned one day for Springfield, and everything closes at 5pm.   We had wanted to go to the Lincoln Tomb, but it closed at 5pm also.  So we did miss that.  I’ve tried to think what we could have cut out to get there.  I guess that ridiculous tour, but it was fun to see the rooms and the Lincoln-Herndon Law Office.  I guess we could have not spent so long in the Museum, but there was nothing I would have wanted to skip.  So I guess it is what it is.  Maybe Springfield takes a little more than 1 day, or maybe, if you don’t insist on reading everything, like I do, you could do it all.

But either way, the trip was great.  I am glad we went to Springfield.  I love Lincoln, not because he was perfect.  But because he was a human being, dealing with very hard things, and handled it the best he could with integrity.  And it turns out that even being a human being, with weaknesses and follies of sorts, if you do your best with a clear conscience, God can make it acceptable…and He did.  Lincoln is a great example of that.

Summary of Day 15
Drove:   184 miles

Places we visited:  Springfield the Visitors Center, Lincoln Home Visitors Center, Lincolns home, Lincoln-Herndon Law Office, Old Capital Building, Lincoln Library, Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum, then camped in Joliet, IL

Everyone’s favorite things about Springfield:
Jawbreaker: Lincoln Presidential Museum (specifically the replica the State Room that hosted Lincoln’s funeral visitation)
Spitz: Lincoln Museum
Bazooka: Lincolns Home
Warhead: Lincoln Presidential Museum (specifically the movie called “The Ghosts of the Museum”)
Starburst: Lincolns Presidential Museum (the White House Section)
Fireball:  Lincolns Presidential Museum
Mr. and Mrs. S: Lincolns Presidential Museum and Lincolns Neighborhood