Day 14 Land of Lincoln..Springfield , ILL

Me with Lincoln's family in the White house
Lincoln's home in Springfield. ( He won the presidential elecyion here)

Outhouse at his home

Jagdish with younf Lincoln at the log cabin

Boyscout rally ( All American)

Another day at Springfield. Weather is little better but still cold, rainy and windy. We have decided to stay here one extra day and soak in Lincoln stories along with the rain and cold.

Springfield is where he spent 20 years of his adult life and this is where he ran for the presidential race and won. Lots of history and we spent the day just taking it all in. The museum is very well done. It has several multimedia presentations , using live and hologram people and is complete with lights, sounds and laser effects. The recreations of Lincoln's early life, his election and civil war are also very informative as well as well presented. There were many TV news and newspaper articles and cartoons showing how unpopular he was while he was alive. I cannot help to admire his guts to go ahead and do what was necessary inspite of all the opposition. He was a man ahead of his time. He did so much for the nation ( and he did not even get 40% popular votes.) He is the one who implimented the Homstead act , Land grants for education ( all the universities were opened because of that) , agricultural colleges etc etc.

We were lucky enough to witness the national boyscout rally through Springfield. This was a special event and we just happend to be there. There were all these little kids who marched 2 miles in the rain and storm ( from Lincoln's tomb to his home). Lincoln's body was brought to Springfield and is buried here along with his kids and wife.

Lincoln's home and neighbourhood are also historic sites and we took the tour of that. Once again, I do not know of any other president ( except Obama) with such humble beginnings. Another intriguing thing is the story of his wife Mary and how she suffered after his death.

Enough of history lessons, good night and be good.