{"id":4881,"date":"2015-10-01T06:41:34","date_gmt":"2015-10-01T10:41:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/?p=4881"},"modified":"2015-10-21T07:18:24","modified_gmt":"2015-10-21T11:18:24","slug":"lincoln-and-more-springfield-illinois","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/?p=4881","title":{"rendered":"Lincoln and More — Springfield, Illinois"},"content":{"rendered":"
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New Salem, Ill. (photo: Vicki Weisfeld)<\/p><\/div>\n

A recent visit to Springfield included both highs and lows. Among the highs: the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum<\/a> provides a creatively constructed retelling of the Lincoln story. While a familiar one, there also are a few surprises. The displays include two \u201cJourneys\u201d\u2014the boyhood journey and the White House journey\u2014special exhibits and a short film. All very nicely done. What surprised me most, perhaps because I\u2019d forgotten in the recent outpouring of regard for Lincoln and my admiration of Daniel Day-Lewis, is the extent and viciousness of the press coverage of his Presidency. His critics weren\u2019t above taking swipes at Mary Todd Lincoln, either. Perhaps our political dialog hasn\u2019t moved toward more civility in the last 150 years, alas.<\/p>\n

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The Lincoln home (photo: Vicki Weisfeld)<\/p><\/div>\n

Other Lincoln-related highs were the reconstruction and historic district<\/a> where his Springfield home stands\u2014the only house he ever owned. Very interesting. And shifting back in time and creature comforts, New Salem<\/a>, a recreated village a few miles northwest of Springfield, recreates the community where a young Lincoln lived for six years. There he tried to run two general stores and their failure prompted him to try something else\u2014the law. New Salem includes 23 historically furnished buildings\u2014homes, stores, shops, tavern, and so on, with costumed interpreters happy to tell you about life in this short-lived frontier outpost.<\/p>\n

The state capitol<\/a> was an unexpected beauty! Construction began in 1868, and it now appears to be in the last stages of a major renovation, complete with recreation of the elaborate stenciling and its acres of marble gleaming. There are tours, but we did it on our own, and since the legislative bodies were not in session, we could duck into the elaborately detailed house and senate chambers. If beauty is elevating, the people doing the people\u2019s business have a lot to aspire to.<\/p>\n

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(photo: Vicki Weisfeld)<\/p><\/div>\n

We also enjoyed historic Edwards Place<\/a>, home of the Springfield Art Association and a good demonstration of the stages of architectural renovation, and especially the Dana-Thomas House<\/a>, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1902. Owner and widow Susan Lawrence Dana wanted a place she could entertain for her various charities, and Wright gave her so much more! Small rooms, but 35 of them in 16 different living levels totaling 12,000 square feet, a nine-pins alley, a feast of leaded glass ornamentation in stylized Midwestern motifs\u2014butterflies, corn, other plants\u2014the largest collection of site-specific original Wright art glass.<\/p>\n

On the downside, Springfield itself is tired and dusty. Several things we wanted to see were unexpectedly closed. The restaurant where we\u2019d made an Open Table reservation was closed for vacation and\u2014worst of all\u2014someone stole my umbrella on a day it was pouring! Luckily, I saw her with it outside the capitol and said, \u201cI think that\u2019s mine.\u201d It must have been my New Jersey affect\u2014Tony Soprano and all. She surrendered it immediately.<\/p>\n

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