Springfield, Illinois - The Land of Lincoln

We left Burlngton, Iowa and headed for Springfield, Illinois to visit historic sites of Abraham Lincoln, Springfield's favorite son. After setting up camp at the Illinois State Fairgrounds in Springfield, we headed out to the Lincoln Tomb State Historic Site. This is is the final resting place of President Lincoln, his wife Mary, and three of their four sons: Edward, William, and Thomas (known as "Tad"). Their eldest son, Robert Lincoln, is buried at Arlington National Cemetery. The tomb site is within the Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield.

Lincoln's Tomb

Addi and Tommy with the guide dressed as Mrs. Lincoln inside the tomb

Lincoln - the Ranger

There were many statues of Lincolns inside depicting various times in his life

The hall inside the tomb

Original of this statue is in Lincoln Park in Chicago, IL

 Lincoln, the Circuit Rider

Lincoln's gravestone and burial vault

Original in Hodgenville, Kentucky

Lincoln, the Debater

Original at Lincoln, Nebraska

Original at Urbana, Illinois

Outside - this bust of President LIncoln was done by Gutzon Borglum.

We took a little tour of the Oakridge Cemetery and saw many impressive tombs like the one above. We also visited many of the War Memorials.

This is the Illinois Vietnam War Memorial

The Illinois Korean War Memorial

The following are pictures of the World War II Memorial. We couldn't get it all in one picture.

The tomb of Illinois Governor John R. Tanner

We left the cemetery at this point to get some lunch and we drove over to Washington Park to see the Thomas Rees Memorial Carillon. We wanted to hear it play so we tried to get as close as we could but unfortunately the road was blocked and it was starting to rain so we didn't walk up to it.

Thomas Rees Memorial Carillon

At least the ducks and geese were enjoying the weather!

Since it was raining, we stayed in the truck and waited for the carillon to start. We at least got to hear it play before we left.

The rain paused long enough for Lee to make a quick trip to the Carillon and get some quick pictures.

We left this area and wandered around until we decided to eat dinner at the Panda Express. Then we headed back to the Oak Ridge Cemetery again because every Tuesday they do a Retiring the Colors Ceremony at Lincoln's tomb. It was a bit rainy but not too bad, We each paid for a chance to win the flag that was retired.

This is the flag that will be retired.

The Master of Ceremonies

Tommy really enjoyed the ceremony, especially this part with the firing of the guns. He really liked this picture when he saw it of the fire coming out of the gun and the next one with the smoke following the fire. Addi didn't like all the noise!

Retiring the Colors

After the ceremony we waited to see who would win the retired flag.

We were not the lucky ones!

We had a great day and rain didn't even bother us all that much! But it was time to head back to the campground so the kids could call their mother.

For more information on the Lincoln Tomb, go to https://rusted-icon.net/_clients/lincolntomb/