A side trip
The time difference means we have no problem waking early and on finding that Tempo opens at 6.30am, we joined the early birds for breakfast. It was a blueberry French Toast day for me and the corned beef hash fan had the usual.
We aimed for an early start for our side trip, because our destination was around 200 miles away and the traffic leaving the city even at this early hour was very slow moving. When planning this jolly, my Hero had the thought that it would be interesting to visit Springfield, the capital of Illinois. Perhaps we’d drive down there for the day, if the weather proved ok that is. But in the last week or so, he began to wonder if it was too far to drive there and back in a day and in a decisive moment, he booked us in overnight at a Hampton Inn equivalent, just to set his mind at rest. There seemed to be a lot to see in Springfield and neither of us wanted to rush around.
Once on the freeway the traffic eased a little, but when we looked at the clock and then the map, there still seemed a long way to go. A good job we’d got that room booked after all.
For the most part, the landscape was pretty unremarkable. We crossed the huge bridge over the Des Plaines river and occasionally there was a farmhouse to see, but generally speaking this was flat, featureless plains as far as the eye could see. My word, how the wind whistled around us too, with the odd flurry of light snow.
It was around 10.30am when we seemed to be approaching the outskirts of the city and feeling thankful to be there, we headed straight for the first place on our list, the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum and Library.
As is often the way here, there was a huge parking structure right opposite, so we could easily leave the car and potter over to the centre, past the old Union (Railroad) Station.
As soon as we stepped inside, a warm welcome awaited us and the two women on the ticket desk said that for the most part, we were likely to feel as though we had the museum to ourselves this morning. Good timing! We left our coats and bags in a locker and stepped into the central atrium, where Charles, a volunteer suggested that we might go right into the first filmshow that was about to begin. The Ghost in the Library was a clever hologram presentation explaining the concept of the Presidential Library, what it contained and the value of such information in researching the life and times of Abraham Lincoln.
It was a really good introduction and we returned to the atrium full of enthusiasm, meeting Charles for the second time and taking up his suggestion that we watch the second multimedia presentation just across the hall, this one focusing on the man and the events that shaped his life. Eighteen minutes later, we finally got to chat to Charles properly, to gather his advice about what else we needed to see and to get our bearings.
The first exhibit told the story of Lincoln’s childhood and his life before he entered politics.
His story was told by means of “waxworks”; life sized figures realistically posed in very detailed settings. Here, we “met” Mary, his wife and learned that she was an active supporter of her husband throughout his career. This exhibit concluded as Lincoln won his first Presidency and the story continued across the way in another, similar exhibit, this time focused on the White House years.
Here, Mary stood centre stage in the entrance, receiving assistance from Elizabeth Keckley, described as her dressmaker and confidante in a pen portrait of her on a nearby panel. Around the circular space were other figures of notable women of the time: Adele Douglas, Mary Ellen McLellan, Harriet Lane and Kate Chase. I enjoyed reading of these women, none of whom I had heard about previously and their stories provided an interesting background to the timeline of events.
The designer of the figures in these tableaux really made excellent use of the artist’s skills, for the next room showed the Cabinet meeting where the subject of emancipation was discussed. Once again, there were pen portraits of the men present; William H Seward (ooh, Seward Alaska is surely named after him, I thought!), Edwin Stanton, Salmon P Chase, Gideon Welles, Caleb B Smith, Montgomery Blair and Edward Bates. Another opportunity here to emphasise how little history I know!
The figures were so expressively placed, I felt the whole exhibit gave a grand impression of the challenge that faced Lincoln and his team.
Going on beyond that meeting, the next room included a walk through an ongoing discussion, with voices coming from all sides, Some in favour, others against. There at the end of the aisle stood Lincoln, desperately seeking the best way forward.
We continued through the remaining parts of the story including the Gettysburg address but even I, with so little knowledge of history knew that when we came to the sign for the theatre, Lincoln’s time was almost up.
We stood looking at the Lincolns in their box at the theatre with the menacing figure creeping up behind them. Oh dear.
The story was brought to a close with the tale of Lincoln’s Lying in State, a scene all too familiar with our recent experience of such events just a few weeks ago. I especially found one small point of trivia interesting: more people saw Lincoln after his death, than during all of his campaigning. They came to his lying in state or paid their respects as his body was brought home to Springfield by train, when stops were made in small towns along the route.
Feeling quite overwhelmed by the terrific experience we’d just walked through, we both agreed that perhaps we were a little “Lincoln’ed out” right now, perhaps something that residents of Springfield feel much of the time, perhaps?!
We had made a recent addition to our list of places to see in Springfield, one of which was a Frank Lloyd Wright house which our friend Leonora had highly recommended we see. Before we left home last week, we’d secured a couple of places on a tour for tomorrow morning, but were disappointed that the early slots were already fully booked. Mindful of the long journey back to Chicago, we wondered if we might sweet-talk ourselves into an earlier booking. Well, it was worth a try.
So our next stop was at the Dana Thomas House, not far from the Lincoln Library. As we climbed the steps to the entrance, the door opened and a young man asked if we were here for the tour, which was about to begin. We looked at one another - space for two of us? Yes, there was!!
This is how we came to visit the most magnificent FLW house we’ve seen (so far!), and that includes Fallingwater, which we both loved. Not only is the Dana Thomas home exquisitely designed, seeing it in these circumstances, quite by chance and in such a small group made it all the more special. Our guide was great - he clearly adored the house himself and was as eager to share his delight as we were to be introduced to it. As always in such places, no photographs were permitted inside, but the gallery on the website shows the marvellous glass designs really beautifully - far better than one of my snaps!
Feeling quite breathless by our experiences in Springfield so far, we noted that there was just time for one rather more mundane errand to run - I needed to post something to our dear friend Ellis and since the Post Office was just along the street from here, it was the perfect time to do that. My Hero parked the car in the post office car park and I ran inside to find the best way to send it.
And there was NO QUEUE!! Could this be the first time ever I have been inside an empty Post Office? Two delightful clerks assisted me with sending my package and I thanked them sincerely for their patience in helping someone who has no idea about US Mail!
I jumped back in the car - brrrrr, it had turned really cold! My Hero pressed the button to start the engine and….
nothing.
The car would not start.
It appeared the battery was completely dead. Not only that, but we soon discovered that an 800 number can’t be called from either of our phones (even though we both have roaming on our accounts) Thankfully, the two post office ladies were agreeable to providing more assistance, this time for my Hero to use their phone and eventually (it’s a long story) the AAA man arrived with a battery pack and got us going. He advised that it could stop again at any time and that we should organise a replacement rental car - the time was now 4.30pm and the local AVIS office closed at 4pm.
Thankfully, the engine kept running as far as our hotel, just down the road opposite the State Capitol. Everything in Springfield seems to be “just down the road”, which on occasions like this, is just as well.
Will the car start again tomorrow morning, or will we be stuck here for longer? I’ll continue the tale in the next post, by which time you might have had time to brush up your history by following all of those links! ;-)
