Mr. Lincoln's House

The house itself is quite narrow, but with high ceilings. It was bought by the Lincolns in the 1840s. As the park rangers say, it was the only house Abraham Lincoln ever owned.

A few thoughts on visiting the place:

-The railings on the stairs are lower than we in the modern world are used to. It makes the average American adult feel tall. The hallways are narrower, too. The government doesn't need to commission studies on our average heights and weights - just go into a house over one hundred years old and anyone can tell we're taller and fatter.

-The smallness of the furniture and the rooms made me wonder about Mr. Lincoln living there. He was 6'4", after all. He'd be taller than average now. No wonder he looks gigantic next to, say, General McClellan in the pictures. His whole life indoors must have been spent stooping and cramming his long legs under the dinky tables and desks everyone had back then. If he could see the future, he would appreciate Big & Tall stores. :)

-Park rangers at the Lincoln Home make it a point to emphasize that this building has a real connection with Mr. Lincoln. "None of the other Lincoln parks have authentic buildings."

-While emphasizing its tangible connection with the great man, the guides also talk about how Lincoln has been made into a legend. He's been "marbleized". People can't reach the man behind the legend anymore. Maybe it was just the guide my group had on Saturday, but while he talked about understanding the man and not the myth, he tended to talk about Mr. Lincoln in quite reverential tones. This is understandable - we're way beyond anyone's life span who actually knew him. Near the end of the tour, I thought if Mr. Lincoln was there, he would speak up and say something to the guide like, "Take it easy, Jack. (or whatever the guy's name is) I appreciate history just as much as you do, but I ain't a saint, either. Just ask my wife, or my boys. Or better yet - ask the half of the country that hated my guts. Or the many people on this side of the Mason-Dixon who thought I was a few short of a dozen. I'm a man, not God."

Something like that. Then he'd probably shake the guide's hand, put an arm around his shoulders and say, "Did you ever hear the one about the guy who walked into a bar and said to the bartender, 'Hey, that's not a duck!'"

-It's amazing to see how many different people visit Springfield specifically for the Lincoln sites there. In my tour group, there was a family of four, several couples of different ages, a few strays (like myself) and four or five older gentlemen in suits with name tags that said things like "Brother Randall, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints". God bless America.

-Later I walked to the museum a few blocks away. There must have been a school group there because there were elementary school-age kids everywhere. In the atrium area, after you first enter, there is a life size group of statutes of the Lincoln family, as when Mr. Lincoln first took office. They look like a family posing in the area, in authentic clothing - Mr. Lincoln, who towers over everyone else; Mrs. Mary Lincoln, who looks even shorter next to him; their oldest son Robert, who in 1861 was around 18 and stands about 5'10"; and the two younger boys, eleven-year-old Willie and eight-year-old Tad. Of course most museum visitors love to take pictures next to them. Families pose next to them. Teenage girls pretend to kiss Robert. Little kids pose next to the younger boys while their dads creep behind and put bunny ears on them. (I saw all this in a matter of about three minutes.)

-On the left side of the atrium is the first major exhibit. It's of Lincoln's early years, and there is an elaborate recreation of a log cabin that you have to enter through the front door. Inside the cabin is a recreation of Abraham's childhood home in Indiana. There's a fake fireplace and a young Lincoln on the floor trying to read by the dying light. There's a bed with someone snoring. After you pass through the cabin, then you go through a series of places documenting Lincoln's young adulthood, marriage, and election.

-The late, great Tim Russert lives on in the Lincoln museum. Several years ago, he did a "news report, live from 1860", documenting the four candidates for president that year and running campaign TV ads for each of them. Watching this exhibit, you sit in what looks like a TV studio. It's a very interesting and entertaining way to portray the campaign. It certainly isn't the British Museum, but it gets the point across.

-On the right side of the atrium is a huge replica of the outside of the White House. Inside, of course, is displayed exhibits documenting Lincoln's presidential years. When I was going through this part of the museum, parents with some kids were next to me part of the way. At one point early on, the girl said to her mom, "I want to see Mrs. Lincoln crying!" I thought, Don't worry. That part's coming.
One of the more interesting video exhibits on this side is a video map of the U.S. You can sit and watch "The Civil War in Four Minutes". One week for every second, I think. The map is blue for Union territory and red for Confederate. It's really something to see the geographic gains and losses. Also, the entire time, the box in one corner has the casualty numbers going up and up and up. (But not in a good way, P.)
One of the best things in either big exhibit (in my opinion) is a certain artifact in the Presidential section. At times there are more "museum-like" areas, with genuine artifacts, like the nameplate that was on the Lincolns' front door of their house, Mr. Lincoln's wallet, etc. All of these things are labeled and behind glass with Do Not Touch featured prominently. But there is one thing that has as its sign Please Touch. A sculptor during Mr. Lincoln's time in office had made a bust of the President early in his first term, in 1861. You can tell he's a vibrant man. Another bust was made in early 1865. It's incredible how much he changed. The last one is of an obviously aged man. The cheekbones are hollower. Apparently, after Mr. Lincoln's death, another sculptor had seen this last bust and said, "Oh, it's a death mask." Death masks were made of someone's face after their death. The original sculptor told him that it was done while the President was still alive. Touching either bust feels incredibly personal.

-It's a lot of fun to go see the Lincoln sites - there's plenty more just in Springfield that I haven't seen. Oh, one more thing - the museum has an entrance fee (of course). AAA pays; there's a discount. There is no entrance fee for the house. When Robert Lincoln sold it to the state of Illinois (for $1), he made only two requests: that it be maintained the way it was, and that no one would ever be charged a fee to see it. After the state transferred it to the National Park Service, they kept the promise. They do take donations, though. I prefer dropping a five dollar bill in the box. It just feels right.

What places feel authentic to you?