Springfield area sites offer good look at Lincoln

Pile the kids into the car and travel south to the Springfield area for a few days where you can revel in all things Abraham Lincoln and also catch a glimpse of other sites like the State Capitol and Frank Lloyd Wright's Susan Dana House.

Tops on the list, of course, is the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, located at 212 N. Sixth St. in Springfield. Open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., admission is $12 for adults, $9 for senior citizens and students with identification and $6 for children, ages 5 to 15. Those under 5 are free.

This incredible new facility features recreations of Lincoln's life from the log cabin in Indiana where he grew up and taught himself to read by firelight, to his time as a ferryman on the Ohio River where he first saw slaves being auctioned and on to his years in Illinois where he became a lawyer. It even brings the presidential campaign of 1860 to life for modern audiences and goes on to show Lincoln making his farewell speech to Springfield before leaving for his inauguration in Washington, D.C.

The Treasures Gallery of the museum allows you to see family photos, china, crystal and other artifacts from the family and from the Lincoln White House. His stovepipe hat, boyhood sum book, law office clock and even an effigy doll made by someone who hated his politics are among the items on display.

Children will particularly enjoy the Mrs. Lincoln's Attic area where they can try on the president's suit or Mary's dress; dress up as a soldier; and do other interactive things like rearrange the furniture in the Lincoln Home doll house and try their skills with a “buzz saw.” All children must be accompanied by an adult, however.

And then there are a variety of theater presentations. The Union Theater, for instance, presented by Exelon, is a multi-venue, special effects theater that usually shows “Lincoln's Eyes,” a film that focuses on the personal and political dramas and key issues of Lincoln's presidency, especially slavery.

“Ghosts of the Library” is shown in another theater that uses special visual effects by Holavision that can make characters float through the theater to explain what a presidential library is and how scholars use it. This great presentation is provided by AT&T.

“Ask Mr. Lincoln” is a small interactive theater that allows visitors to get advice and answers from Abraham Lincoln in his own words. Select a question from the preprogrammed list including questions such as “What do you think of marriage?” and Lincoln will answer you.

Live performances of shows such as “From My Front Porch,” in which a Springfield woman tells stories about living in the 1850s and 1860s, occur semi-regularly in places like the Museum Plaza, Cabinet Room and Ford's Theatre exhibit. Even larger productions occur as special events.

Finally, The Illinois Gallery is where you will often find traveling exhibits. “Team of Rivals: Lincoln's Cabinet at the Crossroads of War” is the current exhibit, scheduled to run through Aug. 15. It takes you inside the highest levels of the Lincoln administration as it struggles with the issue of war. Restricted to the information known at the time, you will watch as the administration confronts options and you can decide if they made the right choices.

While you are in Springfield you won't want to miss seeing Lincoln's New Salem State Historic Site, located about 20 miles northwest of Springfield. It is a reconstruction of the village where Abraham Lincoln spent six years of his early adulthood. While he lived there he “clerked in a store, split rails, enlisted in the Black Hawk War, served as postmaster and deputy surveyor, failed in business, and was elected to the Illinois General Assembly in 1834 and 1836 after an unsuccessful try in 1832,” according to the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency website.

During the winter, New Salem is open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday. It is open seven days a week from April 16 through Sept. 15. The 700-acre site features 12 log houses, the Rutledge Tavern, 10 workshops, stores, mills and a school where church services were held.

All of the buildings have been reproduced and furnished as they might have been in the 1830s.

The furnishings include many articles actually used by the New Salem people of Lincoln's time and others dating back to the same time period.

The Visitor's Center features several exhibits and a short orientation film. Admission to New Salem is free, but there is a suggested donation of $10 per family or $4 for adults and $2 for children.

Lincoln was 22 when he arrived in New Salem in 1831 and the settlement was even younger. It sprung up where James Rutledge and John Camron had constructed a grist and saw mill and it had a rather short life. Only two years after Lincoln left town, New Salem became a virtual ghost town when nearby Petersburg became the county seat.

As you walk New Salem's pathways with your children, you will glimpse what life was like in an 1830s trading center where a rough, uneducated young man like Lincoln was able to be accepted and try out several occupations before focusing on law and politics.

Since hours at New Salem change periodically, an advance call to (217) 632-4000 is advised.