Before I tell you about our day in Springfield, I want to brag on Elijah a little bit. He tested for his brown belt in tae kwon do last night, and he had the best test of his career so far!
He and Charlotte were both supposed to test on the day that she broke her leg. Elijah opted not to test that day, but we all decided (Charlotte included) that he probably needed to test in October, even if it meant he moved a belt level ahead of his sister. So, his test was last night.
It was a very small test, so it moved quickly. Elijah did his required elements, including sparring with a kid several belt levels ahead of him. He did much better this time around with the sparring and managed to land solid blows and not break into giggles as he bounced around.
Then, it was time for his board break. At every single previous test, Elijah has come down with a massive case of nerves and has taken at least three, sometimes many more, attempts to break his board. Last night, he focused and smashed his board into three pieces on his second attempt! The middle picture is not great, but you can see a piece of the board close by his foot.
From somewhere, Elijah found his confidence last night. Master Kurtz thought it might have been the little bit of extra time he had between when he was first supposed to test and last night. Whatever it was, it was lovely to watch.
Anyway…back to Springfield!
We arrived at the Lincoln Museum around 10:30 and were fortunate enough to find it completely devoid of any school field trips. In fact, the museum was not crowded at all that day, which made for a very nice experience. As she hobbled in on her crutches, Charlotte was offered a wheelchair by three different people, which she thought was pretty funny and which she turned down each time, but we were immediately struck by the solicitousness of the museum staff. It was great!
The Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum were redone about five years ago, and the end result is a modern, beautiful tribute to the legacy of Abraham Lincoln. The museum has a central rotunda, off of which are the exhibits. There are two theaters, a log cabin facade, a White House facade, and an interactive area called “Mrs. Lincoln’s Attic.” Upon entering, all visitors are greeted by the First Family, circa 1861.
As recommended by the museum staff, we first headed to “Ghosts of the Library,” the first of two theater presentations. This featured a gentleman in period clothing explaining exactly what a presidential library is, with the use of holograms and really cool special effects. At one point, a ghostly quill pen floats in the air and writes in Lincoln’s handwriting! I won’t spoil the ending in case you ever decide to visit, but even the baby was riveted by this presentation!
After that, we popped over the second theater, where “Lincoln’s Eyes” was getting ready to start. Shown on multiple screens with surround sound and more special effect, this gave a brief history of Lincoln’s life and the times in which he lived, influences upon him, and his lasting influence on history. During Civil War scenes, cannons boomed, smoke poured out, and the entire room shook. Again, we were all riveted.
One really cool thing about “Lincoln’s Eyes” was that dozens of the images flashed up on the screens were also in the photobiography of Lincoln that we are currently reading in history. The kids had a great time pointing out that with which they were familiar.
Finally, we were ready to tackle the exhibits, which were neatly divided into two parts: Lincoln before he became president and Lincoln after he became president. We started in the log cabin facade, which traced Lincoln’s life from his birth in Kentucky, through his early ventures in flatboating and working in a general store in New Salem; to his self-study to become a lawyer and his early career in Springfield; to his early forays into local, state, and eventually national politics. The log cabin looks tiny, but it leads into a very large exhibit area. Fascinating!
After Lincoln wins the presidential election of 1860, we moved into the White House facade. The first room displayed recreations of several period gowns, both that Mary Todd Lincoln wore and what her Washington D.C. contemporaries wore. Evidently, the D.C. fashionistas had nothing but scorn for the “backwoods” First Lady.
The exhibit then traces Lincoln’s tumultuous presidency, including exhibits on the death of his son; some of the hundreds of cartoons that criticized the president’s policies; uniforms, stories, and photos from both sides of the Civil War; and a full-sized wax-figure exhibit of the cabinet meeting in which Lincoln presented the Emancipation Proclamation. The War Gallery had “The Civil War in Four Minutes,” a very cool electronic map presentation that had each week of the war condensed to one second; the changing battle lines and fronts were shown, along with an odometer-type casualty counter that showed the human cost of the war.
The last room is a huge recreation of Lincoln lying in state at the Old Capitol in Springfield, surrounded by banks of flowers. I learned here that there is only one surviving picture of Lincoln lying in state, as Mary Lincoln was highly offended at the thought of photographs of her dead husband. But one of Lincoln’s friends couldn’t bear to throw out the one he had, and it was passed down through his family until it was rediscovered in the 1950’s and preserved.
We ended our time in the museum in “Mrs. Lincoln’s Attic,” which was chock full of period clothing and toys, as well as a log-cabin kitchen, in which the kids had a ball, even the littlest one!
This is one neat museum! If you ever get Springfield way, this is a must-see.
Right in the museum was a Subway, so that’s where we ate lunch. After that, we loaded up the car and headed for New Salem, the backwoods town where Lincoln spent his early adulthood. And I will tell you about that next time!
