Springfield Tour

[Rsmyth]

My wife and I visited Springfield a few years ago and loved it. We stayed downtown and as it was the weekend it was pretty deserted. The Lincoln house is in an area surrounded by other homes for blocks and blocks. It is particularly nice walking through the area at night with the replica gas street lights. We like to walk and did twice to the cemetery to see the Lincoln monument and the graves of others related to Lincoln, his life and burial...and others (I am going by memory without checking my notes but the plumber (Hopkins?) who opened Lincoln's casket at the last viewing, Lindsley (sp) the last survivor to view the remains and past superintendents of the cemetery involved in one or more of the many moves of the caskets. We visited all the local Lincoln sites in town, found some great restaurants and went to the Lincoln Library and Museum where (as I have mentioned before) through the auspices of director James Cornelius, was able to hold the ring JWB gave to Isabel Sumner and the letters to her that she kept and cherished. It is a great place for Lincolnites to spend a long weekend.