Part 2 of Lincoln Day in Springfield

Jane and I had so much fun, it won't all fit on one blog post. So, here is Part 2 of our Saturday adventures in Springfield, Illinois - the Land of Lincoln.

We walked thru the park across the street to the historic Union Train Depot just because it is a beautiful building. Jane & I sat on a bench and ate some fudge. What happens in Springfield, stays on the blog.

Then we set off in search of Lincoln’s house in Springfield. It is fairly close to the State Capitol and it seems like many of his neighbors were politicians. But one of them was a freed slave who was very active in the Underground Railroad. Interesting to speculate if Abe knew him personally. The house is a fairly ordinary four-square Yankee house. The whole street in front of his house has been turned into a walkway only for 2 blocks and it seems like the National Park Service owns many of the homes that are now on the Historic Register. But it was hard to tell. We took a couple of selfies sitting on the Lincolns’ steps. The house is open for tours, but we arrived too late.

Next stop Lincoln’s memorial monument in the Oak Ridge Cemetery where he, his wife, and 3 of his four sons are buried. Robert Todd Lincoln is buried at Arlington National Cemetery at his own request. They have a genealogy plaque for the Lincoln family displayed at the memorial. Robert is the only one of Abe’s children who had children of his own. He also had grandchildren. But then the Lincoln line died out. There are no surviving descendants of Abraham Lincoln. A very nice tourist from Vermont took photos of me and Jane at the memorial. And we highly recommended the Lincoln Museum.

The last place Jane had picked for us to stop was the Dara-Thomas House – advertised as an Arts & Crafts House. It was so much more than that! It was the biggest Prairie School house I have ever seen. With Art Deco stained glass windows and doors in many places, and glazed Italian tile with a pattern covering the exterior walls of the 2nd floor, with a copper roof with Japanese pagoda-style corner pieces. The whole thing was just stunning, even the carriage house. It is also open for tours – but not that late!

On the way home, we stopped at Fiesta Ranchera for dinner. I had carnitas chile verde and Jane had poblano enchiladas. She wasn’t thrilled with her dish, but I was with mine. They must have cooked the carnitas in a pressure cooker – it was well done but juicy and tender. And the chile verde looked like it was made from scratch on site. It was really delicious.

What a fabulous day! Thanks so much Jane.