A Little Bit of This and a Whole Lot of Lincoln

Bruce and I received training and served in the Pioneer Pastimes Site last week. This is a children's venue with lots of pioneer toys, games and dress-up gear. It is outside, under a canvas-covered shelter. Well, no one came for our four-hour shift, so we had lots of time to talk (and play with the toys. Bruce might have even snuck off a few times to take pictures). It was slow in the other sites too so we received visits from several missionaries.

Sister Hayhurst saw a robin fly up on to one of the beams of the shelter and noticed that she stayed there, with her tail feather sticking out. When we moved closer she flew away. There was a nice little nest on that beam. I stood on a bench and reached my phone up as high as I could. It took two tries, but I got the picture below. We will try to keep the traffic near that beam to a minimum for the next couple of weeks.

We are still experiencing flooding on the Mississippi. Nauvoo has not been impacted too much, but the water is higher than we have seen since we arrived in September. The west end of Parley Street, where it turns into Water Street is completely under water. Keokuk and Fort Madison have more significant flooding. They say the biggest problem will be cleaning up all the debris when the water recedes. There is a LOT of junk in the Mississippi River (yuck!)
 

For our P-day yesterday we decided to go to Springfield, Illinois and visit the Abraham Lincoln Home National Historic Site and Lincoln Museum (and Library...which was closed). Wow! There was so much to take in! First we went on a tour of the Home Historic Site, which is actually Lincoln's whole neighborhood. The homes that still exist have been restored (at least on the outside). Vacant lots have placards and audio narrations (can be called up on your phone) about the neighbors who lived there. It is amazing how socially close all the neighbors were. It is a lovely neighborhood; probably very affluent for the 1850's.

Here are a few photos of the outside, and the neighborhood. The inside was too tight with the gates to keep us away from artifacts and the many people in the home on our tour. You can check out the website for the Historic Site here.

Backyard view: Apparently the yard never looked this nice. The Lincolns were not the best housekeepers and also let the yard go. A good neighbor friend would come plant flowers and tend the yard, probably to keep the property values up :)

Looking south towards the Lincoln home (down the street on the left)

Next we went to the Lincoln Museum which was so fantastic and well done. There are two theaters where they have shows that were produced by Disney people. Go to this link for information and a virtual tour of the Museum. The whole place is like and Epcot exhibit. Here are a few shots I took:

Back Row (L-R): Robert, Abraham, Bruce; Front Row: Tad, Mary, Willie

It was nice of the Lincoln's to pose with us. Robert is the only son to survive to significant adulthood. The Lincoln's had already lost a three-year-old son, Eddie, in the Springfield home by this time. Willie passed away in the White House, just two weeks after the Inaugural Ball, at the age of 11. Tad died at the age of 18, seven years after his father was assassinated. It is no wonder Mary Lincoln was institutionalized by her son Robert for a time!

Willie and Tad "destroying" their father's law office on a Sunday afternoon. This was a frequent occurrence. Lincoln's law partner hated it when the "hellions" would come to the office. They were allowed to do whatever they wanted and not made to do anything they didn't want to do.

We loved our day in Springfield! History came alive!