Lincoln Monument Association — Attraction in Springfield

Review Date: April 11th, 2012

Here lies Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter and 16th President of the United States of America.

Abraham is my favorite President. I’m not sure why but something about him resonates well with me. Maybe it’s how all Illinois-born residents feel. Either way, visiting Springfield as a kid and seeing the Lincoln stuff is a huge part of most children’s childhood growing up in the Central Illinois area.

So, after visiting this place as a kid and coming back as an adult, it was great to see that nothing really changed from what I remember. Not that I would expect a tomb to undergo radical changes in 2 decades.

Upon first getting here, you realize this is more than a plaque that marks a spot on the ground. The tomb itself is a building that you can go in and see where the President lies. You can take the stairs to the top of the building and do… something. It was under construction while I was there so we couldn’t take in the sights from a higher elevation.

Before you head in to the vault and get a little tour/history lesson, you HAVE to rub Lincoln’s nose before you do anything else. It’s a must. There is a giant Lincoln head outside that has an extra shiny nose from it being rubbed a million times over the years.

After the nose-rubbing and tomb tour, you are free to explore the surrounding area. This is option but one I suggest if the weather allows. The groundskeeper does a great job of keeping the landscape beautiful. You can walk around to behind the tomb building to see the Receiving Vault. This is where Lincoln was temporarily buried until his final resting spot was available. Over the years, people have taken to throwing pennies in to the open area of the Receiving Vault. I may or may not have contributed some pennies to this. The Receiving Vault was a fun find as I never knew it was here.

As Matt and I wandered the grounds, we ran across a possible bell tower. There was no signage indicating what it was so a bell tower is my best guess.

If you have to visit Springfield for Lincoln-related things, the Tomb should be at the top of your list of places to visit. If you are someone who just likes to travel and explore new places, the Lincoln Tomb should be on the top of your list if you are in the...

The final resting place of America's most extraordinary President. Our 16th President basically saved America from complete self destruction by waging a war that set American identity and idealism over regressive property rights and states rights. America was on the verge of a paradigm shift from an agrarian economy to an industrial one. Just around the corner was the development of our vast oil reserves in states like Texas. In the 1850's Lincoln realized that America was the most regressive nation on earth owing to the institutionalization of and acceptance of slavery. European mockery of this aspect of America was troublesome to politically keen statesmen like Lincoln and Douglas. Slavery flew in the face of our cherished Declaration of Independence and our Constitution. This troubled Lincoln who was well grounded in the primacy of both documents as well as the Bible. In his comparatively short life he sacrificed everything, including his own life in the service of his nation. Along the way he composed magnificent speeches and a wartime address presented at Gettysburg which is probably the finest piece of writing by any President outside of our Founding Fathers. In precisely 272 words, Lincoln outlines America's historical uniqueness and the precise reason the war must continue to finally drag the Confederate States back into the Union. No other human being was smart enough or idealistic enough to guide America through what is surely its darkest, most ignorant, most disgusting period of all! The rights we all enjoy now are the direct result of Abraham Lincoln's efforts and sacrifices up until his assassination in 1865. His assassination is a particularly ugly blotch on our Nation's history. The subsequent mental breakdown of his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, is not much better! Human History: just one big bloodbath! Sheesh! P.S. Lincoln did not have Marfan's Syndrome and he was not bisexual. Dale Carnegie, in his idiotic book, was...

Wow.

This was very impressive. The Oak Ridge Cemetary itself was impressive. Graves go back to the 1840s. And the Cemetary is still selling plots to this day. We spent time just driving around, impressed by the monuments. Many have been maintained well, with very old plots seemingly having new stones.

The tomb is fantastic, as is the history of the tomb. If you haven't learned about its history, it is worth looking up the grave robbers who tried to steal his body. Fortunately, there were unsuccessful, but it set the pace for the development of the tomb over time.

Lincoln, Mary, and their three young children are all there. The eldest son, Robert Todd Lincoln, was buried at Arlington National Cemetary but is remembered in carved marble here.

Directly over Lincoln and Mary is a large sarcophagus. As the story goes, there was at least one more attempt to steal Lincoln's body. They took the bodies and laid them under the floorboards until they had a better solution. The tomb was rebuilt in the early 1900s by their eldest son, Robert Todd Lincoln. To ensure there were no more robberies, he had the crew dig a ten-foot hole, the Lincoln's bodies were placed at the bottom, and thousands of pounds of concrete covered them. No one will be able to try that again.

The tomb was the most impressive of the various things we saw in Lincoln during our trip. Do yourself a favor and find a way to see this sometime in your life. You will not be disappointed.

I have lots of photos but so many are posted already, they would...