President Abraham Lincoln

 

This blogger loves taking road trips, finding famous graves and unique roadside attractions. A recent trip through Springfield, Illinois, provided the opportunity to see both, as the city is home to not only Lincoln's Presidential Library (see Trivia below) but his final resting place as well.

The Lincoln Tomb is pretty unique as far as celebrity graves go.  It has a tall, one-story base shaped like a trapezoid with an obelisk rising nearly 120 feet into the air.  Construction began on April 16, 1865 - one day after Lincoln died at the hands of actor John Wilkes Booth.

Following his assassination, Lincoln lay in state at the Capitol Rotunda for two days, allowing visitors to pay their final respects to the fallen president.  His casket was then placed on a train for his final journey back to Springfield, taking a circuitous route that lasted three weeks, allowing citizens in a number of cities to pay their respects as well.  He was finally laid to rest in Oak Ridge Cemetery, in this unique mausoleum, which is today its own tourist attraction.

Rest in peace, Mr. President.

Trivia

• Lincoln's remains lie ten feet below the granite structure that bears his name.
  
  
• Springfield is also home to the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum.  This blogger cannot recommend it enough.  Go today.
  
  
• Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, is home to another unique attraction, the Lincoln Train Museum.  Here you will board a railcar and re-create Lincoln's final journey following his assassination.  You'll ride with a sarcophagus covered in flowers while a holographic Lincoln tells you of that fateful journey.  This is another attraction that is not to be missed!
  
  
• Not to be forgotten is the Lincoln Museum in Hogdenville, Kentucky, the 16th President's birthplace.
  
  
• As noted in the photos above, Mary Todd Lincoln and three of the couple's children are also entombed in the shrine.