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Travel – Springfield, Illinois (Part One)

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Lincoln Presidential Museum 3In honor of Abraham Lincoln (Born: February 12, 1809 Died: April 15, 1865) and President’s Day in February, I would like to share some of the historic places we have visited in Springfield, Illinois.  Over the last twenty years, we have made several road trips to Springfield.  Three places mentioned are within walking distance from each other.  They are the Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, the old State Capitol building, and the Lincoln-Herndon Law Offices.  The other two sites, the Lincoln Home and the Lincoln Tomb, are within any easy drive from downtown Springfield.

Due to Springfield’s numerous Lincoln historic sites, I have divided the content into two separate posts.  The first post, Springfield, IL (Part One), covers the Lincoln Library and Museum and the second post Springfield, IL (Part Two), covers the old State Capitol, the Lincoln-Herndon Law Offices, the Lincoln Home and the Lincoln Tomb.

The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum

The Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum is a great place to start a visit to Springfield.  Here you can learn about Abraham Lincoln’s life and his time as the 16th President of the United States.  There are actually three separate buildings that comprise the Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum complex.  The old Union Station Depot serves as the Visitor Center. The Library opened in 2004, houses the largest archive of papers and artifacts on Lincoln and also an extensive collection on the history of the state Illinois.  Originally founded in 189, the Library started as the Illinois State Historical Library and members of the staff maintain the papers, books and artifacts of the Lincoln Library collection.  The Museum opened in 2005 and has several state-of-the-art advanced technology exhibits which tell the Lincoln story.

As visitors enter the Lincoln Museum, they walk into the spectacular central area known as the Plaza.  Near the center of the Plaza stand life-size figures of the Lincoln family in 1861 at the start of the Lincoln Presidency.  (This is a fun opportunity to take a photo of your family standing with the Lincoln family!)  Behind the Lincoln family stands a replica of the south portico of the White House with additional figures, such as: General Grant and McClellan, Frederick Douglass and even John Wilkes Booth.

Lincoln Presidential Museum 2I would advise visitors to start their tour with the Ghosts of Library.  Shown in a theatre is a dramatic presentation where visitors are allowed a peak into the “library” to learn about the activities and discoveries researchers are being made in the presidential archives while the ghost of Lincoln and others seem to walk amongst them.  The presentation ends in a very dramatic way.

As visitors return to the Plaza after the presentation, to the left is the exhibit called “Journey One – The Pre-Presidential Years”.  The area is beautifully decorated with a log cabin surrounded by a forest with the figure of a 9 Year old Lincoln sitting on a tree stump.  Visitors enter through the log cabin into an exhibit which depicts Lincoln’s early life before he became President.

Lincoln Presidential Museum 1The Union Theatre is another state-of-the-art multi-media theater that features a presentation called “Lincoln’s Eyes”.  Lincoln’s story is told by a portrait artist and through the eyes of Lincoln we learn and understand the feelings of hope, sorrow and forgiveness which explains the personal and political issues that surrounded Lincoln’s Presidency.  SPECIAL NOTE: To advise parents visiting with small children – the dramatic Civil War battle scene sights and sounds can be very intense.

After viewing the presentation, visitors exit onto the Plaza.  Entering through the doors of the White House façade is the exhibit called “Journey Two – the White House Years”.

Visitors find themselves in the “Blue Room” of the White House where Mrs. Lincoln is being fitted for an elaborate gown by her dressmaker.  As visitors continue through the various displays they learn about Lincoln’s Presidency as well as both the personal and political events that effected his family’s time in the White House.

One fascinating exhibit is the Treasures Gallery which displays several artifacts including family photos, china and crystal used at the White House and other items from the Lincoln family.  Within this exhibit is a special circular walled area which displays a rotating exhibit the most historically significant items from the Lincoln Library.

Additional areas and exhibits at the Lincoln Museum include: The Illinois Gallery which features an ever-changing series of exhibits pertaining to Lincoln and the state of Illinois.  Mrs. Lincoln’s Attic which is an inter-active area for children where there are numerous hands-on activities such as dressing in Lincoln’s suit, Mrs. Lincoln’s dress or a Civil War soldier’s uniform.  Please note children must be accompanied by their parents.

There is also a wonderful museum gift store and a restaurant to grab a quick lunch.  It is very easy to spend several hours at the museum but I guarantee you and your family will enjoy the exhibits, learn important history lessons and come away with a better understanding and appreciation of Abraham Lincoln.

For more travel information regarding the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum please refer to their web site, www.alplm.org

Travel – Thomas Edison’s Boyhood Home

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Ohio Historical Marker - Thomas EdisonAs readers must know by now from past blog posts, our family loves to travel!  So, after a trip to Cleveland, Ohio to see the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, we decided to take a different route home.

Checking to see what places of interest were in the area, we found Thomas Edison’s Boyhood Home in Milan, Ohio.  The small brick home with the white picket fence was built in 1842.  Edison spent his early childhood years there until his parents sold the home in 1854 and moved to Port Huron, Michigan.  Edison loved his childhood home so much that in 1906 he purchased the home from his sister’s family. The Thomas Edison Birthplace was opened to the public in 1947 and became a registered as a National Historic Landmark in 1965.

Thomas Edison's Boyhood Home    Bedroom in Edison's Boyhood Home

Visitors start their tour at the small museum next to the house.  The museum is filled with Edison’s inventions and the docent gave a wonderful presentation on the life of Thomas Edison.  There were four different age groups on this trip; my husband and I, our son, daughter and my husband’s father.  There was enough information, several different types of inventions and various displays to keep everyone interested.  The docent also gave a very detailed tour of Edison’s house and explained life in Ohio in the late 1800s.

Thomas Edison invention 2     Thomas Edison's invention 1

When planning a visit to Milan, Ohio it is worth a visit to the Thomas Edison Birthplace Historic Site.  For more travel information, please refer to the web site for the Thomas Edison Birthplace Museum.

The life of Thomas Edison

Thomas EdisionThomas Alva Edison (Born: February 11, 1847 Died: October 18, 1931) was an American inventor. He developed numerous inventions and registered 1,093 patents during his life but the incandescent light bulb was his most famous invention.  Edison’s inventions greatly influenced our daily lives with modern conveniences such as indoor light, power, heat, music and movies.

Edison was born in Milan, Ohio and the family later moved to Port Huron, Michigan in 1854.  As a young man, Edison sold candy and vegetables on the Grand Trunk train route from Port Huron to Detroit.  Eventually he saw an opportunity to use the news and information gained along his route. Edison obtained the exclusive rights from the Grand Trunk Railroad to write, print and sell his own newspaper, The Grand Trunk Herald.  In 1866, Edison took a job as a telegraph operator for Western Union and moved to Louisville, Kentucky.  He had requested the night shift so he could have time to read the books he loved and to perform the simple experiments that fascinated him.  One year later, one of those experiments went horribly wrong and he was fired from Western Union.

Edison moved to Newark, New Jersey and began his career as an inventor.  He continued with his experiments and developed improvements on several telegraphic devices.  Ironically after selling his invention, the quadruplex telegraph, to Western Union for $10,000 Edison was able to build his industrial research lab in Menlo Park, New Jersey.  Menlo Park became the first institution dedicated to the specific purpose of research and development of technological improvements and inventions. Under Edison’s direction, his staff of engineers performed experiments with the telephone, the phonograph, an electric railway system and other developing inventions.  Edison proved to be one of America’s greatest inventors and has registered over a thousand patents including his most famous one, the incandescent light bulb.  With all these accomplishments, Edison became known as “The Wizard of Menlo Park”.

Thomas Edison died at his home from diabetes complications in 1931 and is buried at “Glenmont” in West Orange, New Jersey.

Interesting facts about Edison

  1. In 1878, Edison formed the Edison Electric Light Company in New York City with several financiers, including J.P. Morgan and members of the Vanderbilt family.  This was only one of fourteen companies that entrepreneur and successful businessman Thomas Edison would own over the years.
  2. In 1881 Lewis Latimer, an African-American inventor, patented the “Process of Manufacturing Carbons”.  For this reason, he was hired by the Edison Electric Light Company in 1884 as a draftsman and expert witness in patent litigation.  His patented invention of the carbon filament was a great improvement on Edison’s original paper filament which proved to burn out too quickly.
  3. In 1882, Nikola Tesla worked at the Continental Edison Company in France for two years before immigrating to America. In 1884, he worked at the Edison Machine Works in New York for one year.  Eventually his employment with Edison was terminated over a disagreement regarding salary.  Later, with the help of major financial backers, Tesla set up his own lab to develop electrical devices.  He patented the AC induction motor and transformer which were quickly licensed by George Westinghouse, Edison’s competitor.  Westinghouse hired Tesla as a consultant to help develop an alternating current AC system for his company.
  4. Edison (who used the limited direct current or DC) and Westinghouse (with the more easily transmitted alternating current or AC) became fierce competitors for the lucrative new business of electrical power distribution.  Strangely, Edison became involved in the development and promotion of the electric chair which used AC.  In Edison’s campaign of publicly staging electrocutions of stray or unwanted animals, he wanted to prove to the world that AC was more dangerous and lethal than DC.  With these controversial demonstrations, Edison hoped to have the allowable voltage of AC severely limited or banned entirely from use which would ultimately result in his company’s continued dominance of the profitable electrical power distribution market.
  5. Henry Ford, a close friend, had convinced Thomas Edison to dismantle, re-locate and re-construct the two buildings that were Edison’s research and technology development lab that originally were located in Menlo Park, New Jersey.  Ford wanted to preserve it for future generations to view exactly how this important and innovative laboratory looked in 1879 at the time of his greatest invention.  Known as the Edison Institute, it was dedicated on October 21, 1929 in Dearborn, Michigan as a celebration of the 50th anniversary of the first successful incandescent light bulb.  Some of the 260 people in attendance that day were Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, President Herbert Hoover, Marie Curie, George Eastman, John D. Rockefeller, and Orville Wright.  Eventually, the Institute was renamed the Henry Ford Museum after Ford’s death in 1947 and is one of the largest museums in the country.
  6. Shortly after Thomas Edison’s death in 1931, Henry Ford convinced Edison’s family to seal into a test tube the air in the room that Edison had just died in.  Edison’s “last breath” is reportedly contained in this test tube displayed at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan.  (If you are interested in more information about the Henry Ford Museum, please see the January Travel Post regarding our family’s trip to Dearborn, Michigan)

Travel – James Dean’s Fairmount, Indiana

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Fairmount, Indiana sign

I have been a James Dean fan since I was a teenager living in Southern California.  So when we moved to the Midwest, within a couple of hours away from Fairmount, Indiana I knew we had to make a trip there.  Since reading several biographies about his life and career, it seemed strange to actually be visiting his hometown and seeing all the places I had read about but it was very exciting for this long-time James Dean fan!

So, in 2008 we took a quick drive over to Fairmount.  The town is small so it is very easy to drive to all the James Dean landmarks around the area.  A good place to start is the Fairmount Historical Museum which had a great collection of James Dean memorabilia, such as: newspaper clippings, family photos and letters, Dean’s personal clothing and items from his life in New York and Hollywood.  Next, we went to see the old Fairmount High School where Dean graduated in 1949 and as a student he excelled in drama, art and athletics.  The building is now abandoned and at the time we visited in 2009 there was a fence surrounding the building.

Fairmount Historical museum     Fairmount High School

A short drive away is the small James Dean Memorial Park.  Dedicated in 1995, 40 years after Dean’s death, the park was funded mostly by donations from his fans.  During the month of September, James Dean fans come from all over the world to this small town in Indiana for several days of local events to mark the life and death of this iconic movie actor.  The centerpiece of the park is a six foot high column with a special tribute plaque which is topped by a bronze bust of James Dean.  The story goes that shortly before his death; Dean had visited the studio of artist Kenneth Kendall because he admired a sculpture the artist had done of Marlon Brando.  Dean commissioned the artist to create his sculpture and Kendall, in a strange coincidence, began the work on the night of Dean’s death.  There is a duplicate of this statue located in Los Angeles, CA at the Griffith Observatory where Dean filmed several scenes from the movie, “Rebel Without a Cause”, including the famous knife fight scene.  The statue is located on the west side of the Observatory with a fantastic view of the Hollywood sign.

James Dean Memorial Park Old Motorcycle Shop Friends Church

Other James Dean landmarks in the Fairmount area include the motorcycle shop where Dean bought his first motorcycle and the Friends Church where Dean’s funeral was held in 1955.  Every year on September 30 to mark the anniversary of Dean’s death, a memorial service is held at the church for all Dean’s devoted fans that come from around the world for the James Dean Festival.  Located just outside of Fairmount is the Park Cemetery where Dean is buried next to his mother and father, Mildred and Winton Dean.  Also buried nearby are Marcus and Ortense Winslow, Dean’s Aunt and Uncle and he lived with from the age of nine to eighteen.  I am told that the Winslow family still owns the house and farm and it is located less than a mile from the cemetery.

James Dean gravesite Winslow Farm

Visiting Fairmount, Indiana and seeing these places was very exciting for this long-time James Dean fan!

SPECIAL TRAVEL NOTE:   All the sights mentioned can be seen year-round but a great time to visit is in late spring or summer when the weather is good.  Please note that the James Dean Festival is held every year in late September and Fairmount can be very crowded with fans coming from around the world.

The Brief Life of James Dean

James Bryon Dean (Born: February 8, 1931 Died: September 30, 1955) was a Broadway, television and film actor.  He was born in Marion, Indiana but the family moved to Santa Monica, California when he was six years old.  At the age of nine, Dean’s mother died and his father sent him to live with an Aunt and Uncle Winslow who owned a small farm near Fairmount, Indiana.

Dean briefly returned to California after his high school graduation to reunite with his father and enrolled in UCLA before he realized his true desire was to pursue an acting career.  Eventually Dean went to New York to become a Broadway stage actor and he also appeared in several early television programs.  He returned to Hollywood to make movies in the early 1950s.  He starred in only three films during his brief movie career.  His first film, “East of Eden”, was based on the classic John Steinbeck novel.  His second film, “Rebel Without a Cause”, proved to be his most successful movie in which he played his most famous role as a rebellious teenager.  His final film, “Giant”, was released after he was tragically killed in a car accident in 1955.  Because of the high risk involved, Dean was prevented from participating in his favorite sport, car racing.  After “Giant” had completed filming, he had entered a race in Salinas, CA and was on his way there when a tragic accident happened and he was killed, Dean was only 24 years old.

In 1997, a wealthy Japanese business man and devoted fan erected a stainless steel James Dean memorial sculpture in Cholame, California which is about a mile from where Dean’s car accident took place.  In 2005, on the 50th anniversary of the actor’s death, at the intersection of Highway 41 and 46 in Northern California, the site of the accident was renamed by the State of California to the James Dean Memorial Junction.

Decor – Valentine’s Day Decorations

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Valentine door wreathValentine’s Day … a time to celebrate love!!  As many of you know, I love to decorate the house for each holiday celebration, it brings me a lot of pleasure and I know my family appreciates my efforts.  This year I am adding a couple of new Craft projects, Rosebud Hearts and a Heart-shaped Door Wreath.  For Valentine’s Day I don’t have very many decorations like the other holidays so I will keep it simple and easy!

Boyds Bears cabinetTo greet visitors at our front door or guests attending the Queen of Hearts tea luncheon, I am hanging a new Heart-shaped Door Wreath.  In the library, there is the glass-front lawyer bookcase filled with my Boyd’s Bear Collection, and I will add my special Valentine’s Day figurines.  I will repurpose the red sparkle netting that I used on the chair backs for the tea luncheon and arrange it among the Boyd’s Bear figurines on the top two shelves.  On the bottom shelf that holds the Boyd’s Bear Village, which is still decorated for winter, I will sprinkle tiny red hearts.  In the dining room, the table is still set with a red tablecloth and the deep pink rose floral arrangement from the family room.  I’ve added red feather sprays and three red sparkle hearts on sticks for the tea luncheon.  In the kitchen, I will hang several red and silver glass ornaments from the light fixture and maybe I will add some red ribbons to make it more festive.  Lastly, I will hang the Rosebud Heart from my daughter’s bedroom door with a special note attached so she finds it in the morning when she wakes up for school.

Please look for the February Celebration post for Last Minute Valentine’s Day Ideas, most of these ideas are projects to do with your child and one is something cute to do for the kids!

Celebration – Groundhog Day

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Groundhog Day is celebrated on February 2 and originally began here in the United States in central Pennsylvania as a German custom. According to folklore, when a groundhog emerges from his burrow and sees his shadow there will be six more weeks of winter. The largest Groundhog Day celebration is held in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. It is a grand social event with food, entertainment and speeches and the groundhog known as Punxsutawney Phil makes his appearance at some time during the day.

What will Punxsutawney Phil’s prediction be for this year? Actually our weather here in the Midwest has been relatively mild. We have had some very cold temperatures for the last couple of months with only had one significant snow fall in December that gave us over a foot of snow and that was enough for sledding and building a huge six foot snowman that we traditionally called Frosty! I’m hoping Punxsutawney Phil’s prediction is that warm weather will be in the forecast! We are in the process of planning spring and summer vacation trips, thinking about the beaches in North Carolina and Florida, so we are in the mood for warmer weather.

One of my husband’s favorite movies is “Groundhog Day” and he loves to watch it over and over and over again. Sometimes I resort to hiding the movie but he always seems to find it. (I’ve got to find a better hiding place!) I must admit that it is a very clever and entertaining movie to watch … did I just say that!

“Groundhog Day” is a 1993 film directed by Harold Ramis and the comedy stars Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell. The brief synopsis of film is that Phil Connors (Murray), an arrogant Pittsburgh weatherman, and his news producer, Rita (MacDowell), are given the dreaded assignment to cover the annual Groundhog Day events in Punxsutawney, PA. After being forced to stay in town overnight due to a blizzard, Phil wakes up in the morning and finds himself in an endless time loop that has him repeating the same day, February 2, over again and again. Confused, Phil comes to realize there are no consequences for his horrible actions because in the morning everything was like it never happened. Through this process, Phil finds himself falling in love with Rita and he takes advantage of the situation to learn information about her to try and win her over. After finally confiding in Rita about everything, she advises him to take the time to improve himself and change his bad behavior to become a better person. Eventually, Phil is able to use the experience to the help people in the town. He winds up giving an eloquent report on the Groundhog Day celebration that gets a lot of attention and after the evening dance, he finally wins over Rita. He wakes the next morning and finds the time loop is broken; it is now February 3.

“GROUNDHOG DAY’” MOVIE TRIVIA

  1. The movie was NOT filmed in Punxsutawney, PA but mostly filmed on location in Woodstock, IL which is coincidentally 45 miles from Bill Murray’s real hometown of Wilmette, IL. Since the film’s release Punxsutawney has become a major tourist attraction.
  2. There is a small plaque on the curb in the town of Woodstock at the spot in the film where Murray filmed the movie scene where he repeatedly steps into a puddle; it reads “Bill Murray stepped here”.
  3. The director of the film originally wanted Tom Hanks to play the lead character but decided against him because he was “too nice”, he also considered Chevy Chase, Steve Martin and John Travolta.
  4. Bill Murray was bitten twice by the groundhogs used in the filming; he had to have anti-rabies injections because the bites were so severe.
  5. The time period depicted in the movie is believed to be close to 9 years, when it is considered that the character of Phil Connors becomes a master piano player, an expert ice sculptor, etc. the time needed would be more likely closer to 30+ years.