Category Archives: Illinois

It was time to pick up our daughter from her two-week stay with relatives. We were meeting halfway — near St. Louis — at noon on Sunday. My wife and I decided to make a mini-vacation of the trip and … Continue reading →

We headed home with only one stop for lunch at Arby’s in Rantoul. We were decidedly not in the mood for fast food at this point, but after driving up and down every street in town without finding anywhere to … Continue reading →

Our final stop before heading for home was the site of the fourth debate between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas. The debate was held on September 18, 1858, before an estimated 12,000 people on the Coles County Fairgrounds. We opened … Continue reading →

When the Lincoln’s lived at Goosenest Prairie (see previous post), there was a small community a mile up the road named Farmington. There never was much to the town, and most of what there was is now gone. One house … Continue reading →

We drove 10 miles south of Charleston to see the farm where Abraham Lincoln’s father and step-mother lived from 1840 until they died (Thomas in 1851 and Sarah in 1869). We arrived half an hour after the park opened, but … Continue reading →