Day 65 - Casey, Illinois to Springfield, Illinois

If you want to discover just how little you know about our country, just take to the road and you'll soon find out. This morning we visited the Lincoln family farm in west central Illinois. This is where our 16th President's father, Thomas Lincoln, spent the latter part of his life. It was, in fact, Thomas' last home and he's buried just down the road.

We hadn't been doing any long-range planning for this visit. In fact, until yesterday, I had no idea where the Lincoln family farm might be located, or that it even existed.

From the web I learned that in 1837, Thomas Lincoln erected a cabin on a tract of land situated one-half mile to the east. Here he resided until his death in 1851. Abraham Lincoln visited here frequently, and after 1841 held title to forty acres of land on which his parents lived. The State of Illinois now owns most of the Lincoln farm.

Thomas was born in Virgina, and his family soon brought him west to Kentucky. Indians killed his father, named Abraham Lincoln, while he was clearing farmland, leaving young Thomas and his family fatherless. He moved to Hardin County, Kentucky in 1802, and one year later, purchased his first farm. Thomas married Nancy Hanks on June 12, 1806. They had three children: Sarah (February 10, 1807), Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809), and Thomas (1812) who died in infancy.

Historical documents show that Thomas was a responsible citizen and community leader, but he repeatedly fell victim to Kentucky's chaotic land laws and was constantly frustrated by the presence of slavery. In 1816, Thomas and his family crossed the Ohio River and purchased a farm directly from the Federal Government in what is today Spencer County, Indiana.

Two years later his wife died due to milk sickness, which is brought on by the milk cow eating a plant known as "white snakeroot." Thomas then married a widow, Sarah Bush Johnston. Although Lincoln developed a close relationship with his stepmother, his relationship with his father was strained. In 1830, he moved with his father for the last time when they traveled to Illinois. A year later, he set out on his own. His father continued farming in Coles County, Illinois until his death in 1851.

Concetta and I ambled down a variety of country roads this morning from our camp near Casey, Illinois. We avoided the Interstates, and arrived at the Lincoln farm about mid morning. There we found a couple of cars in the parking lot, but at first we looked to be about the only visitors for the day. When we got to the visitor center, the museum docent even interrupted the in-progress movie for us and started it over so we wouldn't have to wait. This she did after dashing out as we arrived and offered to take our photo next to the Conestoga wagon we had been admiring (photo upper right).

After the movie we set out to look at Tom Lincoln's re-created farmstead and talk to the park personnel who were in costume, and just waiting for folks to ask them 19th century questions. According to the costumed young people, during certain times of the year folks come and work the gardens, tend the barnyard animals, make quilts, weave cloth, and a dozen other tasks, and you can watch them and can ask about their lives and duties. Today, well, we had a man and woman who told us about the Lincoln cabin and the various tasks that went on there. I poked my head into the sleeping loft, and checked out the root cellar (photo left), just to see what I could see. We learned that the farm buildings are located precisely where Tom Lincoln's various structures once stood based on archeology work done in decades past.

There's a number of other farm buildings on the National Parks property, and not just belonging to Tom Lincoln. Several buildings from a nearby farm, the owners of which had been friends of the Lincolns, had been moved to the park property and were on the tour as well. Incredibly, Concetta and I had the biggest part of the park to ourselves the whole morning, though a threatened passel of school kids did finally arrive just before we left. Almost as if it were our own farm, we got to stroll the woodland paths, enjoy the birds singing, and listen to the water gurgle beneath the bridges as we enjoyed a rare sunny spring day.

Though I usually like the "real" experience of visiting outdoor exhibits the best, today I found the museum indoors just outstanding and wonderfully informative. I especially like the display on the production of flax (photo left). You may remember that when we visited Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia, we learned a lot about flax and it's processing into linen. But today I discovered that we really didn't learn the whole process in Williamsburg. There's a lot more to the processing than we originally learned. Now, thanks to our visit to Tom Lincoln's farm, we have the whole story.

According to the display, the pioneers soaked the flax -- retted it -- to make the woody part come off more easily, they "scutched" the flax to remove the woody parts, and they hetcheled the flax to further refine and separate the strands of flax material from the woody parts. The scutcher transforms the retted flax straw into fibre. During this process he removes the shives (broken parts of the stalk). He obtains scutched flax (long fibre) and tow flax(short fibre). The tow fibre is not good for fine linens, but can be used to make burlap-style bags or work clothes.

Flax can also be "swingled," which means that the coarse woody outer parts are beaten with a wooden swingling stick until the finer interior parts can be separated out. Pioneers might also use primitive machines to scutch and swingle the flax.(photo right)

Generally around three hecheling combs are used, although many more can be used. The finer the final hecheling comb, the finer the yarn spun from that flax can be. A hecheling comb looks like a board into which someone has pounded twenty or thirty nails very close to each other. You drag the flax fibers over the "nails" to snag the shives.

In English, we get our words for blond children out of the flax-making process. Long blond hair is referred to as "flaxen," but a child with short, coarse blond hair is referred to as being "tow-headed."

After our tour of the Lincoln farm, Concetta and I walked back to the RV, had our lunch, then hit the road headed northwest once more. Continuing to stay well away from the Interstate, we grabbed Route 16 out of Charleston, Illinois, followed by Route 29, and Route 104 out of Taylorsville, Illinois, as we worked our way to Abraham Lincoln's home of Springfield, Illinois. Though we did have to spend a few minutes on Interstate 55 as we approached Springfield, this afternoon we miraculously discovered a KOA well away from the maddening crowd. In fact, the sign on the front gate says, "No planes, no trains, no automobiles can be heard in this camp." And you know, they're absolutely correct. While the noise from the Interstate last evening prompted Concetta and me to start counting passing 18-wheelers to see just how many of them were going by the camp each minute, here the only noise is the breeze rustling the leaves overhead.

They've been predicting a storm for Illinois since yesterday. So far we haven't seen it, but as dusk comes upon us I can see that the sky looks a little troubled. Perhaps the rig is going to get a bath before morning. If it does storm, I hope that it charges through tonight while we sleep. Tomorrow, we have our sights set on old Abe's home, and I'd sure like the sun to be shining!