Quick pit stop in the Land of Lincoln

If you are a history or politics buff (or just really love Abraham Lincoln) and you driving between Chicago and Saint Louis, or you are driving across the historic US Route 66, you gotta make at least a quick stop in Springfield, Illinois. They got a pretty cool looking state capitol building with Andrew O’Connor’s 1918 statue of Honest Abe out front. There’s also the old state capitol building where Lincoln worked as state representative and delivered his famous ‘House Divided’ speech. There’s the only home Lincoln ever owned, which is preserved remarkably well and has free tours run by the National Park Service every day of the week (except some holidays). You could also visit his tomb, see one of several large painted elephant statues, and more quirky history stuff. I could’ve sworn the elephants had something to do with the Republican Party considering the Lincoln relation, but I couldn’t find anything online so 🤷♂️. A fun piece of trivia to share while in Springfield: Illinois’ capital is only Springfield in the first place because of a Lincoln-led group of representatives from Sangamon County who were all taller than 6-feet nicknamed “The Long Nine.” #historicallandmarks #politics #statecapitol