Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum, Springfield, IL, Guida per visitatori e cosa fare nei dintorni

The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum is the main museum devoted to Abraham Lincoln, in downtown Springfield, Illinois, the city where he built his law career and his family life before the White House. It sits beside the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library, which holds a vast collection of Lincoln papers and artifacts, and it tells his story from frontier childhood to the presidency and his death.

The story behind it

Lincoln moved to Springfield in 1837 and lived here until 1861. He practised law with William Herndon, married Mary Todd and raised his family in the town. When he left for Washington in February 1861, he said goodbye to Springfield and told Herndon to leave their law shingle hanging, saying he would be back if he lived. The story is often retold in the city, and it gives the place much of its emotional weight.

He did return, but not as he had hoped. After his assassination in 1865, a funeral train carried his body home across a mourning country. He was laid to rest in Springfield, and thousands of people filed past his casket at the Old State Capitol. The museum, which opened in 2005, carries that local story forward and sets it beside the national one.

What to look for

• The walk-through exhibits follow Lincoln from a log cabin childhood to the White House, with life-size scenes that make the leap between those two worlds easy to see.
• Look for the recreated White House rooms, where the pressures of the Civil War years are shown through the people around the president.
• The Treasures Gallery displays original Lincoln-related items, and seeing real objects up close is a good counterweight to the theatrical exhibits.
• The special-effects theater shows, including the one set among the library's collections, are worth catching if your schedule allows.

Tips for your visit

• Allow at least two to three hours inside if you like to read exhibits, and check current opening hours and admission before you go.
• Go early in the day, when the galleries are usually calmer, and leave time to walk outside afterwards.
• The museum is in the heart of the Lincoln sites, so the Old State Capitol and the Lincoln-Herndon Law Offices are close by on foot.
• The Lincoln Home neighbourhood and the Lincoln Tomb at Oak Ridge Cemetery are a little further out and fit well into the same day.

See it on a quest

Murder Mystery: Death in the Shadows in Springfield, IL is a good way to see the area on foot. You reach the museum as one stop on a longer route through downtown Springfield, the app tells you about each place when you arrive, and you solve a puzzle in what is in front of you. One ticket covers the whole group.

Springfield, IL Detective Mystery: Infiltrate a Secret Society. is another self-guided option for a detective-style walk. You move from place to place at your own pace, hear about each stop as you reach it and solve a puzzle on the spot, with no guide and no group to join. One ticket covers the whole group.