New Salem, Illinois 10.9.13

Randy Robins our guide.  New Salem.



P Day Group at New Salem



Lincoln Statue.  New Salem.  Avard Fairbanks.

Big Purchase.  Postcards.  New Salem.

A real ox in New Salem.

We went to New Salem the same day we went to Dickson Mounds.  They were only about an hour apart.  Our guide was a member of the Church who lives in nearby Petersborg.  He is a docent in New Salem and took personal time to show us around the restored village.

Abraham Lincoln spent six years in New Salem from the ages of 22-28.  Here he defined what he would later become.  He tried being a store keeper without much success.  He did physical labor.  He and a friend took products on a flatboat on the rivers all the way to New Orleans where they sold their wares.

Abe was self taught.  He loved to read and read everything he could get his hands on.  He decided to read law and become a lawyer.  In those days that was all you had to do and then pass the test.

New Salem reminded me of what old Nauvoo may have looked like with the log cabins, dirt roads, fences for horses, cattle, and oxen.  They had some “interpreters” showing the early crafts like weaving and the home of Samuel Hill who was the richest man in New Salem.

Randy was an excellent guide.  It was obvious that he has studied much about Lincoln and has a great love for the man.  We were glad to learn more about Lincoln’s earlier life after being in Springfield  in June.