Wednesday, May 14, 2008

History Nerd and Abraham Lincoln

warning: This blog is now going to get all nerdy on you.

I had never been to Washington DC, so when my brother suggested it as a stop on our roadtrip I knew I would get to see something I have dreamed of seeing for a long time.

It was here that Marion Anderson stood and sang before 75,000 people . It was here that Martin Luther King Jr stood and said "I have a dream".
One of my favorite Presidents is Abe Lincoln (or as my nephew calls him, A.Blinken). I had been to Gettysburg and I have read books about Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln. They had quite the sad life.




If you ever find yourself in Manchester Vermont, visit Hildene. It is the home of Robert Todd Lincoln, the only surviving child. One of the rooms contains personal items belonging to the President and it left me speechless.



This small display is about Daniel Chester French. He designed the statue. You may have seen other works by French and not known who designed them, the Pulitzer Prize gold medallion, the fountain at Dupont Circle, the Richard Morris Hunt Memorial in Central Park and the statue of The Minuteman in Concord MA. You can visit his summer home and studio in Stockbridge MA, Chesterwood





I stood in front of this panel and read the end of Lincoln's second inaugural speech and thought it was relevant to what this country is going through now.
Once again, in the presence of the spirit of Lincoln, I was speechless.





















6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great tribute to a great man.

Anonymous said...

It's so moving and you don't get a true sense of the size and scale of the monument until you're standing right there.

blackbird said...

We love the Lincoln Memorial AT NIGHT.

It feels like a holy place.

BOSSY said...

Oh how Bossy admires Abe Lincoln... and the white club chair he is sitting on. Don't they sell those at Crate & Barrel?

Jenn @ Juggling Life said...

Someday I will visit the memorial.

I get to be the comment after Bossy--yay, me!

Anonymous said...

I can't wait to take my kids there. I actually like the U.S. Patent museum. When people submit for a patent they have to include sketches and stuff... and they are usually just wacked-out.