Friday, September 21.  Travel by Trolley

When we gathered at 9:00 in the hotel lobby, we saw our transportation for the day -- a bright red trolley!  Even though the seats were pretty hard, it was a fun way to travel to all our sites today.  After a short narrated tour of the downtown sites, we drove to the State Military Museum where we saw presentations and exhibits on soldiers and the Civil War.   Our lunch today was an excellent meal at a local seafood house.

We learned about each item of the soldier's uniform and equipment. 

Next stop was Camp Butler National Cemetery, a cemetery for veterans and their dependents.  More than 20,000 are buried here, including 1,600 Union and Confederte soldiers.

Rounded tops on Union graves

Pointed tops on Confederate graves. 

Note the shiny nose from all the rubbing!

Our final stop of the day was at Lincoln's Tomb in Oak Ridge Cemetery where we learned about Lincoln's burial sites, his final resting place being a cement vault, 10 feet below the surface of the burial room inside the memorial.  Lincoln's wife and three of his sons are also interred in the tomb.  It is a tradition to rub the nose on Lincoln's bronze face for good luck.









After returning to the hotel, we had a very good talk about the development of the Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, in preparation for tomorrow's visit to the attraction.  After dinner, the presenter from Camp Butler provided more information on the camp.  This was the end to a very, very busy day!