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 Who is your favorite President someone might ask? Many of us would probably say, “Abraham Lincoln,” as he served our great country during a time of formidable crisis. He managed the Civil War successfully to hold the union together and commenced the process by which the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution might be passed, to enable our country to move forward and to fulfill the promises that all persons would be treated equal. While that promise has not yet been fulfilled, Lincoln is forever memorialized for his deeds and actions. Historians have written more books about Abraham Lincoln than any other individual in American history.
I had the privilege of visiting Lincoln’s Tomb in Oak Ridge Cemetery and his home, both located in Springfield, Illinois, in 2000. It was a great treat and I will never forget the experience. Abraham Lincoln died without a memorial plan. He was fortunate that others revered him sufficiently that his memorial was planned and constructed. His life story has been and will be told through the ages. How about your story? Tell your story at your memorial site for future generations so your heritage will not be lost. After all, it is the right thing to do.
The memorial itself is a 117-foot tall granite tomb, which contains the remains of Abraham Lincoln, his wife Mary, and his sons Thomas, William and Edward. Abraham and Mary’s oldest son Robert had planned to be buried along side his family in this tomb. When Robert’s son (Abraham Lincoln II) passed away in 1890, Robert buried “Jack’s” body in the Lincoln memorial. Mary Harlan Lincoln, Robert’s wife, chose a gravesite in Arlington National Cemetery, where she chose to bury Robert in 1928 and to move Jack in 1930.
The memorial was designed by Larkin Mead, a Vermont sculptor. The tomb contains the Lincoln statuary, which has become famous in its own right. Visitors have made a tradition of rubbing the nose of Lincoln’s bronze bust located at the entrance. The bust is credited to Gutzon Borglum, whose other work of Lincoln is featured at Mount Rushmore.
Bronze statues and quotes from several of Lincoln’s speeches can be viewed as you enter the gravesite. The burial chamber, made of marble, can be reached through a circular hallway. At the chamber entrance, Secretary Stanton’s thoughts on Lincoln are engraved: “Now he belongs to the ages.”
Lincoln's coffin lies below a red marble marker. His casket and remains actually sits beneath the floor in a vault, which is made of steel and is concrete-reinforced. An attempted robbery of Lincoln’s body was made in 1876, and the security change was made in 1899, when the monument was in need of reconstruction.
For more information about Abraham Lincoln, please visit http://showcase.netins.net/web/creative/lincoln/sites/tomb.htm. Information for this article was gathered at this site.
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About Burton Fletcher:
Burton Fletcher, with over 20 years’ business experience, owns USAMonuments.com. He is a nationally published expert, frequently writing on monument building and memorialization. He designs, builds, ships and installs across the United States and Canada. Reach Burton at 888.978.2883 or e-mail to Burton@ValdostaMemorials.com for your memorialization needs.
© Burton
Fletcher 2005 All Rights Reserved.
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