The Lincoln Tomb State Historic Site

リンカーンが埋葬されているお墓の公園

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After visiting Shea's Route 66 Museum, we drove back a little bit on Business Loop 55, turned right on North Grand Avenue and then drove west. In about five minutes, we got to Monument Avenue, which is the entrance to the Lincoln Tomb State Historic Site. The entire area was a big park with lots of cozy trees scattered all over. (Actually, it's not a park but a cemetry officially called Oak Ridge Cemetry.) We parked our car near the tomb, and headed to the entrance to the tomb. There stood a welcome sign which showed the open hours. The sign said Sunday and Monday are closed between October and April. We didn't know that information, but the day we visited just happened to be the third Thursday in October. Thank God we could enter the site!

I wrote about trees. This photo shows an example of them. Widely spread branches make a very cozy shadowy space under it.

A far view of the tomb. The tomb tower, which is called oberisk, was like reaching at floating clouds high up in the blue sky. It was really a beautiful day. Click on the photo for enlargement.

A near view of the lower half of the oberisk. The statue of Lincoln stands in the center, looking far. And four statues surround Lincoln: two in the front and two in the back. These are the statues of infantry and cavalry in the front and those of navy and artillery in the back. The two statues in the back aren't shown in the photo. All the surrounding statues represent the Union soldiers in Civil War.

A close-up of the Lincoln Tomb, viewed from the front. The Lincoln statue is flanked by the statue of infantry on the left and that of cavalry on the right. The rolled document Lincoln grips in his left hand is the Emancipation Proclamation. Click on the photo to enlarge it.

This is the statue of the Lincoln head sitting just in front of the tomb. This is a reproduction and the original statue was made by Gutzon Borglum in 1908, and is displayed now in a room called Crypt at the Capitol in Washington D.C. Gutzon's statue is marble whereas this replica is made of bronze. Look at the shiny nose of this replica. People believe that they will get lucky when they rub the nose. Therefore a lot of visitors rub the nose. As a result it's shiny now. You will definitely feel like rubbing the nose when you visit the tomb in the future. Click on the photo for enlargement.

Students on school trip, who were probably middle schoolers, were reaching their hands at the lucky nose of Abe Lincoln! In this way, an aspect of American history and traditions is passed over to a younger generation. An wonferful moment. Click on the photo to enlarge it.

Day Five continues to the nexts page.

五日目は次のページに続きます。