2021-03-29: Touring More Abraham Lincoln and Route 66 Sites in Illinois on Day 7 of Turning a 1400 Mile Road Trip into a 3404 Mile Adventure!

So today as we geocached more Illinois counties, we followed more footsteps of President Abraham Lincoln historical sites and jumped onto the Historic Route 66 to continue our southwest roadtrip. There's a LOT to see and do today, so let us go for a drive and get on down the road...

Waking up in Peoria County, Illinois this morning, it was still cold but not like it was yesterday morning. First thing first... breakfast, coffee, and hey look there's a geocache right there in the parking lot (GC42BCA)! Then next door into East Peoria and Tazewell County, we made a quick exit off the highway in this industrial area for a creative geocache (GC24KTM) that had a lot of favorite points. Luckily, truck traffic wasn't that busy. Parked on a side street and a short walk across the grass. Found the container quickly and another minute to figure out log sheet retrieval.

Southbound on I-55 into Logan County, we exit into the small town of Elkhart. A couple of blocks off of the Old Route 66 and near the town square, is this Veterans Memorial Statue honoring those in the community who have served in the various wars.

Just outside the east side of town are my next two geocaches (GC4MYJP, GC8P1YG). The first settler in the Elkhart area was James Latham. In 1824 he was appointed by President John Quincy Adams to the position of Indian Agent at Fort Clark (now Peoria). He moved the family there and in two years took ill and died. They brought him back to the hill and buried him in Latham Cemetery (not far from where his first cabin was built) which has the distinction of being the oldest cemetery in Logan County.

One of the highest points in the state is Elkhart Hill. Abraham Lincoln often stayed in the Kentucky House, a stagecoach stop on Elkhart Hill owned by his friend Richard Latham. He was also a friend of John Dean Gillett, who was once known as the “Cattle King of the World.” Gillett was the primary financier of Lincoln, IL, the Logan County city that bears Abraham Lincoln’s name.

The Elkhart Cemetery is located on the south side of Elkhart Hill. Near Gillett’s grave, is the Saint John's Chapel. It was built in 1890 by the Culver Stone Co. in memory of Gillett. Still owned by the Gillett Farm, it is the only privately owned chapel in Illinois.

Richard J. Oglesby, three term governor of Illinois and a close friend of Abraham Lincoln, married the Gillett's oldest daughter, Emma. They built their home across the hill from the Gillett house. Known as Oglehurst, the 46 room mansion had a pipe organ in the Great Hall, a fourth floor school room where the children were tutored and a music room with a musical score detailed in the gesso work around the ceiling. The Oglesby's are buried in a tomb on Elkhart Hill.

The cemetery is also the final resting place of Capt. Adam H. Bogardus, who toured with Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West Show and was known as the “Wing Shot Champion of the World.”

Connecting Elkhart Hill to Elkhart Cemetery is this bridge which was erected in 1915 by Emma Gillett Oglesby. It is said to be the only private bridge over a public highway in the state. 

This time I decide to stay on Old Route 66 instead of jumping onto the Interstate. Crossing over into Sangamon County and the town of Williamsville, I spot The Old Route 66 Gas Station and Garage. I couldn't buy gas at 31 cents a gallon, but I did drive away with some good photos.

Now moving down the road into Springfield, Illinois. Settling began in 1810 and eventually the town of Springfield became the state capital of Illinois. Abraham Lincoln lived in the Springfield area from 1837 until 1861. In May of 1839, construction began on this cottage for Reverend Charles Dresser. It wasn't until 1844 when Abraham Lincoln moved his family, wife Mary and son Robert, from a rural community on the outskirts and purchased a small cottage house within Springfield. The Lincoln's made multiple renovations and expansions over the next 17 years while they lived in the home. In 1861, now President Abraham Lincoln moved the family to Washington D.C.

Several tenants occupied the house up until Robert Lincoln deeded the house to the state of Illinois in June of 1887. President Nixon established the house as the Lincoln Home National Historic Site in 1971/72 (GC963C).

Pictured below is Abraham Lincoln's "campaign bus" which he used to travel around in while running for office. A big difference compared to today's 45 foot luxury motorcoaches!

Two blocks away from the Lincoln House is Union Square. Union Station opened in 1898 as the passenger terminal for the Illinois Central (IC) Railroad. Francis T. Bacon, an IC architect, designed the station. The current 110-foot-tall clock tower is a reconstruction replacement of the original which was removed in 1946.

Vacated by the railroad in 1971, Union Station was rehabilitated by the Scully family in 1985 for retail use. The State of Illinois leased the building for offices in 1990, eventually purchasing it in 1990. A rehabilitation began in 2005 returning the train station to the turn-of-the-century appearance.

On this public square and in surrounding buildings (GCMNH3), Lincoln and his family and friends purchased goods, attended parties, enjoyed picnics and parades, watched theatricals, and listened to concerts and lectures.

In law offices and courtrooms overlooking this square he honed his skills of persuasion. In storefront discussions and street corner gatherings he perfected the art of politics. Then, as his understanding matured and his convictions deepened, he took his place among the leaders of his time, addressing the people of the nation in powerful and eloquent words that echoed beyond this small prairie capital.

Our next stop in Springfield, Illinois along our President Abraham Lincoln Sightseeing History Tour was at the Oak Ridge Cemetery. Upon entering the cemetery, there are multiple veterans memorials near the entrance. This one pictured below is the Illinois Vietnam Veterans Memorial (GCE6FF).

After Lincoln's assassination and services in Washington D.C., his body was placed on a train for his final trip back home to Springfield. His casket, along with his son Williams who died at the White House in 1862, was placed in this receiving vault at the Oak Ridge Cemetery in May of 1865. They remained here under guard until December of 1865 when the construction of another temporary tomb was completed.

The granite monument below, erected in 1900, memorializes the location of the temporary second tomb. The temporary vault held the bodies of President Abraham Lincoln and his sons Edward and William from December 1865 until September 1871, when they were moved to the partially completed tomb. Built into the lower portion on the left side of the monument, is the marble slab which used to be inside the receiving vault upon which his casket was first put to rest. (looks like a white door in the photo)

In 1871, three years after construction began, Lincoln's body and three of his sons were placed in crypts in the unfinished structure. The memorial was completed in 1874. Now, you would think that this was the FINAL resting place of President Abraham Lincoln. However, I leave you to read "the rest of the story" as Paul Harvey used to say. Go to the National Park Service website to read about the attempted theft of Lincoln's body and that it was moved 5 more times before being placed ten feet below the floor of the burial chamber as requested by his only remaining son, Robert Todd Lincoln.

In the center of the chamber is this huge sarcophagus, ten feet above Lincoln's body. Along the back wall are five chambers, one for his wife Mary Todd Lincoln, three of his four sons, and a grandson.

Finally moving on into Decatur and Macon County. This Texaco Gas Station (GC7B80A) originally opened in the 1930's. Having changed hands several times, it eventually became an automotive detail shop. The building was in pretty bad shape until the current owner purchased it. Over a period of 6 years, the property was brought up to code and the whole place was restored to it's original 1930's state you see today. The station is slowly being filled with period equipment and furniture. The only thing missing now is the gas pump itself.

Also in Decatur at the Greenwood Cemetery is the Illinois Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers Memorial and another geocache (GC32HMJ).

Heading southeast down State Road 121 into Moultrie County, we make a quick geocaching roadside stop (GC3MV8K) at the Illinois Department of Natural Resources Public Archery Range.

I had decided to take this little detour south-eastward before continuing southwest in order to stop for more historical places along the Lincoln History Tour.

Reaching Coles County near the towns of Lena and Campbell, is our next geocache (GC1MEC5). It is here where you'll find the Shiloh Presbyterian Church and the Thomas Lincoln Cemetery. Thomas Lincoln died in 1851 and was buried in what was then called the Gordon Burial Ground. As was common in many poor rural communities, Thomas Lincoln's marker was probably no more than a simple rock placed to mark the gravesite. Many years later, however, Abraham Lincoln's nephew, John J. Hall, would tell a Lincoln biographer that Abraham had carved the initials T. L. onto a board which he placed upon the grave during his last visit in January 1861 before heading to the White House.

Whether Thomas Lincoln's marker was a stone or a board, no permanent marker could be placed by local friends and by Thomas' grandson, Robert Todd Lincoln. Those donation ensured the tombstones eventual erection in 1880. The current marker was actually installed later by the Illinois Lions Club to replaced the original, which unfortunately, had been chipped away at by souvenir seekers over the years.

Located on the Lincoln Highway, just down the road from the cemetery, the Lincoln Log Cabin State Historic Site preserves the last farm and home of Thomas and Sarah Bush Lincoln. The Lincoln family moved to the farm in 1837 and after Abraham had established his residence in Springfield. Although Lincoln never lived here with his father and stepmother, he stopped here to bid farewell to his stepmother on his way to the White House in January of 1861. There are also three geocaches here on the Lincoln Farm (GC8B2NZ, GC8B2WM, GC891A4).

From the Lincoln Farm, we drove south towards I-70 because we were running out of daylight and needed to put some miles behind us. We crossed over into Cumberland County and the town of Greenup for our next county geocache. It was located at the Greenup Cemetery (GC5C8CE). Located along the Old National Road, burials date back to the early 1800's. No time to look but just a quick glance around. Nothing got my attention so onto the Interstate westbound.

We drove straight through Effingham County because I had already completed that one from back in my truck driving days. Then stopping in Fayette County for two geocaches. The first was in the Guy Cemetery (GC2J8TY) in St Elmo. Again just a quick glance around and moved on.

Two exits later, we got back off into the town of Vandalia for a geocache with hundreds of favorite points. The Great Kaskaskia Dragon (GCHWFZ) is this huge metal sculpture of a fire-breathing dragon and knight in armor. Unfortunately the dragon's fire had been extinguished during our visit.

 

Now the camera brightens it up a bit and, at 7:30 PM, it was darker than it appears. Time to find some dinner and get some sleep!

2021-03-25: Day 3 of Turning a 1400 Mile Road Trip into a 3404 Mile Adventure!

Hello again friends, family, RV'ers, Jeeper, Geocachers, and Roadtrippers! Welcome to Day 3 of our adventurous road trip where we turned a simple 1400 mile drive from NC to TX into a 12 day 3404 mile sightseeing tour! On the third day we traveled through Maryland, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Ohio, finding some really cool historic places like this very first toll booth in the country. So come ride along with us as I share our geocaching adventures with you.

So for our first stop today, we were passing by the very northern tip of Mineral County, West Virginia. It was one of the needed counties on my geocaching map. We took the exit off of I-68 in Cumberland, MD and crossed the bridge over the North Branch Potomac River into Ridgeley, WV. It was a quick stop for a quick find near the rail yards along the river (GC3HYE8).

Back across the bridge into Maryland for Allegany County. We start with a virtual geocache at Riverside Park (GC37CB). A couple of things here in this park to see. First we'll start with a historical highway. Probably the most famous of the highway's and byway's is Route 66, which we'll highlight in an upcoming blog as we travelled on it later in this adventure.

But here in Cumberland, Maryland at Riverside Park is a monument which marks the starting point of the very first federally funded road project. Envisioned by George Washington, the "Cumberland" or "National Road" as it was called, was a means to develop the continent and to unite the country. The highway was promoted by Thomas Jefferson and authorized by Congress in 1806. Construction work began in 1811 and this monument was erected in 2011 at the 200th anniversary. The flags that surround the monument represent each state the road traverses and one for the U.S. flag of 1811.

Also located within Riverside Park is George Washington's Headquarters. From the historical marker: "Our founding father spent much of his time in this vicinity while a young man as a surveyor, ambassador, aide-de-camp to General Braddock, and Commander of the Virginia military forces. This cabin served as his headquarters during part of this time."

"During the French and Indian War, a 23-year old Lt Col Washington studied military customs and tactics from this cabin while General Braddock's army encamped at Fort Cumberland in May-June 1755. As aide-de-camp to Braddock, he marched with the ill-fated expedition against the French. His advice to Braddock concerning backwoods warfare was ignored by the arrogant General. Washington led the retreat of those left from the field."

"George was made commander of all Virginia forces in August of 1755 and in the next three years spent much time in this area with his forces. He wrote ardent love letters to his future bride from this cabin at Fort Cumberland. He was with General Forbes in the successful campaign against Fort Duquesne in November of 1758. As President, in 1794, Washington reviewed troops gathered here to suppress the Whiskey Rebellion in Pennsylvania." George Washington's headquarters is the only remaining structure left of Fort Cumberland.

Up on the hill overlooking downtown and the river, the Emmanuel Episcopal Church was built on the site where Fort Cumberland once stood. Constructed from 1848 to 1851, beneath the floor of the church sanctuary are portions of the cellar, magazines, and earthen works of the fort. Research shows that tunnels beneath the church were used as a station on the Underground Railroad in the 1800's.

It was common for forts of this period to have rifle pits or trenches outside the walls as a line of first defense. Two water gates were along the palisade walls near the point of the fort. Trenches, tunnels, or both ran from these to the creek below. They were necessary to protect men going for water or to the storehouses located down the hill from Indians.

At the west end of Cumberland is the Rose Hill Cemetery (GCM8C3). With nearly 8,000 interments, the oldest dates all the way back to 1754. Col Joshua Fry was a surveyor, adventurer, soldier, map maker and a member of he House of Burgess, the legislature of the colony of Virginia. He was educated at Oxford and upon arrival he was made a professor at William & Mary College. He created an important map of Virginia along with Peter Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson's father. In the early days of the French and Indian War he was given command of the Virginia Regiment and ordered to take the French Fort Duquesne near present day Pittsburg. In May of 1754, during the advance he died at Cumberland, MD and George Washington succeeded him in command.

Built into one side of the hill is a row of family mausoleums. This one belongs to the Shriver family and contains nine of its members from 1863 to 1890.

Crossing over the state line north into Pennsylvania, we stopped for two geocaches in Somerset County. The first was in the town of Addison off of US-40 at what used to be the Old National Road that I mentioned earlier. Here is located the countries first toll booth (GC2TVCN). After several years of construction, the National Road officially opened in 1818. Decades of debate over the constitutionality and expenditure of an 800 mile road and it was eventually turned over to the various states through which it passed in 1831-1834.

Pennsylvania, like other states, erected 6 toll booths to help pay for the expense of maintaining the new highway. The Petersburg Toll House was constructed in 1835 at a cost of $1,530. Toll keeper William Condon collected $1,758.87 from Nov 10, 1840 through Nov 19, 1841 and received a $200 salary and the use of the building for his family. The toll collections ended in 1906.

Iron toll gates were added in 1836. Leading into the park across the street is a walkway between two columns. These may have been the ones that held the gates in place.

Posted on the toll house is an old "Rates of Toll" sheet listing the prices for all the various horses, wagons, pedestrian combinations that may be passing through the gates. The Petersburg Toll House underwent a complete restoration in 1997.

Just down the road was our next geocache at the Newbury Cemetery (GC15N55). The geocache highlighted the grave of Captain Black. Son of James and Catharine Black, Milton Black enlisted as 2nd Lieutenant on November 12, 1861 in Company H, 85th Infantry Regiment, Pennsylvania. He died on June 23, 1862 at White Oak Swamp, Virginia. According to his grave marker, he died in Camp Richmond of typhoid fever.

Upon finding the geocache and opening the lid, I was all excited seeing two $100 bills inside. I've heard stories about cachers finding cash or valuables inside geocaches. But with further inspection of the bills, I noticed the "For Motion Picture Use Only" printed on the front and back. Oh well, I found the cache but not the cash. So I left them in the container to surprise the next cachers.

Continuing west on the National Road and US-40 just before crossing the Youghiogheny River Lake and the Great Crossing Bridge, I saw this old abandoned building on the side of the road and had to pull over for a closer inspection and photos. After doing some research, I still don't know what this place actually was at one time. It kinda looks like it might have been a restaurant. If any of you might have some information on this place, please leave it in the comments below.

Continuing a few miles over into Fayette County, we grabbed a quick stop and go cache near the sign of a nursing home (GC3PFBR). Trying to continue momentum and putting some miles behind us, another quick park and grab for Greene County (GC7WMEG). This one was a pretty cool container hanging in a tree like a bird house.

Crossing over into the narrow top of West Virginia, we made a quick exit off the Interstate 70 in Ohio County for fuel, lunch, and a quick geocache (GC4191Z).

Now in Ohio, we're back following the National Road in Guernsey County. One of the great things I like about geocaching is that some of them bring you to some historical places I wouldn't otherwise know about. This is the "S" Bridge which was built around 1828 (GC71EA). Where the National Road crossed a creek at an angle, this stone arch bridge was built at right angles to the stream flow. "S" shaped walls were then built to guide traffic around the jog from the direction of travel across the bridge and back onto the road line. An arch parallel with the stream flow and in line with the road would have been more difficult and costly to build.

With time running out this afternoon, we quickly made it through some more Ohio counties grabbing easy caches to put the county on our map. The first was a cemetery geocache (GC1JV08) in the town of New Concord and a gas station geocache (GC2339T) in the town of Sonora for Muskingum County. I didn't spend much time in the cemetery looking for a story like usual, but I did spot a Harley Headstone.

After that it was dropping down into Perry County for a roadside park and grab (GC1WPEB). And finally passing through the very NW corner of Fairfield County, it was enough for a quick LPC (light post cache GC48ZFH) in a shopping center parking lot to complete that spot on the map.

That was it for this day of our North Carolina to Texas via the LONG WAY around geocaching adventure. I hope you have enjoyed virtually riding along with us and maybe inspiring you to go and visit some of these places too. Tomorrow we finished up Ohio and made it into Indiana visiting more sites along the historic National Road. So join us again for more of our adventure.

To follow along on our travels and keep up with my latest blogs, you may do so here of course by clicking the "Follow" button to the right. But also by using one or more of your favorite of these social media platforms: Facebook, MeWe, Gab, Reddit, Parlor, Twitter, RVillage, GETTR, Instagram, and TruthSocial. These all link directly to my profiles. Again, please feel free to comment and / or share.

2021-03-23: Turning a 1400 Mile Drive into a 3404 Mile Road Trip! Day 1 in North Carolina and Virginia

WOW! What a roadtrip! So after two weeks, we finished up in Maiden, NC and now have to drive back to McCamey, TX to start the next project. Google maps says that it should only take 21 hours and 1400 miles. But where's the fun in that? BORING!! This wouldn't be the AwayWeGo Geocaching Adventures blog if we did that. NOPE, we took the LONG way back to Texas. It ended up taking us 12 days and 3404 miles later to reach our destination! So I hope you'll join us over these next few weeks as I bring you the stories and photos of the places we've discovered geocaching and sightseeing along the rural backroads and byways of the upper mid-west. So let's get started with Day 1 in North Carolina and Virginia...

Our first stop after checking out of the Lake Norman RV Resort on this cool spring morning, was for a virtual geocache (GC7B67D) in the historic town of Hillsborough, NC. On the grounds of the 1768 St. Mathews Church, later to become the Presbyterian Church, is the Old Town Cemetery. Not a traditional churchyard burial ground, it is one of North Carolina's oldest municipal cemeteries, established in 1757 by the Colonial Assembly and is the final resting place of several people who are significant to North Carolina history.

Among those buried here are William Hooper (1742-1790), who studied law in his native Massachusetts before moving to North Carolina where he established a law firm first in Wilmington and then Hillsborough. His gravestone lists several of his accomplishments, his greatest one was the signing of the Declaration of Independence. In 1894, Hooper's gravestone, and perhaps some of his remains, were moved to the Guilford Court House Revolutionary War battlefield. After a statue of Hooper was erected a few years later, the gravestone was returned to Hillsborough.

The tallest headstone is an obelisk honoring William Alexander Graham (1804-1875), who was governor, a United States Senator, and vice-presidential candidate.

The oldest part of the cemetery is just north of the church buildings in what now appears to be an empty field. In 2016, a ground-penetrating radar revealed that at least 100 graves are located there. The original grave markers, probably rough fieldstones or carved and painted wood have long vanished.

The only other stop in North Carolina on this trip was to make up for a previous DNF, see previous blog. Located in Chapel Hill was a geocache for the North Carolina County Challenge. I first attempted the geocache back in 2019 while working on another project and taking a roadtrip to pickup new counties. At that time of my visit the cache was missing so I wasn't able to sign the logsheet. Last year I completed the last couple of missing counties I needed to complete the state, but wasn't able to make it back to avenge my DNF. Upon this return trip, I noticed a new earthcache was placed at the outdoor amphitheater. So we gathered the needed answers to submit for the find.

Then we made the short hike through the park into the woods to find the ammo can replacement to claim a find for finding a cache in ALL 100 North Carolina Counties (GC19YRC)!

Crossing over into Virginia, it's back to focusing on county caching, virtuals, and other places of interest. First up were a pair of geocaches in Brunswick County and the town of Alberta. Usually not something I want to do when I don't want to spend a lot of time and that is hunt for a train hide geocache (GC80MYC). However this one was found pretty quickly and I moved a few blocks down the road.

We drove to another cache (GC8WD4N) just down the road at the sight of the original school house. I was hoping to find the remains of the school or something. But it was demolished in the 1980's and nothing remains except the short entry road to an empty field. I did find the geocache though.

Every now and then you get the unexpected surprise of finding something interesting when geocaching and sightseeing along the backroads during a road trip. The old bank building, now abandoned, is still standing on Main Street and 1st. I did a quick search to try and find some history on the building but didn't have any luck. It looks like a similar building I saw down in a small town along the Rio Grande in South Texas.

Driving north on US-1 into Dinwiddie County, we passed by this old motel and I just had to stop and get a photo of it. Located in McKenney, VA, the Wilmurt's Motel first opened in the 1930's as Wilmurt's Lunch Room, Cabins, and an Esso Gas station. As automobile travel grew in popularity after WWII, it expanded into a motor court / motel style business and did away with the cabins. It finally closed in the early 2000's and sits empty.

For this counties cache, we drove up to the town of Dewitt at the old fire tower (GC84NWP). The fire tower is no longer in service but at one time there were more than 150 fire towers scattered all across Virginia and were used to detect forest fires. Tower operators would sit up in the small room at the top mostly during the spring and look for smoke columns. When they saw one they would check with a neighboring tower for a cross reference and then call or radio a forestry person who would respond. Virginia on average has about 1,000 wildfires each year.

When we got to the city of Richmond, we had originally intended to find the virtual geocache at one of the large cemeteries that contain some significant interments of Virginia history. However by the time we got there they were just closing the gates so we couldn't get in.

So we drove over to the Virginia War Memorial for the virtual geocache there (GC7B656). In 1950, five years after the end of World War II, the Virginia General Assembly authorized the building of a memorial to honor and remember the nearly 10,000 Virginians who made the ultimate sacrifice serving in the U.S Armed Forces. A design was chosen, as was the location – nearly five acres overlooking the James River and downtown Richmond along U.S. Routes 1 and 301, the primary route from Maine to Florida before the construction of Interstate 95. As construction began, America entered the Korean War and plans were changed to include the heroes of this conflict. Construction was completed in 1955 and the Memorial was officially dedicated on February 29, 1956. The Memorial celebrated its 60th anniversary in 2016. The photo of the statue at the top of this page is looking through the center of this building below.

Our final geocaching stop for the day was in Hanover County at the I-95 Travel Bug Hotel (GC8132F). By now it was around 7:30 PM and we were hungry and tired ourselves and still needed to figure out where we were gonna stay for the night. So stop by next week when I'll show you Day 2 traveling through Virginia, Maryland, and West Virginia's colonial history, Revolutionary and Civil War sites and more.

To follow along on our travels and keep up with my latest blogs, you may do so here of course by clicking the "Follow" button to the right. But also by using one or more of your favorite of these social media platforms: Facebook, MeWe, Gab, Reddit, Parlor, Twitter, RVillage, GETTR, Instagram, and TruthSocial. These all link directly to my profiles. Again, please feel free to comment and / or share.