Today we traveled to Abe Lincoln’s country.  Twenty minutes from Springfield, Illinois is the historic site of New Salem where Abe spent his early adulthood, about 10 years before the Bushmans arrived in Illinois.  Visiting this place on this rainy day gave us a wonderful feeling for the the type of life our family lived.  New Salem is a restored village with about 24 log structures that have been reconstructed as they would have been in the 1830s.

We walked through the visitor’s center, then enjoyed walking through the village as a light rain fell, beautifying everything around us.  It felt like we’d stepped into another world.  I wished I could stay for days.

Only a couple of the homes were open to enter, but all had a barred window in the door so we could see into each one.  Gratefully my camera adjusted the light, making it easier to see the interiors and take these pictures.

The furnishings, including many articles actually used by the New Salem people of Lincoln’s time and others dating back to the same time period, were assembled and donated to the state by the Old Salem Lincoln League. The collection includes such early-nineteenth-century articles as wheat cradles, candle molds, cord beds, flax hackles, wood cards, dough and cornmeal chests and early American pewter.

This may be the type of weaving loom Elizabeth Bushman worked at to make her bed covers.