Illinois Travel Guide 2009 - (Page 12) Left to Right: A statue depicts the historic LincolnDouglas debates, the Vermilion County Museum Complex includes reproductions of Lincoln’s Danville law office and the courthouse where he tried more than 200 cases Illinois in 1858 between the aspiring young politician and his rival, incumbent Illinois senator Stephen Douglas. The Lincoln-Douglas Debate Museum, built on the exact spot of the debate, is the only one in Illinois that retraces the historic senatorial debates. With interactive displays, an orientation film, artifacts and photos, the museum explores the significance of the debates, which focused on slavery and states’ rights. Be sure to snap a photo outside with the life-size statues of the towering Lincoln and diminutive Douglas. You can also see portrait sculptures of both Lincoln and Douglas on the wall of City Hall in Charleston’s downtown square, in addition to murals that depict Lincoln and his time spent there. Dr. William Fithian was Danville’s most prominent physician and a close personal friend of Lincoln’s, who practiced law in the town from 1841 to 1859 and made his final Illinois address here from his Washington-bound train in 1861. The Fithian Home is still standing and is part of the Vermilion County Museum Complex. During his 1858 senate campaign, Lincoln famously made an impromptu speech in his stocking feet from the second-floor COURTESY OF FREEPORT/STEPHENSON COUNTY CVB balcony outside the bedroom that he frequently occupied in the doctor’s Victorian mansion. The home still contains the original room and bed that Lincoln slept in that night. The adjacent Vermilion County Museum is a reproduction of the early COURTESY OF LOOKING FOR LINCOLN HERITAGE COALITION Danville courthouse where Lincoln tried more than 200 cases. Visitors are greeted to the museum by an imposing statue that represents the Lincoln his Danville friends would have recognized. The museum includes a re-creation of Lincoln’s Danville law office, which he shared with attorney Ward Hill Lamon, including a desk that he actually used. Lincoln’s political career officially started in Vandalia, after he was elected the state legislator from New Salem in 1834. Vandalia was Illinois’ state capital from 1820 to 1839, before Lincoln and eight other tall legislators, dubbed “The Long 12 ILLINOIS. MILE AFTER MAGNIFICENT MILE. enjoyillinois.com http://www.presidentlincoln.org http://www.presidentlincoln.org http://www.visit-springfieldillinois.com/ITG9A http://www.enjoyillinois.com
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