We couldn’t very well leave Springfield Saturday before last without visiting Lincoln’s Tomb in Oak Ridge Cemetery, or in full the Lincoln Tomb State Historic Site. It’s one of those places that I’ve visited every decade or so since the 1980s. The last time was in 2010.

We arrived just after the interior closed, at 5 p.m., so we only took a look at the exterior. And only for a little while, since even at that hour, temps were still about 90 degrees F.

The tomb looked precisely the same as all the other times. Timeless, it is, at least in our lifetimes.

Larkin Mead designed the tomb. Ringing the obelisk are bronze groups he did: the Infantry Group, 1874–76; the Naval Group, 1874–77; the Artillery Group, 1882; and the Cavalry Group, 1883. I made point of making a circuit around the tomb to look at them, but since the stairs up to their level were roped off, I didn’t get that close.

We did get close to the Gutzon Borglum’s head of Lincoln.
This time, Ann could reach it herself. I seem to recall lifting her up to touch the nose back in ’10.