An Online Lecture on Mary Todd

Those of you who know me, know that I enjoy studying Mary Todd Lincoln. She is a fascinating person and I have read many books written about her. My husband Jim was born in Springfield, Illinois and grew up there. Most of his family still lives there. When we visit, I love to go to the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum and the Presidential Library across the street. It's a fantastic place to visit.

I receive the online newsletters from the museum. I was just looking at it on Thursday and saw a notice about an online lecture about Mary Todd. How exciting. I signed up for it. It was called " Much like an April Day". It was out on through a group called Road Scholars. The state historian of Illinois  Samuel Wheeler gave the presentation.

These are some of the books Mr Wheeler mentioned at the beginning of the talk. He said Mary has been put into two groups....those who think she was insane and those who defend her actions. He wanted us to really look at who Mary Todd as a person and then try to understand her and her time through knowing her. It was a fresh look and I appreciated that very much.

This is her father and her step mother. Her father had 16 children between his two wives. Mary did not get along with her step mother. She was sent off to boarding school very close to home to get her out of the way! As a result, she was very educated, more so than most young women at the time.

This is the quote from her sister Elizabeth. It is now thought that Mary may have been bipolar most of her life. Read the quote and think about it.

Mr and Mrs Abraham Lincoln and their four boys. Mary raised them like little gentlemen and made their clothes. But, they were boys and acted like boys!

I so enjoyed this online lecture and I learned so much. Online offerings have been a plus from this virus.

President's Day With A Focus on Abraham Lincoln

Today is President's Day in the USA. It's a day we can honor and remember all the presidents who have served our country. When I was young, we celebrated Linccoln's birthday and Washington's birthday on separate days in February.

As some of you know, I am a real Abraham and Mary Lincoln nut! My Jimmy was born in Springfield, Illinois~LAND OF LINCOLN! I suppose that's where some of my interest has come from, however, I like studying about the Civil War times. As I have read more over the years, I am more interested in the battles of the war, but it is the Lincoln family that really peaks my interest.

During the year, I collect fun things about Abraham Lincoln and Mary Todd Lincoln and save it all for a wonderful post on President's Day. So, I would like to share my finds and share our visit to Hildene, Vermont last summer.

We found these silhouettes of Abe and Mary in a small antique shoppe in Vermont. I think they are made of plaster of Paris and are quite heavy.

This reproduction print of Lincoln is quite interesting. It was produced by a small printing company in Portland, Oregon. I talked to the man who owns the company and his process is really interesting.
I like the detail that he was able to capture on this.

Here's a flyer he includes with his work.

I am always on the lookout for antique postcards. This one commemorates the Gettysburg Address.

I found a couple vintage pamphlets at an estate sale recently...just interesting.

One of the places on our vacation to Vermont last summer was to see Hildene. We were able to go and it was a beautiful summer day and a wonderful place to visit. I'll share more a bit later in this post.

The gift shoppe was filled with tempting Lincoln family goodies. This is a wonderful cookbook, filled with family history and recipes from volunteers at the center. It is loaded with great pictures of the home, old and new. You can spend an afternoon just enjoying this book.

As I am interested it the Lincoln family, this book is a fantastic addition to my collection. So many pictures are new to me and it follows the family to the last descendant.

A great ornament for the tree or a fun item for a Abe Lincoln celebration. Nicely made for a new item.

I rescued this little wooden book at a flea market for $1.00. It is filled with small vintage postcards from Gettysburg. I find it charming.

This is a rather odd item. It reminded me of the cabin where Lincoln lived when he was young. It's made of coal from West Virginia.

This is my beloved cup and saucer which I pull out ever year to toast the Lincolns. This is a copy of their White House China. I love it.

We drove to Manchester, Vermont on a nice day in July.  I took this from my car as we drove down the lane to the Hildene estate. You actually park your car and walk up to the house or ride the little tour trolleys.

The house is a 24 room Georgian Revival house, finished in 1905 by Robert Lincoln as a summer home.  Robert (1843-1926 ) was the Lincoln's only son to live to adulthood. The family loved the area and would spend up to 8 months a year there.

Mary Todd Lincoln had taken her two sons Tad and Robert to the Equinox Hotel in Manchester, VT for the summer in 1864. It was a nice retreat from Washington DC. They enjoyed the visit and hoped to return the following summer with the President, but we know that he wasn't living that next year.

40 years later, Robert returned to the area and purchased 500 acres and built his lovely summer home. He called it Hildene, which is an old English name meaning hill and valley with stream...the perfect name for this home perched upon the hill in the Shires of Vermont. The views are breathtaking.

This is the front of the house.

While we were waiting for our tour, we walked up to the little observatory. Robert had quite an interest in the astronomy.

This was taken at the back of the house...beautiful views and gardens.

I think Jimmy wanted to take this car for a spin! Pretty cool.

This little plot is marked off on the front lawn. It's really a great visual to appreciate the size of Lincoln's little log cabin birth place.

This is a view of the formal garden, taken from an upstairs window on our tour.

Linda and Jimmy on holiday with the Lincolns! What a wonderful time we had this day and on the entire trip.

The formal dining room...all set for dinner.

I just loved the stair and all the woodwork. The pipe organs are behind the closed in areas. The organ is on the main floor and it is amazing. Yes, they do play it for you...well, it's like a player piano. You just put the rolls in and away it goes.

The Illinois boy finds Lincoln in New England! There was a lot of Lincoln things to enjoy in the home.

One of Abe's famous hats! I got to see another one at the Lincoln museum in Illinois.

There is also a working farm on the property. There is quite a goat program and they do sell the goat cheese in the gift store.

The trolly will also take you down to see the restored Pullman car. Robert Lincoln had several careers. He was Secretary of War, Ambassador to England, a laywer and eventually, President of the Pullman Palace Car Company.

The car is beautifully restored. It was very fun to visit the area.

I thought it was really funny to find a Lincoln's Home (Springfield, Illinois) dollhouse is Bennington, VT!

I hope you enjoyed my Lincoln blog...I really enjoyed writing this one.

I am sharing this on Bernideen's Blog Party today, so pop on over and see what others have been doing. It's fun.