Springfield Walks Ghost Walk- with Garret Moffett

We were winding down our trip through Springfield.  We did want to squeeze in as much as we could, and, as I mentioned before, the coronavirus had already changed a lot of our plans for this trip.

Well, we went by the sign for the "Ghost Walk" right at 7:30.  It appeared that the ghost walk would not be happening.  Then, seconds later, a very sweet little family from Columbus came by and said they were hoping to do the ghost walk too!  They were Joe and Julie, and two fun kids.

I called Garret Mofett's number, listed on the sign about the ghost walk.  He agreed to do an edited version of the ghost walk with us if we could meet him near the Lincoln House.

This edited/altered tour pretty much stayed at the Lincoln Home, and Garret told us some interesting stories!

We heard about ghost horses, the famous ghost train, etc.

Garret talked at length about the President, and he really hit the nail on the head illustrating how Lincoln's death was almost inevitable, and that, in an almost spiritual way, Lincoln had to be the martyr.

He also talked at length about Mary and her issues.  He has a very logical theory about her and her odd behavior.

Garret had some very interesting ideas on some other Lincoln related topics too, including a very interesting theory about Mary's final resting place.  I don't want to give it away but it had me thinking!

He also talked about the MANY assassination attempts on Abe's life.

I only got one photo from our little adventure, but I thought it illustrated the presentation perfectly.  This ended up not exactly being a traditional ghost walk, but I am sure that everyone enjoyed it.

Oh, and Garret has written "Haunted Springfield Illinois"- an interesting book to go along with his tour.  He didn't have any to sell on his walk, but I brought my copy to have him sign!

South Dakota 2012 and 2019 1 of 2

I posted this video to youtube recently.  This is from our trip in 2012 and 2019 to South Dakota.

Wm. Van's Coffee- Springfield, Illinois

A very short walk from the Abraham Lincoln Home National Park Visitor Center is Wm. Van's Coffee.  This is another great place to go to because of a direct connection to the 16th President while you are in Springfield.

The house was built (at a different location) in the 1850s by Isaac Lindsey.  Lindsey borrowed $600-$650 from Abraham Lincoln to have it built!

in 2008 the home was falling apart.  It was moved, restored, and saved from demolition!

AND now, there is a very cozy coffee shop housed in the building!

We stopped in while we were in town and enjoyed a couple of drinks as we sat and enjoyed the atmosphere.  It was mostly locals and college kids reading and working.

There were several rooms, and many tables to hang out at and relax.  I noticed a "take a book, leave a book" shelf.  Man, I love that sort of thing!

There is a lot of cool artwork up too, I especially appreciated some boards in the shape of Illinois with Lincolns face painted on it!  it was huge and perfect!

Again, Wm. Van's is within site of the National Park Visitor Center......  As part of your Lincoln trip to the area, you should stop by!

Lincoln Mall Owensboro Kentucky 2012

Here is a video I have posted on youtube showing the old Lincoln Mall in Owensboro Kentucky!  This was a favorite hangout of mine when I was a kid.

The "Old" State Capitol in Springfield, Illinois

As I mentioned before, we were in Springfield in March RIGHT as the coronavirus scare started.  AND, just like with the new/current State Capitol, the "Old" State Capitol had stopped doing tours...  but they were letting people come in and do the self guided thing.

This is where Abe and another future President, US Grant hung out!  Its not as ornate as the new Capitol, but it is just as historic.

Also, it is here that Abraham Lincoln's body would lay in state before being buried at the nearby Oak Ridge Cemetery.

Flatwoods West Virginia 2018

And here is another video I posted on youtube, showing my trip to Flatwoods West Virginia to see sights associated with the Flatwoods Monster!

Cades Cove Loop 2018

AND, here is another video I have posted on youtube.  This is just us driving around Cades Cove in the Great Smoky Mountains back in 2018.  My youtube user name is jimerado.

Lincoln Souvenir and Gift Shop- Springfield, Illinois

My pal Alan Hunter mentioned "Lincoln Souvenir and Gift Shop" in Springfield, and I wanted to make sure we dropped by on our recent Springfield visit.

We stopped by on our trip in March.  Luckily, they were still open at that time.

I found a lot of the kind of stuff I like- I got a shirt, a cool Springfield pennant and some postcards.

ALSO, since I didn't find anything to buy in New Salem, I found some vintage New Salem postcards here that I was thrilled to get!

This gift shop is right by Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield too!  You can't miss it!

Berea College, Berea Kentucky, June 2020

So...  Here is another video I posted on you tube about Berea College!  I made this one recently, and I hope you like it.  Again, my youtube videos are posted under "jimerado".

Caribou Coffee in Springfield, Illinois

Yeah, yeah, I know that Caribou Coffee isn't exactly an independent coffee shop, but, as I have said before, I love them.

While we were in Springfield, I stopped at this one to enjoy a cup of coffee in a relaxing environment.

Land Between the Lakes Elk and Bison Prairie- Bison Likes My Car

   



So, several years ago my Dad and I made this video while at Land Between the Lakes.  With a little time on my hands recently, I have been reediting my old recordings, and putting them on youtube under the name "jimerado".  Here is the one from LBL.  I love this video because a bison uses my car as a pillow for several minutes!

Petersburg, Illinois Post Office

I stopped by the Petersburg Illinois Post Office while I was in town and got a couple of postmarks.

I saw that they had a great mural on display too!

Potter Drug Store in Petersburg, Illinois

We saw Potter Drug Store while in Petersburg, and we went in for a moment.

This is a nice little old school drug store that sells whatever you need, but its just a fun place, with old stuff in it to explore too.

I noticed that a lot of old cameras (and some other items) were displayed on high shelves above their "for sale" merchandise.

Here are a few photos!

Dr. Ugs and Hand of Fate Brewing Company Petersburg, Illinois

People told us that Dr. Ugs Cafe (in the same location with Hand of Fate Brewing Company) would be a perfect place to stop for lunch.  They were right.

I had a great wrap and my wife had a salad.  We also had some soft pretzels with beer cheese.  This was a great meal, and we could tell the ingredients were nice and fresh.  Our meals weren't drowned in dressing or anything.  This was a nice, quality lunch.

The place has a vibrant, re-purposed vibe.  I assume a drug store was here before, because it feels like it.

I was also glad to see a lot of locals coming through!  This place is popular!  The staff and the locals were all friendly and having a good time.

Dr. Ugs is slick and just nice all around.  Being the only business of its kind in the area, you might think that they could get by on average effort, but they aren't here.  Its clean, neat and attractive and they should be proud of what they have going on.


The "Hand of Fate Brewing Company" really compliments the business.  They have some great logos, and I picked up some stickers, and a 6 pack of their beer for a buddy who has helped out around our house lately.  I would have got a shirt, but they were out of my size.

The name and concept comes from the story of the town founders picking the name of Petersburg in a card game.

This is just a cool business in a cool city and I will be stopping by whenever I'm in the area.

Petersburg Illinois

Just a few miles from New Salem, and still about a half hour drive from Springfield is the very comfy little town of Petersburg.  I kind of viewed this area as a bonus round of New Salem.  I thought that, if we had time after New Salem, maybe we could swing through Petersburg.  Well, this is just a neat little town worthy of a visit anyway.

Also, now that I am home and have flipped through the Petersburg entry in Ralph Gary's "Following in Lincoln's Footsteps"....  I'm thinking this is a town worthy of a more thorough visit in general.


Anyway, we drove around a bit after seeing the final resting place of Ann Rutledge.

The town has a very nice courthouse area, surrounded by some interesting businesses.  There were some antique shops, a brew house/restaurant, and a cool drug store (more on those later).

I kept thinking that the square was a bookstore and coffee shop away from being perfect in my books.

Petersburg has some pop along with it's history.  The locals were nice and friendly too.  This is a town worthy of a lot more hype than it currently gets.

New Salem, Illinois

Lincoln's New Salem, Illinois is pretty much a state park that has been reconstructed.  It is a half hour drive from Springfield, and Abraham Lincoln lived here at one time.

You can look up a lot of info on it, and it is a nice little pioneer type village to visit.

We were there in March, before their normal visitor season opened.  There were no reinactors there while we visited, and there were just a few other visitors.

We arrived early in the morning as they opened.

A very nice lady was at the visitor center/museum.  We watched about a 15 minute movie on the town.

I was surprised that there was no mention of Ann Rutledge in the film!  The very nice lady in the visitor center did give me specific directions to the burial site of Rutledge just a few miles out of town.

There were some great relics in the museum, including items with a very direct connection to Lincoln.  The museum is small but packed.  There are great interpretive signs next to each item.

After seeing the museum, we walked through the reconstructed village.  There are a LOT of buildings- all of which are marked, and reconstructed at the site of the original building.

There is a dig site here too, where more foundations were discovered in the 1990s.  I think the village is very accurately reconstructed, but there were probably a few more buildings here and there.

We walked by a gift shop at the far end of New Salem.  We were informed it was closed, but would open soon, when the park opened.  I am sure their sales were suffering at the start of the season though, with the whole coronavirus thing happening.

We made our way back to the visitor center one more time before running off to nearby Petersburg.  Our kind hostess showed us a rack of free promo flyers and other items.  There were travel brochures, but there were also some interesting unique items, including a small book of temperance songs and there were even some FREE First Day Covers!  VERY COOL!

New Salem is a great place to visit, but I will probably try to stop by again some time during their warmer visiting season.

Di Piero's Sicilian Restaurant Springfield, Illinois

 I found a flyer in Springfield advertising Di Piero's Sicilian Restaurant and we decided to check it out.

I wanted to go because of a direct Lincoln connection, noted on the flyer.  According to it, the site that is now Di Piero's used to be Watson Saloon.  It was here that Honest Abe celebrated his election as President!  The flyer gives a very sweet story of Abe coming in and the local ladies greeting him with song.

Thats pretty cool.  AND, it makes the thrill of dining at Di Piero's kind of epic.  I mean, that Lincoln connection is a big deal.  If you are visiting Springfield, you want to take in all of the Lincoln history you can.

We had a great, friendly and funny waitress named Emma that was just perfect.  She made suggestions, kept our glasses full, and was just over all fabulous.

I always keep my flash off, so my photos do not do justice to the meal we had, but it was perfect.  My wife had their Chicken Parmagiana which I sampled and loved.  I had a soup and salad combo.  I can't remember the exact soup I had right now but it was one of the best soups ever.  It was meaty and really filled me up.

We shared a very nice dessert too (check out that photo!)

Emma corrected us (playfully) when we incorrectly called the place Italian.  It is Sicilian.  But I am definitely going to say that we had one of the best Sicilian/Italian meals ever here.  Even if Di Piero's didn't have the historic Lincoln connection, I would go back for the food.

The restaurant is dark and cozy.  There is some amazing history to the location.  AND their food is exceptional.

We saw a lot of locals here, but I am not sure if the general traveler is in on this secret.  I know that I am looking forward to another trip to Springfield and I am sure that, next time, we will stop here again.  Di Piero's gets my highest recommendation.