Have you ever spent the afternoon in a cemetery? This past Sunday afternoon, I did, and though it was unseasonable cold requiring hats, scarves and gloves, Mike and I took a journey into some of our richest historical past via the Evergreen Cemetery Discovery Walk. Every year for the last twenty-five years, experienced actors and actresses have dressed up in period costumes and throughout the cemetery, acted out snippets of living history. The program is called, "Voices of the Past" and this year featured Abraham Lincoln in honor of his 200th birthday. Rich, poor, famous and infamous are all buried here, and many grave sites held people who were once very closed to Abraham Lincoln.
Abraham Lincoln got started in his law practice here in Bloomington, Illinois at the age of about 21 and traveled the 8th Judicial circuit which took about two months to complete. During this time, he met some of his most lasting friends; many buried here in the Evergreen Cemetery. Featured in this Discovery Walk was David Davis, lawyer & friend responsible for getting Lincoln elected to the presidency, and his wife Sara, another political friend, Jesse Fell, two civil war soldiers (one white and one black), and wife of John Loomis, Abraham Lincoln's life-long friend. Twelve characters in all rounded out the Walk and included Abraham Lincoln himself telling about some of his friends buried here. Over and over again, Lincoln was depicted as a kind and gentle man and that reminded me of my own father who was a lawyer and spent much of his life trying to better the lives of the less fortunate. They would have liked each other. The Discovery Walk through the cemetery was an eye-opener for me. I had no idea I was living amidst such profound history.