October 19, 2009 - Beardstown, Illinois

Off the hook this morning, we continued our trip down the tree-lined Illinois River. It was rare to see a residence, like this small hideaway using an old pontoon boat as a dock. The river’s banks along here are sometimes earthen levees, mounded up with trees growing on them, beyond which we can’t see.

Next stop is Beardstown, Illinois, hometown of our Detroit friend Bob Hommel, past DYC commodore. He had recommended we make a stop, and so we pulled in for the night. The only place to tie was alongside the Logsdon Tug Service depot, the most industrial surrounding we have had in a long time. The levee here is a straight cement wall, and the town is only visible after climbing way up the industrial metal staircase adjacent to the barges.

The town’s claim to fame is the attractive Lincoln Courtroom and Lincoln Museum in the old city hall.

In this 1844 City Hall building we found the original jail.

This jail housed prisoners awaiting trial in the second-floor courtroom. The courtroom is still used about once a month, making it the only courtroom still in use where Abraham Lincoln practiced law.

Lincoln won his spurs as a county lawyer in this courthouse. Here, he successfully defended family friend Duff Armstrong on a charge of murder, in what became known as the Almanac Trial.

A witness said he saw the fight in question “by the light of a high moon”, between 10:00 and 11:00 p.m. Lincoln then produced an 1857 Almanac showing that on that night, the moon set a bit before midnight, and therefore couldn’t have been high at that time. This painting in the courtroom depicts Lincoln and the almanac at the moment of triumph.

We think trials went swiftly in those days, as the courtroom’s hard wooden chairs and severely upright benches wouldn’t encourage lounging around!

Beardstown was founded on the famous Indian Mound Village called Kickapoo Town, and the museum also houses an extensive assortment of Indian arrowheads and tools – the largest we have ever seen.

Beardstown is centered around an attractive town square, just blocks from the river. The town’s founder, Thomas Beard, gifted the square to the town for use as a marketplace that was never to be built upon, but to remain a public park in perpetuity.

Bob Hommel’s family, the Schultz’s, founded the grain mill in the town in the 1800s. The silos still stand, although the mill is much smaller now. Later that evening, we enjoyed a great rib dinner at Annie Sazarac’s Bar, in a small aluminum shed near the river. Annie has run this establishment for 25 years, and we were fortunate to be in town on a Monday night, the only day she serves food! The ribs were cooked outdoors on Weber grills.