Abraham Lincoln’s Tomb at Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield, Illinois

Abraham Lincoln’s tomb in Oak Ridge Cemetery is not part of Lincoln Home National Historic Site, but anyone coming to see Lincoln’s house will most likely be interested in driving 2.5 miles to the cemetery to see his tomb. In fact, Oak Ridge is the second-most visited cemetery after Arlington National Cemetery.

Lincoln’s Tomb is actually owned by the state of Illinois and is called Lincoln’s Tomb State Historic Site. There is a parking lot right next to the monument. The tomb is open daily from 9 AM to 5 PM except when closed on MLK Jr. Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Day. Allow a half hour for a visit.

The cemetery itself opens at 7 AM every day and closes at 5:30 PM from September through March and 8 PM from April through August. If you arrive after the tomb is closed, you can still see it from the outside whenever the cemetery is open.

Sculptures on the exterior of Abraham Lincoln’s Tomb at Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield, Illinois

After Lincoln was killed on April 14, 1865, he was first placed in the receiving vault at Oak Ridge Cemetery (May 4th). It wasn’t until six years later that his remains were interred in the new tomb (construction began in 1869). In the meantime, a temporary vault was built, and Abraham and his sons William (who died while in the White House) and Edward (died in 1850) were all placed in this vault on December 21st.

Lincoln’s original burial vault in Oak Ridge Cemetery (photo by C. H. Hall, 1865)

Abraham, Edward, and William were moved to the new tomb on September 19, 1871, which is before it was officially completed in 1874. However, at that point any remaining construction was mostly exterior work on such things as the sculptures. Thomas “Tad” Lincoln, who had died in July 1871 at the age of 18, was buried in the tomb at the time of his death, so he was actually there a few months before everyone else. The tomb was completed in 1874 and formally dedicated on October 15th.

Lincoln was originally placed in an iron casket and buried in a chamber within the tomb’s rear wall. In 1874 he was moved into a marble sarcophagus that is today the centerpiece of the tomb. However, in November 1876, thieves tried to steal his body, and as a result, he was moved to a secret location inside the tomb.

Abraham Lincoln’s sarcophagus inside his tomb at Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield, Illinois

By the end of the 1890s, the tomb was in poor condition due to the settling of the earth. Starting in 1899, the entire structure was completely taken apart and put back together. When construction finished in 1901, Lincoln was placed back into the sarcophagus. A few months later, his son, Robert, insisted that he be buried in a steel and concrete vault below the floor of the tomb to prevent any more shenanigans like the attempted theft in 1876. Today the sarcophagus marks the general location of the coffin ten feet below.

Due to deterioration, the entire tomb was once again taken apart and reconstructed in 1930-31. At this time the interior was remodeled in an Art Deco style. All of the interior statuary, plus the bust of Lincoln outside the tomb’s entrance, were part of this renovation.

Just inside the entranceway is a rotunda with a sculpture similar to the one in the Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, D. C. However, this is not a scaled-down version made for the tomb. It is actually a bronze casting of the original sculpture by Daniel Chester French that served as his prototype for the larger sculpture now in the Lincoln Memorial.

Sculpture of Abraham Lincoln by Daniel Chester French in the rotunda of Abraham Lincoln’s Tomb in Springfield, Illinois

A square corridor leads through the monument. Original sculptures and miniature reproductions of well known Lincoln statues are at each corner: Lincoln the Soldier by Leonard Crunelle (original in Dixon, Illinois); Lincoln the Man by Augustus Saint-Gaudens (original in Lincoln Park in Chicago); Lincoln the Ranger by Fred Torrey (created for the tomb); Lincoln the Circuit Rider by Fred Torrey (created for the tomb); Lincoln the Debater by Leonard Crunelle (original in Freeport, Illinois); Seated Lincoln by A. A. Weinmann (original in Hodgenville, Kentucky); Standing Lincoln by Daniel Chester French (original at the Nebraska Capitol in Lincoln, Nebraska); Lincoln the Lawyer by Lorado Taft (original in Urbana, Illinois).

Marble-lined corridors inside Abraham Lincoln’s Tomb in Springfield, Illinois

Lincoln the Soldier by Leonard Crunelle inside the tomb of Abraham Lincoln

Outside the monument is a large sculpture of Lincoln’s head that was done by Gutzon Borglum, the same man who did the Mount Rushmore carving and the carving of the Confederates Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, and Jefferson Davis on the side of Stone Mountain in Georgia. This is a casting of the original marble bust at the U. S. Capitol in Washington, D. C.

Buried in the tomb today are Abraham, Mary (his wife, who died in 1882), William, Edward, and Tad. Lincoln’s grandson, Abraham Lincoln II (Robert’s son) was buried in the tomb at one time (1890), but his mother had him removed in 1930 and reinterred in Arlington National Cemetery where Robert was buried in 1926. Robert wanted to be buried with his father, but his wife did not allow it.

Crypt of Mary, Edward, William, and Thomas Lincoln inside the Lincoln Tomb in Springfield, Illinois

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