Stepping Back in Time on the Lincoln Funeral Car

Back in June of this year I wrote a blog about the Lincoln Funeral Car being on display at the Lake Superior Railroad Museum at the Duluth Depot. I had expected it to have already moved on after the end of summer, but to my surprise it was still there and open to the public to walk through and experience.

I should mention that this was actually a replica of the original Lincoln Funeral Car because the original perished in a prairie fire back in 1911 in Columbia Heights, Minn. It took five years of painstaking research and work from more than two dozen volunteers to re-create the railroad car that transported Abraham Lincoln's body to its final resting place in Springfield, Illinois. Inside the car is an exact replica of the coffin that held Lincoln's body on its travels.

Stepping inside this vehicle was like stepping back in time, and my wife can tell you I was very excited to be able to see this beautifully reproduced museum piece. Abraham Lincoln has always been a fascinating president to me. I've read many stories and articles over the years about the mark that this great man left on history and to be able to see the car that he took his last historic ride in was very humbling.