On the lake’s western and southern shores, these pass through the city parks, Lakeview Park, Woodyard Park and Spillway Park, all offering parking, picnic areas and sensational views. Wrapped in dense forest, Lake Charleston is very scenic, and has an extensive system of trails surrounding the water on all sides. The water supply for Charleston and EIU comes from a reservoir on the Embarras River, impounded in 1947. Lake Charleston Source: Vladimir Kayukov / shutterstock Fishing If you’d like a look around, you can take a self-guided tour or request a 45-minute guided tour by appointment. You can visit for a first-class music, dance or theatre performance, as well as art exhibitions, by groups and individuals from both inside and outside the university. The Doudna Fine Arts Center is a hive of creative activity, containing concert halls, theatres, studios, lecture halls, classrooms, rehearsal rooms and convivial spaces for students like the Red Zone, between the Music and Art wings.

The Eastern Illinois University campus is endowed with some impressive buildings, standing for a century or more, like the Gothic Revival Old Main (1899) and Pemberton Hall (1909).Ī striking modern addition is the Doudna Fine Arts Center, designed by noted international architect Antoine Predock and opened in 2007. Doudna Fine Arts Center Source: Doudna Fine Arts Center / Facebook Doudna Fine Arts Center

The cabin and surrounding property appears as it would have done in the 1840s, with outbuildings, livestock, orchards, cornfields and gardens.ĥ. The original log cabin was dismantled and moved to Chicago for the World’s Columbian Exposition in 1893 before being lost.įortunately, there were extensive photographic records, and these were used by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s to construct an exact replica. Abraham never lived at this location, having chosen to leave the house the year before to start his own life at the age of 21.Ībraham visited occasionally, and maintained the farm for Sarah (1788-1869) after his father’s death. Up to this time Thomas, who was illiterate, had led an itinerant life, working as a farmer and carpenter. Ten minutes south of downtown Charleston is the place where Abraham Lincoln’s father, Thomas (1778-1851) settled with his second wife, Sarah (Abraham’s step-mother) in 1831. Lincoln Log Cabin State Historic Site Source: Daniel Schwen / Wikimedia | CC BY-SA 4.0 Lincoln Log Cabin State Historic Site Off the square’s northeast corner is the Art Deco Will Rogers Theatre and Commercial Block (1935-1938), awaiting restoration at the time of writing.ģ.

You’ve also got a diversity of restaurants, bars and cafes, whether you’re in the mood for pizza, Thai, Chinese, freshly roasted coffee, pub grub and American comfort food. These have a wealth of independent businesses, with a butcher, secondhand bookshop, grocer, embroidery shop, game shop, costume shop and more. Surrounding this historic square are handsome blocks dating from the late 19th century and early 20th century. The mainstay in downtown Charleston is the magnificent Coles County Courthouse, built in the Richardsonian Romanesque style in 1898.Ĭomposed of rusticated local brownstone from the Embarras River, this has paler, dressed Bedford limestone for its window fittings and other architectural details. Downtown Charleston Source: Roberto Galan / shutterstock Coles County Courthouse On the south side of town, EIU elevates Charleston’s arts scene with the Tarble Arts Center and Doudna Fine Arts Center, and offers top-quality sports action at O’Brien Field. You can visit the site of their log cabin, and see their final resting place close by in Shiloh.

Much earlier, in 1831, Abraham’s father Thomas had settled near Charleston with his second wife Sarah Bush Lincoln. The home of Eastern Illinois University (EIU), Charleston is a city of around 20,000 with a beautiful downtown area filled with historic architecture, restaurants and mom-and-pop stores.Ĭharleston has strong ties to Abraham Lincoln, as the scene of his fourth debate with Stephen Douglas in 1858.

Life size lincoln log cabin