Vandalia Illinois & Oldest Capital

On the way, we once again saw the town of Vandalia, Illinois which boasts of Illinois’ oldest state capital. We decided to stop there and check it out. The building just opened back up again on Saturday and had been closed for about 3 months. Former Governor Blagojevich closed down this historical site and others in November, 2008 and thankfully an anonymous donor paid for 6 months salary for a full time employee. Hopefully the state budget will allow for these historical sites to remain open even at a cost for visitors because it was very interesting to learn about. We were the only tourists there so the tour guide gave us a very special tour of the building. He allowed us in to the rooms and we were able to learn so much history. We also had our picture taken where Abraham Lincoln sat in the House of Representatives when he would have been about 27 years old. This was also the first place that he spoke against slavery. It was very interesting, thankfully Tim made us stop!!
In front of the Supreme Court

This is where Abraham Lincoln would have sat and gave his first speech against slavery

Josiah & Tim in front of the capitol building

Josiah on Lincoln's lap