April History 101

Another April, another tragedy.

April 16
2007-Virginia Tech-Male student, Cho Seung-Hiu, killed two in a Virginia Tech dorm, then killed 30 more 2 hours later in a classroom building. His suicide brought the death toll to 33, making the shooting rampage the most deadly in U.S. history. Fifteen others were wounded.

April 18th
1775-Paul Revere rode from Charlestown to Lexington to warn Massachusetts colonists of the arrival of British troops during the American Revolution.
1906-San Francisco Earthquake-4 square miles were destroyed and more than 500 died in San Francisco alone. (my gr gr grandparents lost everything they had and died three years later within days of each other).

April 19th
1775-The shot heard round the world....Colonial Minute Men took on British Army regulars at Lexington and Concord, MA.
1993-Waco Seige-The siege at Waco, Texas, ended when FBI moved into the Branch Davidian compound with tear gas and cult members set fire to the compound killing over 80 people.
1995-Oklahoma City Tragedy-The Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City was destroyed by a car bomb. 168 people, including 19 children were killed.

April 20th
1999-Columbine High School Shooting-Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold went on a shooting spree at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo. 14 students (including the shooters) and 1 teacher were killed; 23 others were wounded.

April 28th
1996-The Port Arthur massacre in south-eastern Tasmania, Australia was a killing spree which claimed 35 lives and 37 wounded mainly at the historic Port Arthur prison colony, a popular tourist site. Martin Bryant (28yrs) eventually pleaded guilty to the crimes and was given 35 life sentences without possibility of parole.

May 18th
1927-The Bath School disaster in Bath Township Michigan USA was the setting of three bombings which killed 45 people and injured 58. Most of the victims were children in second to sixth grades attending the Bath Consolidated School. Their deaths constitute the deadliest act of mass murder in a school in U.S. history. The perpetrator was school board member Andrew Kehoe, who was upset by a property tax that had been levied to fund the construction of the school building. He blamed the additional tax for financial hardships which led to foreclosure proceedings against his farm. These events apparently provoked Kehoe to plan his attack.

Abraham Lincoln Museum/Springfield IL

Illinois State Capital in Springfield IL

The old Illinois State Capital

White House replica at the Lincoln Museum

The Lincoln family (plus one) outside the White House

Lincoln as a young man when he lived in New Salem, IL

Dolls at the gift shop at the museum

Lincoln statue at New Salem visitor center

Cabins at New Salem Park

Cabins and wood fence at New Salem Park

New Salem Park

The old Lincoln Tomb

The 117-foot tall granite tomb in Oak Ridge Cemetery contains the bodies of Lincoln, his wife Mary, and three of his four sons.

Visitors often stop to rub the nose of this evocative bronze bust at the entrance to the Lincoln Tomb. It's the work of Gutzon Borglum, who is most famous for his rendition of Lincoln at Mount Rushmore. You can see the original marble bust in the the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.

Down the street from the Lincoln home.

The Lincoln Home in the midst of renovation.

Road Trippin

We spent the weekend away so all I had was the palm connection and not much of that as we were on the go a lot. I'll eventually post some pics from the weekend, but for now all I have time to post is this antique sampler that I've been in love with for decades. It is found in one of the cabins at Lincoln's New Salem State Historic park where Abraham Lincoln lived as a young man. We visited the new (opened Apr 2005) Lincoln Presidential Museum in Springfield and it was fascinating. I even got a couple of stitching kits of charming little profiles of Abe and Mary. Anyway, I wanted to take this sampler off the wall and photograph it really well since it's hung over a bureau and is over my head, but the volunteer was a cow about it and I had to do the best I could to get it without any glare. I heard that a local group of women have reproduced some of the other antique samplers they have at the park (but not this one) and I hope to find out about those this week.