18 Free Things To Do In Springfield, Illinois

Springfield, Illinois is perhaps best known as being the home of Abraham Lincoln, but there’s a lot more to it than that.

We recently spent ten days in Illinois’ state capital while on our 5 year, 50 state road trip. We’re on a tight budget, so we’re always on the lookout for free and low cost things to do.

It was therefore great to find that there were all kinds of free activities there. If you’re planning a trip there, here’s a list of 18 free things to do in Springfield, Illinois.

1) Illinois State Capitol Building

It wouldn’t be a visit to a state capital without checking out their state house. And Illinois has a great State Capitol building.

As nice as it looks on the outside, it’s even more beautiful inside, particularly the domed ceiling in the center of the building.

The State House offers free tours throughout the day, other than from 12-1pm when the tour guides are at lunch. That happened to be when we visited, so we took a self-guided tour instead.

2) Old State Capitol Building

The current Illinois State Capitol isn’t the state’s original Capitol building. In fact, it’s the sixth State Capitol. Before proceedings moved to the current building in 1876, Illinois’ State House was located half a mile away.

That building is not only still standing, but you can visit it for free (although they do accept donations).

It’s definitely worth visiting in order to compare and contrast against the new State Capitol.

One of my favorite parts was a list of senators and representatives from the 12th General Assembly in 1840-41. It was fascinating to see the professions of senators, especially given how many of them were farmers.

3) Abraham Lincoln Statues

It’s impossible to avoid the influence of Abraham Lincoln when visiting Springfield. Accordingly, you’ll find statues of Lincoln all around the capital, including outside the current State Capitol building.

You can also find a statue of the Lincoln family outside the Old State Capitol building.

When visiting the statue, be sure to look at where their son is waving as there’s more to the installation than initially meets the eye.

4) Other Statues

Lincoln isn’t the only one with statues dedicated to him. In fact, we found more than a dozen other statues while exploring Springfield. That included a memorial to Illinoisan firefighters…

…to Martin Luther King Jr…

…to Stephen A Douglas. He was a politician from Illinois who lost the 1860 presidential election to one Abraham Lincoln.

If you want to see as many statues as possible, concentrate your search around the outside of the Illinois State Capitol as that’s where we found most of them.

5) Abraham Lincoln Hats

Shae and I love going sculpture hunting. We’ve gone searching for lighthouses on the Magnificent Mile in Chicago, light bulbs in Spartanburg SC, mermaids in Norfolk VA and many more.

Springfield, Illinois apparently has several decorated Abraham Lincoln hats. We didn’t have time to go searching for them during our visit, although we did find a couple while walking around.

6) Lincoln Home National Historic Site

Lincoln Home National Historic Site is run by the National Park Service and is free to visit. It features the home where Abraham Lincoln and his family lived from 1844 to 1861.

A tour of the home is well worth going on. It’s been recreated inside with original furniture used by the Lincoln family.

All the furniture is behind a barrier, so it’s not a hands-on experience. Having said that, our tour guide shared that the handrail heading upstairs is the original, so you can touch the same handrail that Abraham Lincoln once used.

7) Old Capitol Goods Building

Opposite the Old State Capitol Building is the Old Capitol Goods Building. This was once a store owned by Abraham Lincoln’s brother-in-law and is where Lincoln wrote his first inaugural address as President.

8) Lincoln-Herndon Law Office State Historic Site

In the building adjacent to his brother’s store is another building from which Lincoln ran his law office. That building is now a State Historic Site.

9) Illinois Governor’s Mansion

Downtown Springfield is also home to the Illinois Governor’s Mansion. This building underwent a $15 million dollar renovation and reopened on July 14, 2018.

Free guided tours of the Governor’s Mansion are offered from 1-4pm every day of the week.

10) Abe’s Hat Hunt

I mentioned earlier how there are large sculptures of Abraham Lincoln’s hat that can be found around Springfield. Those aren’t the only Lincoln hats you can search for.

The Springfield tourist board has organized a scavenger hunt around the city called Abe’s Hat Hunt. It’s probably intended for those of a younger age, but Shae and I are kids at heart and so we decided to find them all too.

You can get a booklet from various locations around the city which includes ten stickers of Abe and his hat. Each hat is a different color and you have to visit all ten locations to see which site has which color hat.

Our dog Truffles is still a child at heart too, so she wanted to assist us in finding some of the signs. Some signs are inside buildings, so the hunt isn’t entirely pet-friendly.

If you’re able to allocate at least five of the colored stickers correctly, take your booklet to one of four redemption centers for your prize. We stopped by the Springfield Convention and Visitors Bureau at the end to collect our reward.

We were given a patch to celebrate Illinois’ bicentennial (Illinois turns 200 on December 3, 2018) and, as we’d found all ten colored hats, we got to pick a free keyring 🙂

11) Great Western Railroad Depot

This depot is the location where Abraham Lincoln gave his farewell speech in 1861 before setting off to Washington D.C. by train having been elected President.

The building is in the same building as a law office and it appears that they’re the ones responsible for opening and closing the depot each weekday (the depot itself is unmanned during the day). It’s sometimes open at weekends if someone’s working in the law office, but midweek is your best chance of visiting when it’s open.

There are all kinds of historical artifacts inside, one of the most interesting of which is the Great Western Railroad Safe. The safe weighs 5,000 lbs and is sitting on a fortified floor due to its weight. It’s even survived two catastrophic fires more than 100 years apart.

12) Union Square Park

Opposite the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library & Museum is Union Square Park. The park is home to a statue of Abraham Lincoln…

…and the Acts Of Intolerance sculpture which was installed in 2008 to commemorate the centennial of the 1908 Springfield Race Riot.

13) Washington Park

Our first five days in Springfield were spent in a property we booked on Airbnb. A couple of blocks away was the beautiful and spacious Washington Park. This park is home to a free botanical garden, lots of green space and a couple of large ponds.

The park has two lanes of road running through it, but it’s one-way only. That’s because the second lane is dedicated to pedestrians, so it’s a great place to go for a stroll, walk your dog, go jogging, etc.

14) Illinois Very Special Mosaic Mural

The Illinois Very Special Mosaic Mural is a colorful mural that you can find between the State Capitol and State Museum.

15) Proud Raven Totem Pole

Springfield’s Proud Raven Totem Pole can also be found next to the State Museum. The totem pole was carved by a Native American tribe in Alaska and features Abraham Lincoln at the top.

16) Lake Springfield

Lake Springfield can be found to the south and southeast of the Illinois state capital. The lake is in fact a reservoir that spans more than 4,000 acres.

There are several parks to be found around the edge of the lake, including Forest Park and Tom Madonia Park West. These parks are adjacent to each other and are linked by a bridge crossing the edge of the lake. The parks have playgrounds and plenty of picnic tables to sit and eat lunch on a nice day.

17) Old Capitol Farmers Market

From May to October, downtown Springfield is home to a farmers market that’s open on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

18) Looking For Lincoln Signs

While exploring Springfield, keep an eye out on lamp posts for Looking For Lincoln signs. These have all kinds of interesting information not only about Abraham Lincoln, but also life in the local area historically.

Question

Those are 18 free things to do in Springfield, Illinois that we found while there, but how about you? Do you have any suggestions of other free and fun things to do in Illinois’ state capital? If so, please let us know in the comments below.