The hook
The only museum devoted to Abraham Lincoln west of the Mississippi is a small limestone octagon in Redlands, its walls carved with his words.
01Why it's worth it
An oil man named Robert Watchorn, an English coal miner's son who made good in America, built the Lincoln Memorial Shrine in 1932 in memory of his own son, and dedicated it to the president he credited with the country that took him in. The original room is an octagon of Indiana limestone inscribed with passages from Lincoln's speeches, later flanked by two wings, and inside is a serious collection: Civil War manuscripts, letters, artifacts, and Lincoln material held nowhere else in the western half of the country. It's small, and you can see it in three-quarters of an hour, but it's the genuine article, an archive and a place of study rather than a gift-shop attraction. It stands beside the beautiful old A.K. Smiley Public Library, in a town unusually full of preserved history.
02How to experience it
It's on West Vine Street beside the Smiley Library in Redlands, about seven hours from the Bay, and admission is free. It's open most afternoons, Tuesday through Sunday. Pair it with a walk through downtown Redlands and a stop at Kimberly Crest up the hill.