|
'A MAGIC VILLAGE'
An architect's view by Joseph F. Hennessy
I had little enthusiasm for the suggestion that I would enjoy seeing Lincoln's New Salem. But once, when creativity was at a low ebb and I was sure my wife would prefer to see me elsewhere, I took the car and set off for Springfield. Early the next morning, I drove on to Lincoln's New Salem State Historic Site near Petersburg. When I got there, no one else was around. It was at the change of the season, though I cannot remember which, and it was a soft day with a light mist among the trees and the smell of wood smoke in the air. I walked down the main street with the silent cabins stretching out before me and time was gone. It came into my mind: "This is a magic village." And if the cabin doors had opened and people dressed in frontier clothes had poured out as did those in Scottish clothes in that other magic village, Brigadoon, my only response would have been, "of course." And of course they did not, but no matter. I was securely hooked. But gradually it came to mind that there was a difference between Brigadoon and New Salem. One man had decided the Scottish village would sleep a hundred years and be awake but a day to avoid the troubles of its world, while New Salem existed a short time to prepare a man to subdue the troubles of its world and then slept. 34 / February 1998 Illinois Issues
Illinois Issues February 1998 / 35
|
