Edwards Place Historic Home, Springfield

About Edwards Place Historic Home

Edwards Place Historic Home is a restored italianate mansion where visitors take guided tours through first and second-floor rooms furnished with Victorian pieces, many original to the Edwards family. Tours last about an hour and showcase the sitting room with its stone fireplace and period furnishings, the library with its floor-to-ceiling bookcases and ornate chandelier, and the authentic "Lincoln Courting Couch" from the parlor where Abraham Lincoln and Mary Todd were married, along with a piano likely played at their wedding. The home is interpreted to 1857. Group tours with add-on experiences such as tea parties, painting projects, and historical crafts are available, and the museum offers traveling trunks of artifacts for classroom use, with lesson plans aligned to state standards covering 19th-century Illinois life, work, and children's games. Curators deliver illustrated presentations on topics including Victorian cooking and domestic service. Edwards Place is located in Springfield, Illinois.