Small container. Make sure you bring your own pen! Includes small trinket for FTF. Find this cache and stay a while and enjoy the view! But if you search on a dark night in April, watch out for Lincoln's ghost train!
Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States, was surrounded by odd occurrences and paranormal experiences all of his life. His wife, Mary Todd Lincoln dabbled in spiritualism, believed in omens, and held séances trying to establish contact with her dead son Willie. Lincoln’s death also held mystery. About two weeks before he was killed, Lincoln had a dream that foretold his death. In the dream, he heard sobbing and followed it to the East Room where he saw soldiers guarding a body. When Lincoln asked, “Who is dead in the White House?”, a solider answered, “The President. He was killed by an assassin.” Three days after relating his dream to his wife, Mary, and a few close friends, Lincoln was assassinated. It was during the evening of April 14, 1865 at Ford’s Theater in Washington D.C. Actor John Wilkes Booth burst into the Presidential box and shot the president at point-blank range before escaping. Lincoln lived only a few hours before dying at 7:22 A.M. on April 15th. Flags were immediately lowered to half-mast, bells across the city began to toll, and a shocked nation went into mourning. It had been planned that Lincoln’s young son Willie was eventually to be interred back home in Springfield, Illinois. When Lincoln died, both he and Willie would make the final journey home together. Willie had died in 1862 at the age of 11 from what was apparently typhoid fever. Willie’s body was removed from a borrowed vault at Oak Hill Cemetery in Georgetown so that he could be buried at Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield, Illinois. Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton was in charge of overseeing the arrangements for the funeral train. An order to commandeer the use of the railroads from Washington to Springfield, Illinois was issued. The funeral train would travel 1,654 miles along the same route Lincoln had taken as president-elect in 1861. The only difference was the train would not go through Pittsburgh or Cincinnati.The train left Washington on April 21st and arrived in Springfield, Illinois on May 3rd , having traveled through seven states, and past 440 communities. The actual funeral route went through Baltimore, Philadelphia, Harrisburg, New York City, Albany, Buffalo, Cleveland, Columbus, Indianapolis, and Chicago, before arriving at Springfield. The funeral train was called The Lincoln Special. The engine was the known as the Nashville. The train consisted of nine cars with the funeral car being the eighth in line. A Guard of Honor accompanied Lincoln’s body, and his son Robert also rode on the train. Thousands lined the tracks during the 13-day trip. Regardless of the time of day, or night, entire towns and communities turned out to pay their respects and watch silently as the train bearing their president glided past. The Lincoln Special reached its destination of Springfield on May 3rd, 1865. But, it apparently still runs the same route each year during the last part of April. At least, a phantom funeral train does... Hundreds have reported seeing the ghost train traveling through the countryside with the President’s casket aboard. It has been rumored that clocks and watches stop running when the train passes by. The air on the tracks becomes cool and sharp, while just off to the side, the air remains warm but still. Clouds cover the moon, and a ghostly headlight pierces the night. Suddenly, with a rush of wind, the train passes by, noiselessly, as if running on a carpet. There are reports that mournful music may be heard coming from the train, while others say that the train goes past without a sound. Some see smoke belch from the stack, others hear an eerie whistle as the train approaches. There are reports of skeletons dressed in blue, standing at attention by Lincoln’s flag-draped casket. Flags and streamers attached to the train whip in the wind, but no sound is heard as the train fades from view If the phantom train encounters a real train, the sounds are suddenly hushed as the ghost train passes through it and continues on its spectral journey. Communities throughout the seven states still hold watches for the phantom funeral train. The best known are in Albany, New York on the nights of April 26 and 27, and in Urbana, Ohio, on the night of April 29th.
The Lincoln funeral processional would make its way from Washington, D.C. to Springfield by locomotive. Lincoln’s body, along with the exhumed body of this son Willie, was loaded aboard the funeral train. “The funeral train consisted of nine cars, including baggage and hearse cars. Eight of the cars were provided by the chief railways over which the remains were transported. The ninth was the President’s car, which had been built for use by the President and other officials, containing a parlor, sitting room, and sleeping compartment. This car was draped in mourning and contained the coffins of Lincoln and his son.” (Funeral and Burial of Abraham Lincoln, 2010). Between Albany and New York City, crowds grew among the small towns along the route to watch the funeral train pass. The train passed through every town traveling north along the Hudson River—Yonkers, Tarrytown, Sing Sing, and making the one and only stop in Poughkeepsie, on April 25th, before heading to Albany. While stopped in Poughkeepsie, college President Matthew Vassar boarded the train to place a cluster of handpicked magnolias aboard the car in a poignant moment to honor the fallen President. Lincoln’s and his son’s remains traveled though 444 communities until the train came to its final destination where the two were interred at the Oak Ridge Cemetery in Illinois. This mournful and solemn trip took a toll on the family and the country in what was the grandest funeral procession ever held for a President. However, the story does not end here. “Rest in peace” is not a suitable phrase to be used for President Lincoln. Following a plot to steal his body and hold it for ransom among other various issues with security and tomb reconstruction, Lincoln’s body was moved 17 times. How then is it possible that his spirit would rest? In the years following, reported sightings of a phantom Lincoln Funeral Train were reported by railroad workers along the route from Washington, D.C. to Springfield, IL. Tales along the Rails There are varying accounts of spectral train sightings of the old Union silently traveling in the night. Those who have seen the vision report that they have seen a train car draped in black, housing a casket surrounded by mourners, guarded with skeletal remains dressed in blue uniforms. The smoke stacks billow and bells clang but not of this time and place. A popular version of this story is one that has been retold many times stemming from a quote in the Albany Evening Times. This version is taken from The Pittsburgh Press (1978) “The train always appeared in Albany on April 27th, the anniversary of its first passing. Track walkers and section hands would sit along the railroad tracks in the early evening of the fateful day and wait for the ghost train to come into view. At midnight—always at midnight—the engine would emerge from the darkness, moving silently down the track with black crepe flowing from its sides and emitting faintly audible sounds of funeral music. The phantom train would glide over a black carpet that appeared to cover the tracks, while spectral solders in blue uniforms, of the Union army trotted along side it. As the apparition moved down the tracks, it would fade from view over some phantom horizon” Over time the sightings decreased until the Lincoln ghost train was no longer seen, but the story still piques the curiosity of historical and locomotive enthusiasts alike. The Legend Lives On This legend of the Lincoln ghost train really stems from of the senseless murder of a man who envisioned his death, a country in grave mourning, and a send off of historic proportion that would carry the body of a President over 1,700 miles by rail and still be in a state of unrest. What a magnificently morbid setting for a ghost story. I suspect that on April 25th, the curious will head to the tracks in Poughkeepsie to see if they can get a glimpse of the ghostly figures standing guard, surrounding the black coffin being transported by the spectral Union. Wondering what happened to the Lincoln funeral car? Unfortunately this piece of history was lost on March 20, 1911; it burned in a prairie fire in Illinois—yet another tragic loss. Sources: McNamara, Robert, (n.d.). Abraham Lincoln Saw a Spooky Vision of Himself in a Mirror Spraggett, Alan. (1978, January 22). Ghost Train. The Pittsburgh Press The Funeral Train of Abraham Lincoln The Route of Abraham Lincoln’s Funeral Train Funeral and burial of Abraham Lincoln. (2010, March 28). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 16:18, April 18, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Funeral_and_burial_of_Abraham_Lincoln&oldid=352562911
On the other side of the parking lot is The Hyde Park Station. (http://www.hydeparkstation.com) A station was built at this location around 1851, when the Hudson River Railroad was constructed from New York City to Albany. That structure was torn down and replaced by the current station in 1914.
The last regularly-scheduled New York Central passenger train stopped there in 1958. Subsequently the outer two tracks of the four-track "Water Level Route" were removed, and the entrances to the tunnel passage serving the southbound platform were boarded over. The station, freight house and property was sold to the Town of Hyde Park by the New York Central Railroad. The station was badly vandalized and slated for demolition when the HUDSON VALLEY RAILROAD SOCIETY signed a lease for the building with the town in 1975.
A great deal of repair work, both interior and exterior had to be done by the society. Windows, doors, exterior trim, as well as the Spanish tile roof had to be repaired or replaced to make the station weather tight.
The interior work included rebuilding the ticket booth, refurbishing benches, waiting room, and baggage room. Wiring, plumbing and heating systems had to be rebuilt. All the restoration work was done at the Society's own expense. All maintenance and restoration of the station is the sole responsibility of the Society.
Inside the Station you will find displays depicting the area's railroading past, running models trains, and knowledgable railroad enthusiasts who can answer your questions about the great "Iron Horse". The station is open summer weekends and holidays,12 PM - 5 PM.