Tesla Model 3 Maiden Voyage - Washington Park (and other assorted pictures) - Springfield IL

A year ago, I had never heard of a carillon. Even the thought of an instrument as amazing as this had never crossed my mind. A giant bell tower, with each bell connected to a key stories below where it hangs, controlled by a single keyboardist. How cool is that? Now, I find myself randomly at one for the second time in the last 9 months, this time in a huge park, hidden in Springfield IL.

Let’s rewind a little bit to tell how I arrived here. Over the last six months, I have started a daily workout regimen, essentially to keep my body from deteriorating over my long drives. After feeling my joints stiffen up every morning and aching throughout the day, I decided to do something about it. Not having access to a local gym, every morning, I search out a new park to do my exercise. This has been a blessing in disguise, making me find a unique place every day when I wake up. It brings me into some areas that I never would have had the pleasure of seeing.

After spending a night popping around the city of Abe Lincoln, taking pictures, I had decided I wasn’t too impressed with Springfield. Yes there was Lincoln’s Tomb, but it wasn’t all that cool and I looked forward to moving into the southern area of the state. Rural areas tend to have more surprises. But I needed to do my morning workout before I left. So I googled the closest park and to my surprise, there was a carillon.

The park google brought me to was the huge Washington Park, and impressively is on the National Register of Historic Places. As soon as I entered I was overtaken by the well maintained beauty around every corner. This park has it all; botanical garden, large duck pond, rose garden, and that amazing carillon.

The park is over 120 years old now, which I think is pretty amazing, and is constantly holding community events, including carillon concerts which happen every Sunday. All in all, I think it’s one of the cooler, more serene places in Springfield and I’ll be sure to come back whenever I’m in the area.