2014-10-10 Pontiac Oakland Automobile Museum

We are spending 5 days in Pontiac. We might need more.


Hold down the SHIFT KEY and click on Pontiac, IL to see a larger map

There are so many things good about this town. Four free museums, Lincoln sites and sounds, 3 swinging bridges, a beautifully restored County Courthouse, friendly Midwest people, and an 18 hole disc golf course.

I don't want to start doing reviews of Laundromats but the one in Pontiac was very nice. Clean clothes, reasonably priced, and the clothes actually got dry without having put in more money.

Yesterday we took a day off and went for a walk in the parks that line the Vermilion River in Pontiac.

The three swinging bridges span the river within a 1/2 mile stretch of each other.

During our walking adventure we found an 18 hole disc golf course that was in two of the parks. The 18 hole had you throw ACROSS the river to get to the basket.

Abraham Lincoln came to the city quite a few times. Sprinkled around the city are very nice informational plaques explaining why he was here.

One visit was accidental, caused by his train not being able to proceed north because of a snow drift. Townspeople rescued him and the other passengers and put them up for a few days. That's the kind of people in that still live in this town.

Here's a famous statue of Abe in front of the County Courthouse.

We have a couple we met many years ago in our roller coaster club, Chuck and Eva. Their other hobby was Pontiac cars. Chuck and a couple of other enthusiasts helped open the Pontiac Oakland Automobile Museum in town about 3 years ago.

The curator of the museum, Tim Dye, gave us the grand tour when we stopped by.

We walked around a bit on our own and then he showed us the good stuff. He took us upstairs where they have at least two more museums worth of Pontiac stuff to show off.

Before there was I-55 or Route 66 or Highway 4 there was the Pontiac Trail. This may be the last ceramic sign of that highway.

And then there's a bunch more car memorabilia in the basement as well.

When asked what other cars they have I think his final total was 50, spread in various garages and buildings around town.

He took us to one such building down the street that might have had 7 cars in it including this rare Pontiac Yellow Bird.

Tim and Penny have really put a ton of work into the museum and they keep crazy hours. We were in town late a couple of nights and I still saw their pickup truck sitting outside.