Central

Central Illinois covers the broad agricultural plains in the geographic center of the state, the prairie-and-corn country running from the Indiana line west to the Sangamon River and from the Wabash north to the Iroquois. The terrain is famously flat — the heart of the Corn Belt — broken only by the lower Sangamon River, the Embarras, and the rolling till country in the southern counties. Springfield, the state capital, anchors the western edge. Twenty-six counties cover the region. Sangamon holds Springfield; Champaign holds Champaign-Urbana and the University of Illinois; Macon holds Decatur; Vermilion holds Danville. Other anchors include Effingham, Mattoon, Charleston, Lincoln, Pana, and Pontiac. Lincoln Home National Historic Site, the Lincoln Tomb, the Old State Capitol, and the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum cluster in Springfield. Lake Shelbyville handles the major water recreation. Most trips here are Lincoln-and-prairie focused. Springfield runs a full multi-day Lincoln itinerary; the Looking for Lincoln corridor extends out to New Salem (the reconstructed village where he lived as a young man) and the Lincoln-Douglas debate sites in Charleston, Jonesboro, and elsewhere; the University of Illinois campus and the Krannert museums anchor Champaign-Urbana visits.