Black oak woods cover the bluffs above the Sangamon River at Lincoln's New Salem, and the rig parks under them at the edge of the historic site, the base for a Lincoln week out of Springfield. Through those trees is the reconstructed village, a lane of log houses and shops on the bluff where a young Abraham Lincoln clerked, surveyed and taught himself law before he ever moved to Springfield. Later in the week the drive turns back toward town for the Lincoln Home and the Lincoln Tomb, and the rig stays right where it is.
Central Illinois is flat farm country, so the trip is a parked week with one wooded pad near Petersburg and history at both ends of the day drive. Summer here is hot and humid, which is the real argument for doing it in a motorhome or a trailer with power at the site, the air conditioner running while you're out at the village.
Lincoln's New Salem campground, and Springfield by day
The campground runs through the woods along the edge of the historic site, so the village and the rig share the same quiet once the day visitors leave. According to the Illinois DNR's page for the site, every campsite is asphalt on even ground. Eighty are electrified, with both 30-amp and 50-amp service among them, and eighty more are primitive.
Lock the pad before you book the rig. Sites reserve through ExploreMoreIL, and the DNR doesn't post a maximum rig length, so pick a specific site, check its listing and the campground map, and let that pad decide between a trailer and a longer motorhome. If it's only two of you, a smaller rig from the Illinois campervan listings takes the length question off the table.
The village keeps a Tuesday through Saturday schedule, with shorter hours in the cold months, so Sunday and Monday are the natural days to spend in Springfield. A trailer can stay set up all week while the tow vehicle does the driving, and a motorhome crew either unplugs each morning or brings a car along. In town, the Lincoln Home and the Lincoln Tomb at Oak Ridge Cemetery fill a day without trying.
Route 66 runs through Springfield as well, and the Chicago RV page carries it as a one-way trip west, with St. Louis the next big stop down the road. If the kids would trade a museum day for a lake, Sangchris Lake State Park is the other state park with camping near Springfield, and Illinois DNR's own pages are the place to check its sites before counting on one.
Illinois State Fair week at the fairgrounds campground
Every August the Illinois State Fair takes over Springfield's 366-acre fairgrounds, and the campground's asphalt rows are inside the fence, with the grandstand and the Butter Cow a walk away. Fair week in a rig means mornings at the barns, a retreat to the air conditioning in the worst of the afternoon, and the grandstand show carrying back to the pad after dark.
The campground has 300 sites with electric, water and limited sewer hookups as of October 2026, and getting one for the fair is the hard part. The fair sends camping notifications by email at the end of May, and the 2026 listing showed the campground full for the fair days. Fair week and a New Salem summer week also compete for the same rental rigs and the same electric pads around Springfield, so book the site first and the rig second.
The rest of the season those same rows make an easy first night in town before the drive out to New Salem. If they're closed or you roll in late, Springfield-area parks such as the Springfield KOA in Rochester, Double J Campground in Chatham and Kamper Kompanion off I-55 are the other options.