Abraham Lincoln Memorial Monument
Summit Rest Area, Interstate 80
Laramie, WY
A 13-foot bronze head of Abraham Lincoln keeping watch over the highest pass on the first road to cross the country.
Driving Interstate 80 across southern Wyoming, you come over the long climb of Sherman Hill and, without much warning, a colossal bronze head of Abraham Lincoln turns up out of the sagebrush, gazing east down the highway. It sits at the Summit Rest Area at more than 8,600 feet, the highest point on the old Lincoln Highway, the first road to run all the way across the United States.
The head alone stands about 13 feet tall on a 30-foot pillar of Wyoming granite, and it is far stranger and more moving in person than a photograph suggests. It is a free, always-open pull-off, but it rewards a stop: a piece of highway history, a fine sculpture, and one of the widest views on the whole transcontinental route.
What Guests Love
- Standing eye to eye with a 13-foot bronze Lincoln on a 30-foot granite pillar
- The sweeping view across the Laramie Plains from the highest point on the old transcontinental highway
- A quick, free, always-open stop right off I-80 that breaks up the long crossing
- The strange thrill of a giant sculpted head appearing out of the sagebrush at 8,600 feet
Worth Knowing
- It sits at the exposed summit above 8,600 feet, so wind and sudden weather can hit hard in any season
- This is a highway rest area, so it pairs a monument and a view rather than a long visit
- Winter storms can close or slow I-80 across Sherman Hill, so check road conditions before crossing
- The bronze reads best in low morning or evening light when the granite plains glow
Details
Laramie, WY
Learn about Abraham Lincoln Memorial Monument
The story of the monument
The bust was made by Robert Russin, a longtime art professor at the University of Wyoming, and unveiled in 1959 to mark the 150th anniversary of Lincoln's birth. Russin modeled it in some ten tons of clay and had the 4,500-pound bronze cast in Mexico over about eleven months using the lost-wax method.
It first stood along the old US Highway 30, and in 1969 it was moved roughly a mile to its present spot at the Summit Rest Area beside the new Interstate 80. The monument is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a notable work of public art, and something like a quarter of a million travelers pass it every year.
The Lincoln Highway and Sherman Summit
The monument honors the Lincoln Highway, which in 1913 became the first improved road to cross the country, running roughly 3,400 miles from New York to San Francisco. Sherman Summit, near where the head now stands, was the highest point on that entire route, a milestone that early motorists bragged about reaching.
The place had been a high crossing long before cars. The Union Pacific laid its transcontinental rails over Sherman Hill in the late 1860s, and the ruts and grades of earlier travel still thread the plains below. The monument marks a spot that has funneled people across the continent, by rail and then by road, for more than a century and a half.
The high plains setting
This is big, spare, wind-scoured country. The Laramie Plains roll out in every direction under one of the largest skies in the Rockies, and the elevation means cool nights even in summer and serious cold and blowing snow in winter. Pronghorn drift across the sage, and hawks and eagles ride the wind that rarely quits.
The land here is the traditional territory of Plains nations including the Arapaho, Cheyenne, and Eastern Shoshone, who followed the bison across these grasslands long before the railroad and the highway. Just north of the summit, the rounded granite outcrops of Vedauwoo break the plains into a playground of climbing rock.
Visiting
The monument is easy to reach: take the Summit exit off I-80 east of Laramie and follow the signs to the rest area, where there is parking, restrooms, and a short walk up to the bronze. It is open and free year round, though the summit is exposed and the weather can turn quickly.
Give yourself a few minutes to walk around the base and read the plaques, then take in the view. A visitor center at the rest area interprets the Lincoln Highway and the crossing, and the whole stop makes a memorable break on a long day of driving.
Closest Boutels
The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.
Things to Do Near Laramie
Vedauwoo Recreation Area
About 6 miles north
A cluster of wind-sculpted granite domes and hoodoos in the Medicine Bow National Forest, famous for rock climbing, picnicking, and easy scrambling among the boulders.
Laramie
About 10 miles west
A lively railroad and university town with the Wyoming Territorial Prison, a walkable historic downtown, and the University of Wyoming geological and art museums.
Cheyenne
About 30 miles east
Wyoming's capital, home of the Cheyenne Frontier Days rodeo, the State Capitol with its gold dome, and the Wyoming State Museum.