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Jeffersonville, IN → Hodgenville, KY → Indianapolis, IN → Hebron, KY 524.0 mi (843.2 km) |
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I’ll be honest, everyone!
No fewer than three states claim to be the home of President Abraham Lincoln! Earlier this year, I visited Illinois, the “Land of Lincoln,” where he got married and entered politics, but today, I’m visiting the other two states that claim responsibility fo this legacy: Kentucky and Indiana! I’m starting from Louisville and heading to two national park units that tell his story!
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About an hour south of Louisville, near the town of Hodgenville, Kentucky, Abraham Lincoln was born on a small farm on February 12, 1809! This farm, known as Sinking Spring, is now preserved as Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park!
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The spring was a big factor in Thomas Lincoln’s decision to settle here after crossing the Cumberland Gap with other westward emigrants! The Lincoln family made great use of this water and offered refreshment to travelers passing their way!
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In this spirit, the park continues to offer hospitality at the Nancy Lincoln Inn, not actually founded by Abe’s mom, but by the park’s proprietors, hoping to better serve the many pilgrims of the 1920s who wanted to visit the birthplace of the 16th president!
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In fact, very little of the Lincoln family’s original homestead has survived the years, so most of what is here is symbolic, such as the grand monument with 56 stairs to represent Mr. Lincoln’s 56 years of life, and the Beaux-Arts dome with 16 windows and 16 rosettes to honor the 16th president!
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The building surrounds a replica of the one-room cabin in which Abraham Lincoln was born. Living on a farm, Mr. Lincoln only had access to a few months of ABC School, since formal schooling didn’t arrive in Kentucky until he was in his 20s! Nonetheless, this monument is a reminder of the greatness that someone with humble beginnings can achieve in their lifetime!
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Nowhere was that disadvantage clearer than at the park’s next unit, about ten miles northeast, at a place called Knob Creek! This is where the Lincoln family had to move in 1811 after Thomas Lincoln lost his land rights to Sinking Spring!
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It was here at Knob Creek that young Abe learned to plant pumpkins, encountered slavery for the first time, and lost his younger brother in infancy. It was the sort of place that foreshadowed so much in his life!
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The Lincolns only stayed here for about four years, and in 1816, they moved over a hundred miles west into Indiana, where Abe grew to adulthood! The site of the new Lincoln farm is part of Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial!
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At the visitor center, there is a remarkable carving by E.H. Daniels that depicts the stages of Abe’s life, a panel for Kentucky, for Indiana, for Illinois, and of course, for Washington, DC!
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The woodlands here are much the same as when the Lincoln family lived here, and it was just a short stroll from the visitor center, past the grave of Nancy Lincoln, to the reconstructed family farm.
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Just like Hodgenville and Knob Creek, Thomas Lincoln’s farm in Indiana had to be reconstructed to look as close as possible to how it may have looked when the Lincolns were here, and today, it is still a living farm that grows crops using equipment that was very similar to what was in use in the 19th Century!
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At its heart, another memorial outlines the location of the Lincoln cabin, as excavated in 1936! The foundation was then cast in bronze to be preserved in place for visitors to enjoy!
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The cabin itself may have looked something like the huge reconstruction over by the animal pens. While it housed the tragedy of loss, of Abe’s mother in 1818 and Abe’s sister in 1828, it was also where the future president picked up books and educated himself, leading to his rise to prominence in a new state!
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While it’s easy to acknowledge a great person’s greatness when looking back on all their accomplishments at once, to me, it’s important to be aware of what they had to overcome in order to get there. Abe Lincoln experienced poverty, loss, and poor education living on these farms in the woods, but he became one of the most iconic figures in American history! Let that be a lesson to the rest of us!
Hoosier later!
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Total Ground Covered: 812.0 mi (1,306.7 km) |
More 2019 Adventures |