Abraham Lincoln Birthplace

Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior A b r a h a m Lincoln, passionate defender o f t h e Union a n d t h e m a n whose life a n d ideals aff i r m e d t h e d i g n i t y o f w o r k i n g people, was a product o f t h e austere society o f f r o n t i e r Kentucky. A f t e r Lincoln had g r o w n t o a d u l t h o o d and prospered as a lawyer a n d politician, he was reluctant t o talk a b o u t w h a t he called t h e " s t i n t e d l i v i n g " o f his early years. W h e n asked f o r a campaign biography he responded: " I t can all be condensed i n t o a simple sentence and t h a t sentence y o u w i l l f i n d in Gray's Elegy —'The short and simple annals o f t h e poor.'" Lincoln d i d furnish t h e i n f o r m a t i o n , and almost everything w e k n o w o f his childhood was contained in his o w n remembrances. A f t e r Abraham's death t h e Lincolns moved t o w h a t is n o w W a s h i n g t o n County, a more secure a n d p o p u l a t e d area. Lincoln w r o t e t h a t Thomas, " b y t h e early d e a t h of his father, a n d very n a r r o w circumstances o f his mother, even in c h i l d h o o d was a w a n d e r i n g labor-boy." He was uneducated, an honest m a n b u t w i t h o u t driving a m b i t i o n . He f u l f i l l e d t h e duties o f a f r o n t i e r citizen, serving as a m i l i t i a m a n and county g u a r d o f prisoners, paying his taxes, and sitting o n juries. On at least one occasion he labored alongside slaves, which may have helped shape his antislavery views. Before t h e Lincolns came i n t o Kentucky, t h e ancestors o f o u r 16th President had a long a n d restless history in colonial America. Generation after g e n e r a t i o n had left t h e i r fathers' homes in search o f more land a n d f e w e r constraints. The first American Lincoln, Samuel, sailed f r o m t h e west o f England in 1637 a n d settled in H i n g h a m , Massachusetts. His descendants National Historical Park Kentucky moved o n t o f e r t i l e land in New Jersey and t h e n Pennsylvania, and in 1768 John Lincoln and his family o f 10 m i g r a t e d i n t o Virginia. One o f John's sons and Lincoln's grandfather, A b r a h a m , reached t h e edge o f t h e frontier, settling in t h e Shenandoah Valley. By 1782 A b r a h a m had sold his f a r m and, w i t h his w i f e Bersheba a n d five children, struck o u t f o r t h e Kentucky wilderness. Daniel Boone had blazed t h e first trail into this region only seven years earlier. It was still uncharted territory, t h e "Dark a n d Bloody G r o u n d " o f Indian warfare, b u t it offered rich b o t t o m l a n d s f o r f a r m ing. Possibly at Boone's o w n u r g i n g , A b r a h a m entered Kentucky t h r o u g h Cumberland Gap and settled near t h e present site o f Louisville. In M a y 1786, as he and his children w o r k e d in t h e newly planted fields, A b r a h a m was killed in an Indian raid. Ten-year-old Thomas, t h e f u t u r e f a t h e r o f a president, remained w i t h his father's body and was saved f r o m death at t h e last m o m e n t w h e n o n e o f his brothers shot an approaching Indian. A f t e r roaming up and d o w n Kentucky, T h o m as a n d his family moved t o Hardin County in 1803 and settled in Elizabethtown. He learned t h e carpenter's t r a d e a n d was g o o d e n o u g h at it t o purchase a 230-acre f a r m . Thomas saved his money a n d in 1806 married a y o u n g w o m an named Nancy Hanks and b r o u g h t her back t o Elizabethtown. Simple Beginnings In December 1808 Thomas and Nancy bought Sinking Spring Farm, paying $200 for 300 acres of stony land on Nolin Creek. The couple's first child, Sarah, was a year old, and as they moved 14 miles southwest t o their new home, Nancy was expecting another. The life of this young frontier w o m a n is shad- owy. Lincoln remembered her fondly, but we know only that she was born in Virginia, was illiterate, and died shortly after the Lincolns left Kentucky. For historian Albert J. Beveridge she remains " D i m as the dream of a shifting mirage . . . her face and figure waver t h r o u g h the mists of time and rumor." Sinking Spring Farm's red clay was not noted for fertility. The farm stood on the edge of the Barrens, a great tract of land made treeless by Indian fires set t o create grazing land for game. Perhaps the Lincolns bought it because it was closer t o Nancy's relatives and only three miles south of Hodgen's mill. Thomas, Nancy, and their young daughter moved into a oneroom log cabin built on a knoll near Sinking Spring. Their cabin was probably a typical frontier dwelling: about 18 by 16 feet, a dirt floor, one window, and one door, a small fireplace, a shingled roof, and a low chimney made of clay, straw, and hardw o o d . The tiny w i n dow opening might have been covered The Lincoln family bible. w i t h greased paper, animal skin, or an old quilt t o keep out summer insects and winter cold. The winter deepened as Nancy's time drew near. On Sunday, February 12, 1809, she lay close t o the fire on her bed of cornhusks and bearskins. The family, in the words of Carl Sandburg, "welcomed into a world of battle and blood, of whispering dreams and wistful dust, a new child, a boy." He was named Abraham after his grandfather. Thomas and Nancy Lincoln and their children lived the self-sufficient life of a frontier farm family. Thomas continued t o do a little carpentry and cabinetmaking, but he was now a farmer. He spent long hours behind the plow and tramping through t h e woods w i t h his rifle in search of meat. Nancy cooked plain food—bread, corn, pork—in her Dutch oven and longhandled frying pan. Their life was spare, but the Lincolns were not poverty-stricken. As members in good standing of their community, they owned t w o farms, a lot in Elizabethtown, and livestock. As Abraham grew f r o m infancy, a young oak sapling grew near their cabin. Until its death in 1976, the Boundary Oak was a living vestige of the quiet farm where Lincoln spent the first t w o years of his life. Statue of Abraham Lincoln, in Hodgenville, Kentucky, by AdolphA. Weinman, 1909. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS: LINCOLN'S HANDWRFTING (BELOW AND AT TOP) Knob Creek Farm In 1811 t h e Lincolns m o v e d 10 miles n o r t h east t o a f a r m o n K n o b Creek, w h e r e t h e soil w a s richer. Lincoln's earliest m e m o r y w a s o f t h i s f a r m , h e l p i n g his f a t h e r p l a n t p u m p k i n seeds. T h e r e t h e b o y g o t his f i r s t t a s t e o f e d u c a t i o n i n Caleb Hazel's " A B C s c h o o l , " o r as L i n c o l n c a l l e d it, a " b l a b s c h o o l " because o f t h e c o n s t a n t r e c i t a t i o n . Lincoln's v i e w s o n slavery m a y h a v e b e e n f o r m e d a t K n o b Creek, as Hazel w a s an outspoken emancipationist, a n d t h e Lincolns b e l o n g e d t o a n a n t i s l a v e r y c h u r c h . Life w a s b e t t e r t h e r e , b u t t h e slavery issue, a l o n g w i t h l a w s u i t s o v e r t h e t i t l e s t o his farms, i n d u c e d T h o m a s t o m o v e t o Indiana. Late i n 1816 t h e Lincolns crossed t h e O h i o River t o t h e l a n d w h e r e t h e c h i l d s h a p e d in K e n t u c k y g r e w t o m a n h o o d . View of hills, or knobs, surrounding Knob Creek Farm. The reconstructed boyhood cabin at Knob Creek. I Creating the Park The Memorial Building protects the symbolic birthplace cabin. NPS A l m o s t 100 years after Thomas Lincoln m o v e d f r o m Sinking Spring Farm, a log cabin o r i g i nally accepted as t h e birthplace cabin o f A b r a h a m Lincoln was placed in t h e M e m o r i a l Building. W h i l e t h e cabin is o l d and typical t o t h e area, it is n o t t h e o r i g i n a l Lincoln cabin. The National Park Service considers it a symbolic cabin. N e w York businessman A.W. D e n n e t t purchased t h e Lincoln f a r m in 1894 and had t h e cabin moved t o a site near Sinking Spring. But shortly thereafter it was dismantled and reassembled f o r exhibition in many cities. In 1905 Robert Collier, the publisher of Collier's Weekly, purchased t h e f a r m w h e r e Lincoln was b o r n . Collier, along w i t h Mark Twain, W i l l i a m Jennings Bryan, Samuel Gompers, and others, f o r m e d t h e Lincoln Farm Association in 1906 t o preserve Lincoln's birthplace and establish a memorial t o t h e nation's 16th president. That same year, t h e g r o u p purchased t h e cabin and raised over $350,000 f r o m 100,000 citizens t o build a memorial t o house t h e cabin. Presid e n t Theodore Roosevelt laid t h e cornerstone in 1909. In 1911 President W i l l i a m H o w a r d Taft dedicated t h e marble and g r a n i t e m e m o r i a l , designed by John Russell Pope. The neoclassical structure in a f a r m setting may seem g r a n diose f o r a man w h o w r o t e : " I was b o r n , and have ever remained, in t h e most h u m b l e walks of l i f e . " But t h e r o u g h cabin w i t h i n the m e m o rial dramatizes t h e basic values t h a t sustained Lincoln as he led t h e nation t h r o u g h its darkest period. The memorial and Sinking Spring Farm w e r e established as a national park in 1916 and designated A b r a h a m Lincoln Birthplace National Historic Site in 1959. Abraham Lincoln Boyhood Home at Knob Creek became a unit of A b r a ham Lincoln Birthplace National Historic Site in 2001. This date marked t h e c u l m i n a t i o n o f efforts by many individuals and groups, including t h e Kentucky General Assembly, t h e Kentucky Heritage Land Conservation Fund Board, t h e Larue County Fiscal Court, and t h e National Park Trust, t o purchase this historic property f r o m t h e H o w a r d family, w h o had operated the site since the 1930s. In 2009 t h e site was redesignated a national historical park. About Your Visit Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park is about three miles south of Hodgenville, Kentucky, on U.S. 31E and Ky. 61. Knob Creek Farm, Lincoln Boyhood Home is 10 miles northeast of park headquarters on U.S. 31E. For More Information Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park 2995 Lincoln Farm Road Hodgenville, KY 42748-9707 270-358-3137 www.nps.gov/abli Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park is one of over 390 parks in the National Park System. To learn more about parks and National Park Service programs in America's communities, visit www.nps.gov. GPO:2009—349-224/80305 Reprint 2009 Printed on recycled paper. Knob Creek at Lincoln Boyhood Home, where Lincoln livedfor five years. A Walking Tour When Nancy and Thomas Lincoln moved t o Sinking Spring Farm, Kentucky had been a state for only 16 years. While there were a few frontier stores, pioneers mainly used what they could raise and what grew at hand for food, shelter, and tools. A short walk along the Big Sink Trail through the site of the Lincoln farm will make clear how resourceful these settlers were. Along the 0.7-mile trail are numbered interpretive signs that explain points of interest. Picnic facilities and hiking trails are provided. Camping is not permitted in the park. Please leave things as you find t h e m so others can enjoy t h e m . Special services and facilities are provided for visitors w i t h disabilities. Ask for information and assistance at the visitor center or from uniformed employees. Both units of the park are located in the Eastern time zone. The Boyhood Home is open t o visitors, w i t h limited facilities and services. Please check w i t h park staff at the Birthplace visitor center for questions and additional information. We recommend that groups make advance reservations t o visit the park. Contact the park for hours of operation. Also visit Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial in nearby Lincoln City, Indiana, site of the farm where Lincoln spent 14 years of his youth. For Your Safety Use caution on steps. Be alert when crossing roads. Stay on trails t o avoid poison ivy, briars, ticks, and venomous snakes. Lock your vehicle and store possessions out of sight. Stay off the walls alongside the Memorial Building steps, as well as the walls at Sinking Spring, Boundary Oak, and the Plaza Area. The cabin before its placement inside the Memorial Building. Sinking Spring as it appeared when the Lincolns lived nearby.