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All the United States Indiana Lincoln City Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial

Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial

The farm where one of America's greatest leaders was raised is now a well-appointed landmark.

Lincoln City, Indiana

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Melissa Marshall
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Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial   Wikipedia
The foundation of Lincoln’s boyhood home.   Wikipedia
Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial   Doug Kerr on Flickr
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Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial   queso / Atlas Obscura User
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About

Abraham Lincoln grew up poor on what was then the rough and harsh frontier of the country he would one day lead. A childhood fraught with instability, poverty, and loss shaped Lincoln's psyche and contributed much to the mythology of a man who has come to represent all that is good about the country he preserved, and it is this formative history that is remembered at the Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial.

From 1816 to 1830, young Lincoln lived with his family in a settlement that was then known as Little Pigeon Creek, Indiana. Here, he lost his beloved mother to milk sickness in 1818 and in 1826 his only sister died in childbirth. A hungry-for-knowledge Lincoln read books—many gifted by his stepmother—by the fire in the family log cabin. He learned the rail splitting skills that the master politician later used to symbolize his frontier bona fides. He also fought with his father, who by all accounts had little understanding for his son's ambition and intellect.

Today, a sprawling national park contains much of what was the Little Pigeon Creek settlement. The centerpiece is a limestone memorial and Memorial Visitor's Center, which contains information on Lincoln's time in Indiana and the key moments of his life. None of the actual log cabins where the Lincoln family lived survive, but the foundation of one has been preserved in bronze at the Cabin Site Memorial, built in 1917. There's also the Lincoln Living Historical Farm, a working recreation of what farming would have been like during Lincoln's time.

Most poignantly, the park contains the Little Pigeon Creek Cemetery, which contains the grave of Nancy Hanks Lincoln. Each year, thousands of visitors pass through The Allee, a walkway designed by famed landscape architect Fredrick Law Olmstead, Jr, to pay their respect to the pioneer woman that never lived to see her son's greatness.  

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Presidents National Parks Farms Abe Day

Know Before You Go

From Interstate 64, exit onto US 231 (exit 57A). Travel south on US 231 to Indiana Highway 162. Take the Santa Claus/Gentryville exit. Turn west (right) on Indiana Highway 162; go 2-1/2 miles to the park entrance on the right.From the north or south - From US 231 take the Santa Claus/Gentryville exit. Turn west on Indiana Highway 162; go 2-1/2 miles to the park entrance on the right. This is a national park, but there is no charge for entry. Go for the AO twofer of Santa Claus, Indiana, all of four miles to the east.

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Melissa Marshall

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td007, rugby007, EricGrundhauser, Feliciatacions...

  • td007
  • rugby007
  • EricGrundhauser
  • Feliciatacions
  • queso

Published

April 14, 2015

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  • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln_Boyhood_National_Memorial
Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial
3027 E South Street
Lincoln City, Indiana, 47552
United States
38.113498, -86.996131
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Nearby Places

Santa Claus, Indiana

Santa Claus, Indiana

miles away

Dr. Ted's Musical Marvels

Dale, Indiana

miles away

Providence Home Geode Grotto

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miles away

Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of Indiana

Indiana

United States

Places 147
Stories 18

Nearby Places

Santa Claus, Indiana

Santa Claus, Indiana

miles away

Dr. Ted's Musical Marvels

Dale, Indiana

miles away

Providence Home Geode Grotto

Jasper, Indiana

miles away

Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of Indiana

Indiana

United States

Places 147
Stories 18

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