Lincoln Log Cabin - Coles County, IL
Posted by: 
cldisme
N 39° 22.816 W 088° 12.645
16S E 395720 N 4359675
Lincoln Log Cabin preserves the site of the last home and farm of Abraham Lincoln’s father, Thomas Lincoln, and stepmother, Sarah Bush Lincoln, who moved to this farm in 1837.
Waymark Code: WM3DMR
Location: Illinois, United States
Date Posted: 03/20/2008
Views: 16
The LINCOLN LOG CABIN STATE PARK, 94.5 m., comprising 86 acres of the last Lincoln farm, is a memorial to Thomas Lincoln rather than to his son. The old pioneer never realized the hopes that impelled him toward Illinois. He was past fifty when he came – a thick-set man with a round face, dark eyes, and course black hair. Easy in his fellowship with other men, he failed to understand his son, particularly in his early years. Nevertheless, Lincoln often visited him at his several homes.
In 1841 Abraham Lincoln purchased from his father the 120-acre farm on which his parents were living. After Thomas Lincoln’s death ten years later, Lincoln sold 80 acres to his stepbrother, John D. Johnston, from whom his father had bought the land. A later owner cultivated the 40 acres that Lincoln had retained, and in 1888 obtained title to them by virtue of his undisputed occupation of the property for 20 years.
The reconstructed THOMAS LINCOLN CABIN stands in the park. The original cabin was shown at the Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1983, and then mysteriously disappeared. The reconstructed cabin, built by the State, stands on the old stone foundation. Like the original, it has two sections; the west room of the original was build by Thomas Lincoln in 1837 when he acquired the farm; the east half was a cabin purchased by him, moved to the site, and joined to the first section with clapboards. The root cellar to the east has been rebuilt on the brick floor of the original, and a grindstone and other crude implements have been replaced. Beside the kitchen door is a duplicate of the ox yoke that Thomas Lincoln always hung there.
The 32-foot well dug by Thomas Lincoln was restored in 1936; all of the original stonework was retained with the exception of the top four feet.
Page 626; Tour 21: The Lincoln National Memorial Highway - Illinois: A Descriptive and Historical Guide
The Lincoln Log cabin continues to serve its historic preservation purpose. During the summer months, re-enactors provide context to the hardships of pioneer life in the 1840's.
Book: Illinois
Page Number(s) of Excerpt: 626
Year Originally Published: 1939
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