Lincoln Boyhood Home

Today on my way home from visiting MT and Gary, I stopped by the boyhood home of US President Abraham Lincoln in Southern Indiana. Quite frankly I was surprised.

For those of you who aren’t sure who he is, Lincoln was the president of the United States of America who freed the slaves and led the North during the Civil War (or, if you’re a southerner, the War of Northern Aggression). Lincoln was clearly one of the best presidents the United States has ever had, joining such greats as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Honestly, I thought I knew the outline of Lincoln’s life fairly well, but I quickly realized that I did not know as much about the man as I had thought. For one, he lived 14 years in Southern Indiana, arguably the most important years of his life, from the time he was 7 until he was 21. Despite being born in Kentucky, raised in Indiana, and Illinois proclaims that they are the “Land of Lincoln.”

The memorial is relatively simplistic and charming-five limestone panels outline significant events in his life, a short video narrated by Mr. Spock, and small museum outline, in the broadest of terms, Lincoln’s childhood experiences. Once you’ve toured the small facility you can either walk or drive up to the living history village-I chose to walk the 900 yards, where I watched a man make a ball of yarn and pondered what it was like to live in a one room cabin whose total square footage, including the attic, was probably smaller than my first solitary apartment in Bloomington. At the time of his Mother’s death, the cabin held his father, mother, sister, and distant relative of some kind, for a total of five people. I hate to imagine what it was like when his father married and brought back three new siblings to join them in the cabin. It had to have been crowded.

It also was an incredible amount of work-Abe was lucky to be skilled with the Axe, in addition to his brain. However you cut it, it had to be a rough life though. As I passed through a nearby town, an electric sign informed me it was 33°c/91°F-and in days before air conditioning, it must have been incredibly horrible to live. I got hot and sticky within minutes of stepping out of my car.

After finishing the living history portion of the memorial, I made my way down the path of 12 stones. I thought, at first, that this was going to be some remarkable path, but instead it was kind of pointless. Somebody had the bright idea to go around and collect stones from places Lincoln had lived or participated in significant events. The result was a series of stones, bricks, and unremarkable rocks stuck in concrete along a path two-thirds of a mile long. I guess it is most interesting because it gives you exercise as you complete the path.

After completing the path I purchased a few postcards at the headquarters, got in my car, passed through Santa Clause, Indiana, and came home.

In the random factoid category: Indiana has three units in the National Park Service, and I have now visited two out of three, the other being the George Rogers Clark Memorial. I only have the Indiana Dunes left to visit-although I find it unlikely that it’s going to happen any time soon.