Cover Page

Contents

Introduction

Colonial Period

Revolution

Early Republic

War Between the States

Recent Era

District of Columbia

Historic Projects

Special Feature: Birthplace of Abraham Lincoln.

Memorial at Abraham Lincoln's Birthplace.
(Photo by Rinehart)

THE ABRAHAM LINCOLN NATIONAL PARK, comprising 110 acres, lies 3 miles south of Hodgenville, Ky. The Lincoln Farm Association bought the site in 1906 and began the erection of a granite building in which to place a log cabin said to be that in which Lincoln was born. The cabin is 12 feet wide and 17 feet long, 11 feet from the floor to the eaves, and 14 feet from the floor to the highest point of the roof. The memorial building, for which Theodore Roosevelt laid the cornerstone in 1909 on the centennial of Lincoln's birth, is of Connecticut granite lined with Tennessee marble. Its inside dimensions are 44 feet in width, 34 feet in depth, and 45 feet in height. The Association in 1916 transferred title to the farm and the memorial to the United States, to be administered by the War Department. In 1933 the property was transferred to the jurisdiction of the National Park Service.

At this place, Sinking Spring Farm, near the Big South Fork of Nolin Creek in what is now Larue County, Abraham Lincoln was born February 12, 1809, to Thomas and Nancy Hanks Lincoln. When Abraham was about 4 years old the family moved to another farm, and, a few years later to Indiana, and thence to Illinois, following the frontier with its promises of land, freedom, and opportunity.

The home in which the boy was born, a little cabin with log walls and a slab roof, a chimney at one end, and a door on one side, was typical of the frontier where the external conditions of life were much the same for the poor and the well-to-do alike. The story of the American people is epitomized in the heroic figure of Lincoln. Born of pioneer stock and raised on the frontier, he achieved success through his own endeavors and lived to shape the destiny of our Nation in the greatest crisis through which our people have ever passed.

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Last Modified: Thurs, Nov 23 2000 10:00:00 pm PDT
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