News Release

Abraham Lincoln Birthplace to Begin Knob Creek Tavern Rehabilitation

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News Release Date: July 24, 2020
Contact: Stacy Humphreys, 270-358-3137

Hodgenville, KY. - Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park plans to start the Knob Creek Tavern Rehabilitation Project on August 3, 2020. The project will take approximately 6 to 12 months to complete. Once the historic Tavern is rehabilitated, and new interpretive exhibits installed, the park plans to celebrate with a Grand Reopening Ceremony tentatively planned for the fall of 2021. The grounds of the site will be closed during the rehabilitation project. There will be no visitor services for the summer season on 2020 and 2021.  

The Boyhood Home Unit at Knob Creek came into the National Park Service holdings in 2001. Prior to this, the site was owned and developed by the Howard Family in the 1930s to become one of the first tourist destinations dedicated to the memory and life of Abraham Lincoln in the state of Kentucky. The Howard Family built the Tavern and operated it as a tourist attraction, gift shop and roadhouse until the summer of 1999. The Lincoln Farm Heritage Association, Inc. was a local grass-roots effort formed by the residents of Hodgenville and the surrounding area to save the Knob Creek Farm for future generations and purchased it from the Howard Family when they put it up for sale in the late 1990s. Over one million dollars was raised through both private donations and Kentucky State public funds which were used to purchase the farm. The Lincocln Farm Heritage Association, Inc. was the organization who donated the land to the NPS in 2001.

Once the project is completed, the park will have a visitor center at the Knob Creek Tavern with interpretive exhibits for visitors to engage with and enjoy. The site will also expand interpretive programs to include living history programs, nature walks and frontier lifeways demonstrations. These new programs, coupled with the opening of the Tavern visitors center and continued use of hiking trails at the unit, thereby enriching the visitors' park experience. There will be increased safety at the site with staffing available on a more frequent basis.

For more information on the Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park, visit the park's website at:http://www.nps.gov/abli or the park's Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/LincolnBirthplaceNPS.

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