30 Acres

The Lincolns moved to Knob Creek after a title dispute forced them to leave Sinking Spring Farm. Here Thomas Lincoln rented 30 acres of fertile fields, hardly enough to sustain a family in those times. Thomas and Nancy Lincoln grew corn and pumpkins, raised vegetables that could be eaten fresh in the summer and dried to last through the winter, and grew herbs for medicines and dyes. The crops you see here are similar to the ones that they planted and are still grown by farmers in this valley today.
Farming on the frontier was unpredictable. A hard rain could flood fields that took backbreaking work to plow. A drought could kill an entire harvest. Young Abraham Lincoln helped his parents with farm chores. The daily struggle for survival at Knob Creek shaped the character of the boy who grew up to be president.