Abraham Lincoln's Birthplace and Boyhood Home

Any good homeschooling mom would see the incredible opportunities for learning about some of America's greatest people while visiting Tennessee and Kentucky.  We took the opportunity to stop at Abraham Lincoln's birthplace and boyhood home.  It was a wonderful stop that I highly recommend!  It is near Hodgenville, Kentucky, about 45 minutes south of Louisville.  The rangers gave my children a workbook.  If they completed the first four pages, they would receive a Jr. Ranger pin.  I really enjoyed and appreciated that.  It made me take more time to visit the display areas and read more of the information on the walls.

 

This was just the welcoming sign at his birthplace

Weird picture of Nicole ;)  but they were intrigued by the spinning wheel.

I know it's hard to see because of the light reflection, but this is a portrait of Lincoln made out of pennies.  Pretty cool.

His "symbolic" cabin.  This part was kind of confusing.  I don't know if they just scaled the cabin down and used original logs, or if it's all new wood.  I guess it doesn't matter.  But, they say that this area we are standing was where the cabin would have stood that he was born in.  The cabin is inside of the magnificent marble structure that you will see below.

Obviously I didn't take the crooked picture (however, if I did take it...it would have been just as crooked, hahaha).  We are standing on the steps in front of the memorial that holds the "symbolic cabin".

Yep, see....my picture is crooked too.  There are 56 steps to represent his 56 years of life.  Nicole only counted 54 though ;)

working on their workbooks so they can earn their badges.  They had Lincoln logs in the corn for Nate to play with ;)

The next day on our way back from Lousiville (we should have been in Ohio, but weather kept us from getting there then Nicole got really sick, so we had to head back south.  Nicole was in the car during this stop. She's not in any pictures.  We stopped about 10 miles away from his birthday  at Sinking Springs, in Knobb Creek.  Lincoln's family leased land here for several years while undergoing a legal dispute of land at their former residence.  They lost the dispute, and their land.  Lincoln remembers living and working at Knobb Creek.

This was Lincoln's best friend's house, Austin.  This was the actual house.  It was moved from further back of the property, up to the front so we could see it.

We even got to go inside this one!  Look how big that fireplace was for cooking.  The whole cabin was smaller than our upstairs "bonus" room.  Could you imagine a family of 4, 5 or 6 living there?

This is Knobb Creek, where Lincoln played with his friend Austin (and apparently almost drowned)

Nate enjoyed throwing the rocks.

The view from the creek.

 

Another outside view of Austin's cabin

This is a statue of Lincoln in the center of Hodgenville, KY.

And a boyhood statue of him reading

This was such a cool town. They have a museum about Abraham Lincoln, but we didn't get to go in it.  I didn't Nicole out of the car all day, she was so sick.  The museum is cheep....just a couple of bucks to get in.  Maybe next time.

If you are ever passing through middle KY, you should take about 2-3 hours and stop by these places.  They were wonderful!