A couple hundred miles from where the Jefferson Davis Monument stands- mentioned in a previous History Traveler blog-another Kentuckian was born eight months after Davis. Near Hodgenville, Kentucky, is the Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historic Site. It is a neo-classic building that seems as out of place among the trees of what was once known as Sinking Spring Farm as the Davis obelisk does among rolling fields. A long flight of wide stairs-56, to be exact, one for each year of Lincoln’s life-lead to an impressive structure of marble and granite with bronze doors. Surely, it is the only building of such elegance ever built for the purpose of housing a log cabin.
The rude pioneer-style cabin inside the memorial building’s marble walls was long purported to be the very one Lincoln was born in on February 12, 1809. In reality, the one-story cabin you’ll see was originally a two-story house from a farm nearby, purchased by speculator A. W. Dennett who trimmed it down to one story and toured the country with “the house Lincoln was born in.” He also had a cabin he claimed was Jefferson Davis’ birthplace. For an entertaining read on Dennett and the history of the “Lincoln cabin,” check out Did Lincoln Own Slaves? and Other Frequently Asked Questions, by Gerald J. Prokopowicz (Pantheon Books, 2008).
Take Highway 84 east from the birthplace site and, after a short drive though some pretty country, you’ll come to Route 31E and Knob Creek, where the Lincoln family moved to when Abraham was two. It has another reconstructed log cabin and offers a nice spot for a picnic, away from the crowds at the birthplace site. Or, if you go due north from the birthplace site you’ll soon be in Hodgenville, where a statue of a seated Lincoln is at the center of town. Kentucky’s Official Lincoln Museum is on the town square, with memorabilia and dioramas of his life, from “The Cabin Years” to “The Berry-Lincoln Store” in which he was a partner to scenes of his great speeches, the Matthew Brady Studio where the photo was taken that graces our five-dollar-bills and on through to the assassination at Ford’s Theater.
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Jack Foley said:
Hey, hard G! How are you, my friend. Give me a shout out, and let’s reconnect.
Jack
March 5th, 2009 at 7:38 am
Joe Czachowski said:
Hey Gerald;
What’s up. Been trying to get in touch. E-mail me if you can.
Joe
March 5th, 2009 at 5:52 pm
Tom Goodrich said:
Does anyone remember that Gary Larson cartoon? A group of tourists are standing outside an enormous fifty-foot tall log cabin while the tour guide matter-of-factly drones: “Rumor has it that Abraham Lincoln was born in a LITTLE log cabin….”
I’ve been to the Lincoln birthplace two or three times but never realized the cabin was a replica. Thanks, Gerald, for setting my record straight. History marches on.
Tom Goodrich
June 8th, 2009 at 10:43 am
Frank Chadwick said:
By spamming this board on Thanksgiving (for crying out loud), Mbt shoe has convinced me to never, ever try their stuff.
November 27th, 2009 at 6:42 pm