Birth(place) of a Legend

On Monday, on our way down to Tennessee Amy and I got up quite early.  We intended to go to Abraham Lincoln's birthplace, but wanted to be there when it opened so that we couldn't get to Nashville too late in the day.  We did get there shortly after eight, its official opening time.  There were virtually no other guests there, so it was nice to see things and not have to worry about crowds.  One of the employees told us that they were expecting a couple large school groups late in the day.

The grounds were pretty after rain that morning, and I guess the past few days.  Inside we watched a short movie and then walked around looking at the exhibits.  There was a reconstruction of a cabin that likely showed what the Lincoln's family cabin was like.  And of course there were Lincoln Logs, which Amy enjoyed playing with.

I thought a display showing Lincoln's family tree was quite interesting.  It looked like half a circle and showed as many ancestors as are known.

After I got my passport stamp and we bought a couple postcards we walked outside towards the memorial building.  It looks quite impressive.  It was built in the early 1900s (the cornerstone was laid during Teddy Roosevelt's administration and President Taft came to the dedication).  One of the rangers said that people often expect to find a statue inside because they think it looks like the Lincoln Memorial (which was completed a couple years later).  I like this shot where it looks hidden amongst the trees. I  thought it a good idea to use evergreens alongside the stairs since they'd look nice in the summer and winter.

There are fifty-six stairs leading up to the building, which represent the fifty-six years of Lincoln's life.

The building itself has many interesting features that were fun to photograph.  Above the pillars you can read a quote from his second inauguration address: "with malice toward none, with charity for all" that was directed towards the southern states that were still in rebellion, though he was thinking ahead towards the reunification of the country.

There was an incredibly long walkway for wheelchair access that led from the Visitor's Center to the back of the building.  We didn't walk along it, but there were some signs at the head of the walkway.

The cabin inside the building was recently discovered to definitely not be the Lincoln's original cabin, thought it was thought to be for many years.  The logs were dated to the 1840s, which was several decades too young.  It is now called the "symbolic cabin" since it is definitely the same type of cabin that Thomas and Sarah Lincoln would have lived in with their young family.

The farm where the Lincoln's lived was called Sinking Spring Farm, because of a spring that fell into a nearby cave.  It was a reputedly a good farm and unfortunately the Lincolns were forced off because of a confusion over the title.  They rented a nearby farm until 1816 when Thomas Lincoln finally lost his court battle and they decided to move to Indiana where Lincoln spent the rest of his youth.

We walked down to the spring and I took a video of the walk back up to the surface:


There was apparently also a historic inn nearby that was fun to read about, though we didn't go into its store.

You can see a gallery of all the pictures here:


~Matt