Lincoln Trail Homestead State Park & Memorial

In late May we took a trip a short way west to explore Illinois and St. Louis.  On the way we stopped at several historic sites associated with Abraham Lincoln.  The first was the Lincoln Trail Homestead State Park in Illinois.

The Lincoln Trail Homestead State Park and Memorial is a 162 acre (0.65 km²) state park located on the Sangamon River in Macon County near Harristown, Illinois. This important historic site, only 12 miles Southwest of Decatur, offers hiking, canoeing, picnicking, recreational activities, and a glimpse into the past.  The park offers a unique view of central Illinois.

The state memorial, created in 1938, commemorates the approximate location of Abraham’s Lincoln’s first home in Illinois. The original Lincoln cabin has long been lost but the memorials and the quiet forest and stream easily transport the visitor back to the time when the Lincoln's first settled this virgin wilderness.  When you visit the park, drive east to the end of the park road where you will the find the memorials.
--from Lincoln Trail Homestead State Park & Memorial website

As you drive by it would be easy to miss the entrance, though there is a nice sign there isn't much else to mark that this is the entrance to a state park.

Once you enter the park definitely still doesn't look like much is there.

Before long you do come to a handy historical marker.

We stopped at the first area of the park and walked over to the picnic shelter to eat our lunch.

There was also a small playground.

This is the site of the first home that Abraham Lincoln lived in when he first settled in Illinois.  The site was originally selected by Lincoln's second cousin, John Hanks in 1829.  Hanks had felled and cut logs to build a cabin but then decided to leave.  Hanks continued to write to Thomas Lincoln, hoping to convince him to move from Indiana to Illinois.  Hanks eventually received word from the Lincolns, confirming the move to Illinois.  Once the family, consisting of Thomas and Sarah Bush Johnson Lincoln, Abraham, his stepbrother John Johnson, nine other relatives, and in-laws, arrived.  Thomas, Sarah, John, and Abraham lived here during 1830, even though Abraham spent much time away as a hired farm laborer.  Sickness and the Winter of the Deep Snow caused the Lincoln family to leave after only a year at the site.  With his father and stepmother's moving, this is where Abraham Lincoln finally struck out on his own, buying a canoe and floating down the Sangamon River to his future at New Salem.
--from exhibit signage

We passed by a cemetery on the way back to the remainder of the park.

After parking there was a short walk through the grass.

A tablet on a stone, erected by the Daughters of the American Revolution in 1904, marks the site of the cabin.

Another large stone and tablet sit in a small plaza.

I found a stone with Lincoln's face in the surrounding flower bed.

Other than that there wasn't much to see, but I was glad we had stopped as it was nice to put some more history to the travels of the Lincoln family.  Abraham was born in Kentucky, spent his childhood in Indiana, and then became an adult in Illinois, so all three states claim him.  You can see a few more photos from our stop in the park in this album.

~Matt