Additional Lincoln Sites
Kentucky and her surrounding neighbors hold many ties to the Lincoln family. Additional Lincoln-related sites in and near Kentucky include:
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Perryville Battlefield State Historic Site |
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On October 8, 1862, cannon explosions shattered the rural peace of this tranquil countryside, along with the death moans of young soldiers. Perryville became the site of the most destructive Civil War battle in the state, which left more than 7,600 killed, wounded, or missing. The park museum tells of the battle that was the South’s last serious attempt to gain possession of Kentucky. The battlefield is one of the most unaltered Civil War sites in the nation; vistas visible today are virtually those that soldiers saw on that fateful day in 1862. A self-guided walking tour on the battlefield interprets battle events.
Website: http://parks.ky.gov/findparks/histparks/pb/
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Harrodsburg/Old Fort Harrod State Park |
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Harrodsburg is the city in which the Rev. Jesse Head, the Methodist minister who performed the marriage ceremony of Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks, lived and is buried in Spring Hill Cemetery. In the early twentieth century, concerned residents of Harrodsburg began a successful effort to preserve the log home in which Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks were married. Those efforts ultimately led to the construction of the Lincoln Marriage Temple on the grounds of what became Old Fort Harrod State Park.
Old Fort Harrod State Park will introduce programming that highlights the Lincoln marriage cabin and exhibit. Teachers will be a targeted audience, and an outdoor dramatic performance is also being considered. The park has additional exhibit space that will be utilized for a new exhibit during the bicentennial.
Website: http://parks.ky.gov/findparks/recparks/fh/
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Green County, Kentucky |
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William Herndon, Abraham Lincoln’s law partner, friend, and biographer, was born in Green County and his birthplace in Greensburg still stands. Lincoln’s teacher, Mentor Graham, was also from Green County. Graham taught classes at Greensburg Academy, which Mary Owens, who was romantically linked to Lincoln, attended. Mary was the daughter of well-to-do Green County landowner Nathaniel Owens. Mary Owens and Lincoln had an on again, off again romance that ended in 1837.
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Lincoln Museum and Library, Lincoln Memorial University, Harrogate, TN |
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Located just over the Kentucky boarder in Harrogate, Tennessee, the Abraham Lincoln Library and Museum serves an important constituency in Southeast Kentucky. The museum houses one of the most diverse Lincoln and Civil War collections in the country. Exhibited are many rare items: the cane Lincoln carried that fateful night at Ford's Theatre, two life masks, the tea set he and Mary Todd used in their home in Springfield, and numerous other artifacts. Approximately 30,000 books, manuscripts, pamphlets, photographs, paintings and sculptures tell the story of President Lincoln and the Civil War period in America's history.
Website: http://www.lmunet.edu/museum/index.html
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National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, Cincinnati, OH |
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Located on the banks of the Ohio River in downtown Cincinnati, the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center serves an important constituency in Northern Kentucky. The site features three pavilions celebrating courage, cooperation, and perseverance. Using the Underground Railroad as a lens through which to explore a range of freedom issues, the Freedom Center offers lessons and reflections on the struggle for freedom in the past, the present, and for the future. And it helps visitors discover the power of one voice - shared with many - by speaking out about the meaning of freedom.
Website: http://www.freedomcenter.org/index.html
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Cumberland Gap National Historic Park |
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Cumberland Gap National Park is the preserved site of the “gateway to the west.” The gap is a natural break in the Appalachian Mountains that for centuries has allowed animals and, later, people to move east and west. Between 1775 and 1810 between 200,000 and 300,000 settlers, five to 10 percent of the U.S. population, passed through the gap on their way to what they hoped would be a better life.
Website: www.nps.gov/cuga
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