Lincoln Homestead State Park is a park located just north of Springfield, Kentucky in Washington County. The park encompasses 120 acres (0.49 km2), and features both historic buildings and reconstructions associated with Thomas Lincoln, father of the president Abraham Lincoln.
The three houses are associated with Thomas Lincoln, the father of Abraham Lincoln. The two-story Francis Berry House is the only original structure; it was where Nancy Hanks, Abraham's mother, was working as a seamstress and living while being courted by Thomas Lincoln. Thomas proposed to Nancy by the large fireplace in the cabin.
The other two buildings are reconstructions: the workshop where Thomas learned blacksmithing and carpentry, and the Lincoln cabin. The 16 feet (4.9 m) by 18 feet (5.5 m) structure was built on the site of the original Lincoln cabin where Thomas lived with his family as a boy. It is made of 115-year-old logs. The furnishings were made by Thomas Lincoln as an artisan.
Captain Abraham Lincoln, the president's grandfather, had moved to the site in 1781-2 with his wife Beersheba and children from Virginia following the American Revolutionary War. He was killed in May 1786 in an attack by an American Indian. Thomas was saved by his oldest brother Mordecai's shooting the Indian before he could do anything to the boy. Captain Lincoln was buried near the cabin, but the exact location is unknown.
The buildings are open between May and September. Camping on the grounds is not permitted, but visitors may picnic there as well as fish at the lake. There is also a playground for the children.
The park includes an 18-hole golf course on the land Mordecai Lincoln once farmed. On the other side of the road from the golf course is the Mordecai Lincoln House, built by Mordecai as an adult. It is a state-recognized historic structure.
Famous quotes containing the words lincoln, homestead, state and/or park:
“I must, in candor, say I do not think myself fit for the Presidency.”
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865)
“These Flemish pictures of old days;
Sit with me by the homestead hearth,
And stretch the hands of memory forth
To warm them at the wood-fire’s blaze!”
—John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892)
“Navajo men and boys have an odd way of showing their friendship. When two young men meet at the trading post, a “Sing”, or a dance they greet each other, inquire about the health of their respective families, then stand silently some ten or fifteen minutes while one feels the other’s arms, shoulders, and chest.”
—Administration in the State of Ariz, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)
“Therefore awake! make haste, I say,
And let us, without staying,
All in our gowns of green so gay
Into the Park a-maying!”
—Unknown. Sister, Awake! (L. 9–12)