Lincoln Log Cabin State Historic Site - The Site Today

The Site Today

In 1893, the original Thomas Lincoln log cabin was disassembled and shipped northward to serve as an exhibit at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Illinois. The original cabin was lost after the Exposition, and may have been used as firewood. However, the cabin had been photographed many times, and an exact replica was built from the photographs and from contemporary descriptions.

The current Lincoln Log Cabin State Historic Site includes three houses on two sites:

• A reconstruction of the Thomas Lincoln log cabin, completed in 1934 as a project of the Civilian Conservation Corps. It is surrounded by a subsistence farmstead similar to the senior Lincoln's actual farm, is the central feature of the main site. The farm includes heirloom crops and cattle breeds similar or identical to those used at the time.
• The Stephen Sargent home, built on a site 10 miles to the east starting in 1853 and moved to the main site in 1985, reflects successful cash crop farming practices of the 1850s, and is meant to contrast with the Lincoln farm.
• The Reuben Moore Home, occupied by a branch of the family starting in 1856, was the place of Abraham and Sarah Bush Lincoln's final meeting. It is located about 1 mile (2 km) north of the main Goosenest Prairie site in what is now the former village of Farmington.

The Lincoln Log Cabin State Historic Site is interpreted to the mid-1840s, the time of its occupation by many members of the extended Lincoln family. The main site also includes the cornfields, gardens, small orchards, livestock, and outbuildings that would be found on a farm of the period. The crops and livestock are all of historic heirloom varieties. A great many additional activities occur during the annual Fall Harvest Frolic.