Lincoln State Park near Springfield Kentucky

The Lincoln Homestead State Park near Springfield is a great state park that is a bit off the beaten path.  Like most of the other Lincoln related sites, you have to snoop around a bit to find it- but it is sure worth the effort!

There are two AMAZING cabins relating to the parents of Abraham Lincoln here.


There is the Lincoln Cabin on the property.  If I understand correctly, this is a reconstruction of the cabin that young Thomas Lincoln (Abe's dad) lived in.  It was built where the original cabin was located though, giving it some serious authenticity.  Even more exciting is the fact that inside of the cabin is a corner cabinet made by Thomas.  There is a bed there that they believe he also made.

A short walk from the Lincoln Cabin is the Francis Berry House, which is a very nice ORIGINAL two story cabin.

Nancy Hanks, Lincoln's mother, was living here while dating Thomas.  This cabin was located about a mile down the road but it has been moved to its current location at the park.  AND, legend has it that Thomas proposed in front of the very fireplace inside of this cabin.

One VERY cool feature about this state park is that the cabins and displays are pretty much totally open!  You can actually touch the corner cabinet made by Thomas.  You can walk around freely inside of the Berry home.

Also the Mordecai Lincoln home is a short drive from the cabins.  Mordecai was Thomas' brother.  It was not open, but you could get a good look around the grounds.

Back at the park near the cabins is a very nice memorial to Nancy Hanks.  Also on the grounds is a replica Blacksmith shop.

We really liked the casual, self guided tour here.  We were literally the only people around and felt like we had the place to ourselves.

There was a very friendly fellow at the gift shop where you bought your ticket (at a VERY reasonable $2.50).  He told us about the park, and we talked some about the various Lincoln Cabins.  It is nice to see people working at the parks who care about them!

Anyway, this is a great park that any fan of Lincoln should visit.  I know in the past they have done reenactments of the marriage of Thomas and Nancy.  It would be exciting to see that tradition brought back!