Every time a penny comes up heads or a five dollar bill gets changed, Americans are reminded of how Abraham Lincoln -- 16th president of the United States, the Great Emancipator, the really tall guy with the stovepipe hat -- maintains his hold on this nation's hearts and minds.
Even as we prepare to celebrate the 183rd anniversary of his birth Feb. 12, what everyone may not realize is that he's also something of a cottage industry, responsible for a goodly number of tourist sites in West Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana and Illinois.
In fact, no American's life has been so relentlessly preserved for posterity. You can visit where his mother was born, where his grandfather was killed and where his wife was raised -- not to mention where Lincoln himself was born, where he grew up, where he practiced law, where he lived with his family and where he was laid to rest after being felled by an assassin's bullet.
To really do it right, to trace Lincoln's path from beginning to end and really get a feel for the man, you need a dependable car, a pile of good road maps and about two weeks.
The following itinerary may seem pretty exhaustive, but it isn't. Especially in Illinois, it's hard to move without stubbing your toe on some piece of Lincoln-related lore. Call the state's travel bureau, (800) 223-0121, and ask for a brochure describing the Lincoln Heritage Trail.
This tour includes most of the hot spots, however. The place to start is in Mineral County, W.Va., about 175 miles from Baltimore:
The Nancy Hanks Farm, located south of the town of Antioch, preserves the site where Lincoln's mother was born in 1782. She married Thomas Lincoln in 1806.
The actual home where Nancy Hanks was born is long gone (a tablet placed by the Nancy Hanks Association in 1933 marks its location), but a reconstructed cabin at the site, along with the surrounding countryside, provides a hint of what life was like when the future Mrs. Lincoln was born.
Kentucky:
The Mary Todd Lincoln House, at 578 W. Main St. in Lexington, is advertised as "The first shrine restored in America to honor a first lady." Her father, attorney Robert Todd, moved the family into this elegant brick home in 1826.
An estate sale inventory from 1849 helped restorers obtain original furnishings and period pieces. In a second-floor bedroom is a bed used by President and Mrs. Lincoln -- a bequest from Robert Todd Lincoln Beckwith (1904-1985), the president's great-grandson and last surviving direct descendant.
Information: (606) 233-9999.
Lincoln Homestead State Park, near Springfield, includes a replica of the log house in which Lincoln's grandmother, Bersheba, raised her family; the original home of Richard Berry Sr., moved here from about one mile away, in which Thomas Lincoln proposed to Nancy Hanks (a copy of their marriage certificate is displayed); and a replica of the blacksmith and carpenter shop in which Thomas Lincoln learned his trade (several pieces of his handiwork are preserved at the park).
The president's grandfather, Abraham, settled on a 100-acre tract of land in central Kentucky in 1781 or 1782. In May 1786, Captain Lincoln -- he had served in the Revolutionary War -- and his three sons were attacked by Indians. The elder Lincoln was killed; his youngest son, Thomas, was saved from a similar fate by his older brother, Mordecai, who shot and killed an approaching Indian.
The Lincoln family remained here until 1803, when Thomas Lincoln purchased a farm in nearby Hardin County. He married Nancy Hanks in 1806; when their first son was born in 1809, Thomas Lincoln honored his father by naming him Abraham.
Information: (606) 336-7461.
Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historic Site, three miles south of Hodgenville, encompasses the Sinking Spring Farm, on which Abraham Lincoln was born Feb. 12, 1809. The spring is still there. So too, perhaps, is the log cabin birthplace of our 16th president -- although park administrators admit it's impossible to say for sure (they stress, however, that it probably contains at least some of the logs used in the original cabin).
The cabin preserved inside the granite and marble memorial building was moved from this site in 1860 -- almost 50 years after Thomas Lincoln sold the place -- to a nearby farm. The cabin and Sinking Spring Farm were purchased by a New York businessman in 1894. Although at first brought back to its original site, the cabin was soon dismantled and exhibited throughout the country.
Around the turn of the century, Mark Twain, William Jennings Bryan and others purchased the farm and cabin, raised $350,000 to construct an impressive neo-classical building to house the simple log structure, and opened it to the public in 1911.
Fifty-six steps lead to the memorial building's entrance -- one for each year of Lincoln's life. Inside, diffused sunlight illuminates the birthplace, little hands grope to touch the cabin -- despite signs forbidding such contact -- and parents quietly explain to their children about this man Lincoln, and why he's still important 127 years after his death.
Information: (502) 358-3874.
Thomas Lincoln moved his family to Knob Creek Farm, about 11 miles north, in 1811, where they remained until 1816. The president later wrote, "My earliest recollection is of the Knob Creek place."
The cabin standing on the site was built in 1931. The building has an unusual pedigree, however: It was constructed from the logs of a home belonging to Austin Gollaher, who Lincoln said once saved him from drowning in a swollen Knob Creek. And the reconstruction was overseen by Robert Thompson, who is reputed to have helped his father, Steve Thompson -- a neighbor and classmate of Lincoln's -- tear down the original structure.
Information: (502) 549-3741.
Indiana:
Lincoln Boyhood National Historic Site, four miles south of Dale on Indiana Route 162, preserves the farm where Thomas Lincoln and his family lived from 1816 to 1830.
Begin your visit at the memorial building. Built of native stone and wood, the outside walls feature five bas-relief panels interpreting Lincoln's life: the Kentucky years (1809-1816), the Indiana years (1816-1830), the Illinois years (1830-1861), the Washington years (1861-1865), and his legacy.
Atop a hill across the parking lot is the grave of Nancy Hanks Lincoln, who died on Oct. 5, 1818, of "milk sickness" -- drinking milk from a cow that had eaten poisonous snakeroot. The simple gravestone was "erected by a friend of her martyred son" in 1879.
The site also includes a living history farm.
Information: (812) 937-4541.
Illinois:
Nine miles south of Charleston, the 86-acre Lincoln Log Cabin State Historic Site marks the site of Goosenest Farm, where Lincoln's father and stepmother, Sarah Bush Lincoln, lived from 1840 until they died -- he in 1851, she in 1869. (They are buried at nearby Shiloh Cemetery; ask for directions at the gift shop.)
The site is another living history museum, where actors in period costume act out the roles of the Lincolns and their servants. Ask them questions about what life was like in the 1840s, and they'll answer you in period dialect; ask them where the nearest telephone is, and they won't know what the heck you're talking about.
Information: (217) 345-6489.
Lincoln moved to New Salem, on the banks of the Sangamon River, in 1831. While there, he began studying law and made his first attempts at elected office, failing to gain a seat in the Illinois General Assembly in 1832 but succeeding two years later. He left the town in 1837.
Save for the Henry Onstot Cooper Shop, which was brought back to New Salem from nearby Petersburg in 1922, all the buildings in the 600-acre Lincoln's New Salem State Park are reproductions. (The town pretty much fell into decay af
ter Petersburg was made the county seat in 1839.)
The park is designed to duplicate life in the 1830s. Period reproductions, ranging from pewter dishes to wooden toys, are for sale. Oxen can be seen turning the town grist mill. During the summer and on weekends the rest of the year, the steamboat Talisman makes hourly trips up and down the river.
Information: (217) 632-7611.
No place is packed more full of Lincoln lore than Springfield, the Illinois state capital. Begin your visit at the Lincoln Home National Historic Site, the only home Lincoln ever owned. Located at Eighth and Jackson streets, the 1 1/2 -story Greek revival structure, built in 1839, was purchased by Lincoln in 1844. He added the second story in 1856.
The house was renovated extensively in 1987. Many of the Lincolns' original furnishings remain. Free tour tickets are distributed on a first-come, first-served basis, so it's best to get there early in the day (the crowds tend to be thick).
Continue your visit to Springfield at the Old State Capitol, where Lincoln argued more than 200 court cases and gave his famous "House Divided" speech; the Lincoln-Herndon Law Office, the only surviving structure in which he had a law office; and Lincoln's Great Western Depot, from which he left Springfield in 1861 for the rail trip to Washington.
Your journey ends at Lincoln's Tomb State Historic Site, in Oak Ridge Cemetery. Lincoln, his wife and three of their four children were laid to rest inside. (Robert Todd Lincoln, who died in 1926, is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.)
Inside the 117-foot-high tomb, visitors walk through a circular corridor to the sarcophagus chamber, which is dominated by a huge red cenotaph containing the simple inscription, "Abraham Lincoln -- 1809-1865."
For information on Springfield, contact the city's Convention and
Visitor's Bureau at (800) 545-7300.