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Logging Lincoln

Kentucky updates history trail for Abe's bicentennial.

BY MARY MEEHAN

McClatchy Newspapers

LEXINGTON, Ky. - The most dedicated Lincoln enthusiast probably could travel to the 10 communities and 18 sites on the Kentucky Lincoln Heritage Trail in one long day. Tony Curtis, the project historian for the Lincoln trail project, traveled from Lincoln's birthplace in Hodgenville to Camp Nelson in Jessamine County to Farmington Historic Plantation in Louisville in about nine hours.

But it's more likely, Curtis said, that trail visitors will find one of the many themes highlighted via the historical sites and tailor the trail to tell those stories. For example, some might visit the sites directly related to the Civil War, such as Perryville Battlefield State Historic Site. Others might focus on those with ties to Lincoln's boyhood on Knob Creek.

The trail, a scenic route highlighting Lincoln-related sites in the state, has been mapped as part of a nationwide, two-year celebration of the bicentennial of Lincoln's birth. The trail, with 27 new panels explaining Lincoln's ties to Kentucky, was officially unveiled during a celebration kickoff last week in Hodgenville.

Another state might claim to be the "land of Lincoln" (read: Illinois), but there is no disputing that Lincoln was a Kentuckian by birth.

LINCOLN LANDMARKS

Here are the 18 sites on the Kentucky Lincoln Heritage Trail:

HODGENVILLE

• Lincoln Birthplace

Thomas and Nancy Lincoln settled on the 348-acre Sinking Spring Farm near Hodgenville in 1808. Two months later, on Feb. 12, 1809, Abraham Lincoln was born. On July 17, 1916, Congress established this memorial as a national park.

Location: 2995 Lincoln Farm Road

Hours: Open 7 a.m.-4:45 p.m. Feb. 12. Normal hours: 8 a.m.-4:45 p.m. daily until Memorial Day; 8 a.m.-6:45 p.m. daily from Memorial Day through Labor Day.

Admission: Free.

Phone: 270-358-3137.

Web site:www.nps.gov/abli.

• Lincoln Boyhood Home

In an 1860 letter, Lincoln said, "The place on Knob Creek... I remember very well; but I was not born there.... My earliest recollection, however, is of the Knob Creek place." Lincoln was 2 when his family arrived at Knob Creek, several miles from his birthplace and then on the main route from Louisville to Nashville.Location: U.S. 31 E, north of Hodgenville.

Hours: Open daylight hours all year. Interpretive staff hours: 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Feb. 10, 11; 7 a.m.-5 p.m. Feb. 12. Normal hours: 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Sat., Sun., April 1 to Memorial Day; 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. daily from Memorial Day through Labor Day.

Admission: Free.

Phone: (270) 358-3137.

Web site:www.nps.gov/abli.

• The Lincoln Museum

The museum's main exhibit includes 12 dioramas showing pivotal times in Abraham Lincoln's life, from his boyhood in Kentucky to his assassination. Other exhibits include rare newspaper clippings, campaign posters and Lincoln memorabilia.

Location: 66 Lincoln Square, in the Downtown Historic District.

Hours: 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Mon.-Sat.; 12:30-4:30 p.m. Sun.

Admission: $3 adults, $2.50 seniors, $1.50 children ages 5-12

Phone: (270) 358-3163

Web site:www.lincolnbirthplace.com, www.lincolnmuseum-ky.org

ELIZABETHTOWN

• Hardin County Museum

Since opening in fall 2003, the museum has collected and preserved artifacts, documents and other memorabilia that tells the story of Hardin County from its early Indian inhabitants to modern times.

Hours: 10 a.m-2 p.m. Tue.-Sat.

Admission: Free.

Location: 201 West Dixie Avenue.

Phone: (270)763-8339

Web site:www.hardinkyhistory.org

• Sarah Bush Johnston Lincoln Memorial

A cabin honoring Sarah Bush Johnston Lincoln, who became Abe Lincoln's stepmother when he was 10 years old, was built in 1992 from 122-year-old, hand-hewn logs.

Location: Freeman Lake Park, 140 Freeman Lake Park Road.

Hours: 7 a.m.-dusk daily.

Admission: Free

Phone: (270) 769-3916.

• Helm Cemetery

This pioneer cemetery includes the graves of John LaRue Helm, who served two incomplete terms as governor of Kentucky, and his son, Confederate Gen. Ben Hardin Helm, who died at the Battle of Chicka mauga on Sept. 20, 1863. General Helm and Abraham Lincoln married half-sisters, Emilie Todd and Mary Todd, the daughters of Robert S. Todd of Lexington.

Location: Junction of U.S. 31 West and Ky. 447.

• Lincoln Heritage House

The pioneer home of the Hardin-Thomas family, built circa 1789. Thomas Lincoln, father of Abraham Lincoln, did carpentry and cabinet work on the four-room log house. Location: Freeman Lake Park, 140 Freeman Lake Park Road.

Hours: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Feb. 12. Normal hours: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tue.-Sun., June 1-Oct. 31.

Admission: Free.

Phone: 800-437-0092, 270-769-3916.

Web site:www.touretown.com/lincolnheritagehouse.shtml

SPRINGFIELD

• Lincoln Homestead State Park

Lincoln Homestead State Park boasts the original home of Lincoln's mother, Nancy Hanks, as well as replicas of the 1782 cabin and blacksmith shop where Lincoln's father was raised and learned his trade. Location: 5079 Lincoln Park Road.

Hours: 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Feb. 9-12 and May 1-Sept. 30.

Admission: $2 adults ($1.50 for a group of 10 or more), $1.50 children.

Phone: 859-336-7461.

Web site:www.parks.ky.gov/golftrail/18hole/lincolnhomestead.htm.

• Mordecai Lincoln House

The home of Mordecai Lincoln, the favorite uncle of President Lincoln, is across from the Lincoln Homestead State Park golf course. The house is on its original site. Mordecai Lincoln was the eldest son of Capt. Abraham Lincoln and was one of the leading citizens of Washington County.

Location, other info:Same as Lincoln Homestead State Park.

HARRODSBURG

• Lincoln Marriage Temple

According to the National Park Service, the temple is a red brick building in the shape of a cross with a central pulpit. The Lincoln Marriage Cabin now stands inside, in place of the pulpit. Reportedly, the cabin was moved from its original site in the Beech Fork Settlement where Thomas and Nancy Hanks Lincoln married. It resembles the Lincoln birthplace cabin.

Hours: 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Mon.-Fri., Nov. 1-Feb. 29; 8 a.m.-5 p.m. daily, March 1-Oct. 31.

Location: Old Fort Harrod State Park, 100 South College Street.

Admission: $2 adults, $1 children.

Phone: 859-734-3314.

Web site:http://parks.ky.gov/findparks/recparks/fh.

NICHOLASVILLE

• Camp Nelson

Camp Nelson was the largest African-American recruitment camp in Kentucky and the third-largest in the nation. Many of the black recruits, who were emancipated upon enlistment, brought their families with them to Camp Nelson in the hope that they also would be freed. About 5,400 slaves enrolled at Camp Nelson. Designated a U.S. cemetery for Union dead in 1867, it remains a military cemetery.

Location: 6614 Danville Pike.

Hours: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tue.-Sat.

Admission: Free

Phone: 859-881-5716.

Web site:www.campnelson.org.

FRANKFORT

• Kentucky Historical Society

As part of the Lincoln bicentennial celebration, the Thomas D. Clark Center for Kentucky History will present a major exhibition about Lincoln stories unique to Kentucky. Location: 100 West Broadway.

Hours: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tue.-Sat.

Admission: $4 adults, $2 ages 6-18, free for children 5 and younger.

Phone: 502-564-1792.

Web site:www.history.ky.gov.

• Lincoln Statue

Location: Kentucky State Capitol Rotunda, 700 Capital Avenue.

Hours: 8:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Mon.-Fri., 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Sat., 1-4 p.m. Sun.

LEXINGTON

• Mary Todd Lincoln House

The Todd family moved to this two-story Georgian-style house in 1832, when Mary was 13. After their marriage, Mary Todd and Abraham Lincoln stayed here when they visited Lexington. In fall 1847, the family stayed for three weeks on the way to Washington for Lincoln's only term in Congress.

Location: 578 West Main Street.

Hours: 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Mon.-Sat., Feb. 18-Nov. 30.

Admission: $7 adults $4 children older than 12, free for children younger than 6.

Phone: 859-233-9999.

Web site:www.mtlhouse.org.

ASHLAND

• The Henry Clay Estate

Sen. Henry Clay, Lincoln's political mentor and hero, built his home on this site. After his death in 1852, Clay's heirs sold the land to his son, James Brown Clay, who built the current house, now on the National Register of Historic Places, in 1857. Location: 120 Sycamore Road.

Hours: 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Mon.-Sat., 1-4 p.m. Sun. Seasonal hours.

Admission: $7 adults, $3 children, free to children younger than 5.

Phone: 859-266-8581.

Web site:www.henryclay.org.

RICHMOND

• White Hall State Historic Site

White Hall was the home of Cassius Marcellus Clay: emancipationist, newspaper publisher and friend to Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln appointed Clay as minister to Russia. Clay's restored 44-room Italianate mansion was built in 1799 and was remodeled in the 1860s.Location: 500 White Hall Shrine Road.

Hours: Tours 10 a.m.-noon and 2 p.m. Nov. 1 through March 31; 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Sun.-Sat., April 1 through Labor Day; 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Wed. -Sun. after Labor Day through Oct. 31.

Admission: $6 adults, $4 seniors, $3 ages 6-12, free for children younger than 6.

Phone: 859-623-9178.

Web site:www.parks.ky.gov/findparks/histparks/wh.

LOUISVILLE

• Farmington Historic Plantation

Farmington, a 14-room federal-style home, was the center of John and Lucy Speed's 19th-century hemp plantation. Lincoln, a close friend of John Speed's son, Joshua, spent about three weeks at Farmington in 1841.Location: 3033 Bardstown Road.

Hours: 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Tue.-Sat., 1:30-4:30 p.m. Sun.

Admission: $6 adults, $5 seniors, $3 ages 6-18, free for children 5 and younger.

Phone: 502-452-9920.

Web site:www.historichomes.org/farmington.

PERRYVILLE

• Perryville Battlefield State Historic Site

On Oct. 8, 1862, cannon fire shattered the rural peace as Perryville became the site of the most destructive Civil War battle in the state, leaving more than 7,600 dead, wounded or missing. The park museum tells of the battle that was the South's last serious attempt to gain possession of Kentucky. interprets battle events.

Hours: 9 a.m.-5 p.m. daily. Museum: 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Wed.-Sat., Nov. 1-March 31; 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Sat., 1-5 p.m. Sun., April 1-Oct. 31.

Admission: $2 adults, $1 children.

Phone: 859-332-8631.

Web site:www.parks.ky.gov/findparks/histparks/pb.