Abraham Lincoln's first boyhood home was located near Elizabethtown, Kentucky. A state park has been established at the home site and includes a visitor center (where the Lincoln's original family Bible is preserved) and a replica of the cabin in which Abraham Lincoln was born.


Inside this large stone building is a replica of the little 16'x18' cabin in which Lincoln was born. The actual spring, where Lincoln used to fetch water for his family, is still flowing and can be seen at the bottom of the stairs in front of this building (but not shown in this picture).


This statue of Lincoln is located in the town square in Hodgenville, Ky (near Elizabethtown)

A short drive from Elizabethtown, up interstate 65 to Louisville and west across the Ohio River to Lincoln City, Indiana, you can visit the Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial. When you drive into the park, the first thing you see is a big gray and white stone museum. There are four large carvings on the outside walls of the building and each one shows a picture of Abraham Lincoln at some point in his life.


The inscription on this first wall reads, "and having thus chosen our course without guile and with pure purpose let us renew our trust in God."



Inside the museum a park ranger will show you a "life mask" of Abraham Lincoln. Life masks were used many years ago to make impressions of people's faces before cameras became popular.


The ranger also teaches about what frontier life was like back during the days of Abraham Lincoln.


Also inside the museum is a display, behind glass, that depicts the burial of Nancy Hanks Lincoln (Abraham's mother)


The museum also harbors a large trunk, filled with all sorts of educational materials, which can be shipped out (upon request) to schools for classroom exercises.


Once you leave the museum and begin your walk around the grounds, you will come to the grave site of Abraham's mother, Nancy Hanks Lincoln.


A little further along, you will come to the original site of Lincoln's boyhood home. The gray stones show the foundation of the house that he lived in. Notice how small his house was; much smaller than houses today. In the background, is a current-day replica of his house and the farm. During the warm months, there are actually people dressed up in nineteenth century clothes tending the farm, who tell visitors what it was like working on the Lincoln farm.

Did you know that Abraham Lincoln wrote poetry? Click here to read a poem he wrote about his boyhood home in Indiana.