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Monday, November 9, 2015

The Mystery Of Lincoln's Cabin

 
The Author at Abe Lincoln's Cabin 


   I have to admit I seem obsessed with visiting the Iconic homes of famous Kentuckians, So it is no wonder I would eventually visit the Birthplace of President Lincoln - our Nation's as of this writing only Kentuckian President. This particular stop was a must since Having for a long time noticed [and I will write about it more it in the future probably]That Kentuckians today have this sad tendency to not get out and travel and see every corner of Our great State. I don't ever want to be that way so I make sure I always have a bucket list of places to be and see.Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park Is basically Two farm sites in LaRue County,  where Lincoln was born and lived until he was seven. He was born at the Sinking Spring site south of Hodgenville Then the family moved to the Knob Creek nearby in Hodgenville .The Sinking Spring site is the location of the park visitors center and that has the Memorial Building with the ''original'' Cabin. Is It The real thing or not? Let us look into History and see.

 


   The original log cabin that Lincoln was reputed to have been born in was Supposedly taken down sometime before 1865.Now as it turns out  Local lore held that some of the logs from the cabin were used in construction of a nearby house. A New York businessman A.W. Dennett purchased the Lincoln farm in 1894 and used the logs from this house to construct a cabin similar in appearance to the original cabin where Lincoln was born. Unfortunately the cabin was dismantled and re-erected for exhibition.  Soon the logs for this cabin went on a National tour which also had a replica cabin of logs That may or may not have belonged to Jefferson Davis's birthplace .At some point the cabins were dismantle so many times and moved around they got mixed up. After the tour Most of the logs were purchased by the Lincoln Farm Association (LFA), which believed they had acquired only Lincoln logs. Workers tried to reconstruct the cabin in the Memorial building but it was quite large and had to be reduced from 16-by-18 feet to 12-by-17 feet. Today, historians say former claims that these logs were from Lincoln's birth cabin was essentially Incorrect .

   Knowing this, it is strange when you go to the Park and walk up the steps and  into the huge Memorial building ,Then go check past a park ranger who sits and watched over the Room. There are even ropes around the cabin and it seems it is almost treated like the Ark of the covenant.
 
 
Sinking Springs




 So Is it a really Lincolns cabin? my opinion is it really does not matter, The Park is a great place to visit and there is a museum that is great and lots of hiking trails all over. Go ahead and Visit as soon as you get the chance.


Up  the road a bit is Knob Creek which has another replica cabin


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