LEXINGTON, Ky. - Illinois may be the "land of Lincoln," but there is no disputing that Kentucky is Abraham Lincoln's birthplace.

So the state, as part of a nationwide, two-year celebration of the bicentennial of Lincoln's birth, has mapped the Kentucky Lincoln Heritage Trail. The 18 sites mark Lincoln's birthplace in Hodgenville, his boyhood at Knob Creek Farm, and a Civil War battlefield in Perryville.

Donna Neary, executive director of the Kentucky Heritage Council and the state historic preservation officer, says she was reminded of Lincoln's public reach when she visited his birthplace while working on the trail. There were visitors from around the country, she says, plus two groups from Japan and one from Germany.

"He is an international figure," she says.

Most of the sites on the trail, which was officially unveiled on Feb. 12, have historical markers and panels.

The most dedicated Lincoln enthusiast probably could travel to the 10 communities in one long day, but it could easily fill a weekend.

 

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 Rd.

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 on what then was the main route from Louisville to Nashville. His sister, Sarah, was 4; his brother, Thomas, was born the following year. Thomas died a few days later and was buried on the property.

Location: U.S. 31 E, north of Hodgenville

Hours: Open daylight hours all year. Interpretive staff hours: 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. weekends to Memorial Day, daily through Labor Day

Admission: Free

Phone: 270-358-3137

Web site: www.nps.gov/abli

The Lincoln Museum. The main exhibit includes 12 dioramas showing pivotal times in Lincoln's life. Other exhibits include rare newspaper clippings, campaign posters, and Lincoln memorabilia. An art gallery on the second floor features paintings, drawings and other artworks portraying Lincoln.

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 tell 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 W. Dixie Ave.

Phone: 270-763-8339

Web site: www.hardinkyhistory.org

Sarah Bush Johnston Lincoln Memorial. A cabin honoring Sarah Bush Johnston Lincoln, who became Lincoln's stepmother when he was 10, was built in 1992 from 122-year-old hand-hewn logs. The cabin is similar to the cabin that Sarah Bush Johnston was living in, in Elizabethtown, when she married Thomas Lincoln on Dec. 2, 1819.

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

Hours: 7 a.m.-dusk daily, June-October

Admission: Free

Phone: 1-800-437-0092

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

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 Chickamauga on Sept. 20, 1863. Gen. Helm and Lincoln married half-sisters, Emilie Todd and Mary Todd, the daughters of Robert S. Todd of Lexington.

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

Lincoln Heritage House. The pioneer home of the Hardin-Thomas family, built about 1789. Thomas Lincoln, father of Abraham, did carpentry and cabinet work on the four-room log house. For several years, Thomas Lincoln lived in Hardin County, which then included other present-day counties.

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

Hours: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tue.-Sun., June-October

Admission: Free

Phone: 1-800-437-0092

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

 

Springfield

Lincoln Homestead State Park. Boasts the original home of Lincoln's mother, Nancy Hanks, and replicas of the 1782 cabin and blacksmith shop where Lincoln's father was raised and learned his trade. Also includes the home of Mordecai Lincoln, the president's favorite uncle, and showcases reproductions of traditional pioneer split-rail fence and pioneer furniture.

Location: 5079 Lincoln Park Rd.

Hours: 10 a.m.-6 p.m. 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 Lincoln's favorite uncle 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.

Information: Same as Lincoln Homestead State Park.

 

Harrodsburg

Lincoln Marriage Temple. 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. 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.-5 p.m. daily March-October, 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Mon.-Fri., November-February.

Location: Old Fort Harrod State Park, 100 S. College St.

Admission: $5 adults, $4 seniors, $3 children 6-12; in winter, $2 adults and $1 children.

Phone: 859-734-3314

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

 

Nicholasville

Camp Nelson. Was the largest African American recruitment camp in Kentucky and the third-largest in the nation. Many of the 5,400 black recruits, who were emancipated upon enlistment, brought their families with them to Camp Nelson in the hope that they also would be freed. 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. Through artifacts, including his pocket watch, and images, the society presents the personal side of Lincoln and his Kentucky relationships. The library and special collections include documents and family-history resources that connect Lincoln's genealogy and other Kentucky families. The HistoryMobile, a self-contained traveling exhibit, will tour the commonwealth.

Location: 100 W. 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 Capitol Ave.

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 W. Main St.

Hours: 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Mon.-Sat., through 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, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, in 1857. During the Civil War, James Clay and his family moved to Canada because of his Confederate sympathies. A Clay descendant, Nannette McDowell Bullock, willed the house, the property, and most of the belongings to the Henry Clay Memorial Foundation in 1948.

Location: 120 Sycamore Rd.

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

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. The home of Cassius Marcellus Clay, emancipationist, newspaper publisher, and friend to 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. In addition to the heirloom and period furnishings, White Hall has many features that were unique for its day, including indoor running water and central heating.

Location: 500 White Hall Shrine Rd.

Hours: Tours 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m., Sun.-Sat., through Labor Day; 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m., Wed.-Sun. through October.

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. Designed from plans drawn by Thomas Jefferson and completed in 1816 with slave labor, the recently restored house features original paint colors and historic wallpaper and carpets and is furnished with Kentucky and period furnishings.

Location: 3033 Bardstown Rd.

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. The battlefield is one of the least-altered Civil War sites in the nation; vistas are virtually those that soldiers saw in 1862. A self-guided walking tour of the battlefield interprets battle events.

Location: 1825 Battlefield Rd.

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

Admission: $2.50 adults, $2 children

Phone: 859-332-8631

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