This is the gravesite of Nancy Lincoln, Abraham Lincoln's mother, who passed away from milk sickness when Abe was nine years old. She is often credited with imparting the love of reading to young Abe, an interest and passion that was later further encouraged by his stepmother.
Alyssa standing in the corn fields where Abraham would often get into trouble when his father found him under a tree reading, instead of doing his field work. Later in life President Lincoln would frequently quote his father who had always told him, "I can teach a man to work, but I can't teach a man to love to work."
Do you see Rebekah in the corn?
The girls sitting in front of the foundation of what used to be the log cabin where the future president grew up.
The foundation itself. Hard to believe that a family of four, and then later a family of eight {after Thomas Lincoln got remarried to Sarah Bush Lincoln who had three children of her own, and a cousin moved in with the Lincolns} made the tiny room into a home.
Across the path from the foundation stands a replica of the Lincoln cabin. Rebekah looked into this small pasture attached to the home and asked my Dad if the sheep were dead.
I think if she had the chance to rephrase the question she meant are they real? Yes, they are quite real...either that or the National Park Service has invested in some very sophisticated animatronics. The whole scene looked so tranquil and perfect, and that's what I think Rebekah was getting at.
A look inside...
Climbing up to the loft where the children would have slept in beds of hay, and without any pillows.
Working hard on her Junior Ranger book, using a makeshift desk out back from the cabin.
Hard work on the farmstead.
Emma in the meat locker. There were several practices in times past that would have kept me from enjoying life to it's fullest. This passing as refrigeration would have to be one of them.
Visiting with the very real sheep.
After spending some time on the farm, we took the Twelve Stones trail back to the visitor center. There were 12 stones/bricks from buildings of significance for Abraham Lincoln along the hike. It was neat to read stories about the general store where he worked and how he entertained many of the customers with his stories, perhaps getting his first taste of winning over an audience with his story-telling and charisma, and to hear other accounts of cases he argued in court and about how many political "failures" he had before he was elected to office.
And the nature was beautiful!
It was a fun day and a neat visit to a great National Historic Site. One of the books I frequently read to the girls ends with the declaration that some people view Abraham Lincoln as our greatest president ever. The last two times we have read the book, before I can even finish that last sentence Alyssa is nodding her head in serious agreement and both times she has said, "True, so true." We have lots more photos and at least a few quotes by Lincoln, so maybe I'll have to work on a president's day post in honor of our favorite president. I'm sure that in the very least Alyssa will approve, and be eager to read it :-)
No comments:
Post a Comment