Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historic Park, Hodgenville, Kentucky

hey folks you might can tell I'm chilly and I'm here on the town square in Hodgenville Kentucky this is Abraham Lincoln Central when I was a kid going to typical elementary school in southern Barron County we took some field trips we went to the horse cave theater we went to Mammoth Cave I remember being and you know first a second grade and coming to Abraham Lincoln's boyhood home there's a cabin there and that image has stuck with me over the years today I get to see it again who knows we might even see somebody famous there so come along with me while we check out Abraham Lincoln's birthplace and boyhood home both son standing here shivering next to park ranger Stacy Humphries and we're here at the Abraham Lincoln birthplace Stacy's about to take us up these steps to show us the inside of this building Stacy what will we see in here you're gonna see a symbolic cabin you like to say that it's a symbol because this is not gonna be the actual cabin that Abraham Lincoln was born in that's usually the first question that everybody asked us when they come to this park is this the cabin and fortunately I have to disappoint a lot of people and say I'm sorry it isn't for a long time it's a bit of a mystery about the cabinet they thought it was for a time they even thought some at some point in history that was actually logs from Lincoln's birth cabin as well as the logs from the cabin that Jefferson Davis was born oh whoa so you had kind of the opposing presidents from the Civil War they thought they were kind of jumbled together here but there was a study done in 2004 that proved that this cabin that were gonna see is actually too young to be the cabin that Lincoln was born in but even though it's still a symbol and it's not the cabin I still love it and I still love to show it to people because Lincoln said himself he remembers being born on the hill in a cabin that overlooked the sinking spring so this is close enough for me well I saw this cabin when I was a kid and if my memory serves correctly there's a reason to think that a cabin from that time period would not survive until this age and when you see it you'll see why right let's go check it out okay great so Stacy won't let me go into the warmth of the building until she explains what we have here go ahead why was I to tell people there's a lot of symbolism here at the park we just climbed the 56 stairs up to the top next to the memorial building 56 course of being years of Lincoln's life before he was assassinated and taken from us taken from history but I was like to point out to the cornerstone here of the memorial building it's one of the oldest pieces here in the park dates from 1909 it was set here on hundredth anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's birth so very kind poignant piece I always like to point out to people a lot of people miss it it kind of blends in with the stone a little bit but it's it's really special it's a Sun granite it is it is it is granite here and then in the interior will see marble okay it's were in there - thank you for explaining that let's go into the interior and see the cabin okay the folks were inside this warm thankfully Memorial Building and we're here beside the replica cabin Stacey tell us about the structure well this structure would be very typical of what you would see if I could take you back in time to when Abe and his family lived here in Kentucky a lot of families live this way it would have been very normal living for a lot of Lincoln neighbors and inside it's just a simple one-room cabin with one fireplace they would have cooked all their meals there and then there would have been a loft which would have been sleeping space for Abe Lincoln and his sister Sarah and it's a lot obviously you climb some kind of wooden right exactly and the construction is very typical it's that the wood logs with the chinks helps keep the weather out like on a cold day like today they would be nice and warm in here and a lot of creativity went into creating this cabin the chimney if you look at it it's very different it only goes partway up and that's because there were a lot of fires because they cooked all their meals in the in the fireplace they actually built a mechanism there with the different logs that they could actually pull away the chimney in case it caught on fire so it's almost like a breakaway chimney so a lot of really neat things that we've forgotten about they just automatically knew how to do that's fascinating what are the dimensions of this cabin this one is a little smaller this one 16 by 18 it's a little smaller than what probably Lincoln and his family would have had and mr. president would have lived here during what years he was born in 1809 they lived here for two years so about 1811 and that's when they moved out to the Knob Creek farm which is about 10 miles from here what would the windows have been covered kind of windows would have been in here this is a typical window it just would have been a simple opening sometimes I've read where sometimes they would cover it either with cloth like maybe a perhaps a piece of quilts or even like an oil cloth just to keep out the weather like in the wintertime oftentimes in the summer it would have just simply been an opening like you see here coming up we walk down to the water source that nurtured the young Emancipator you oh my goodness mr. Lee again yes sir Westbury I've been looking forward to meeting you fabulous seeing you here today in front of your your birthplace yeah yeah understand that you probably don't have memories attached to this place but maybe her stories about the birthplace from her dad what my parents told me yes my father said that sister Sarah and I would sleep in a loft located in this into the cabin that's where we would retire for the evening my parents stepped down on the floor there a few memories the farm very few but just what my parents told me about the secret Springs or that we can get on water for bathing and drinking and washing clothes now the sinking spring is this right outside here right so you know wipe down the heel three short distance would you take me outside and show it to me certainly would be to do so park ranger and Stacy Humphries meet President Abraham Lincoln originally of Hardin County Kentucky good to meet you well it's always good to go back though your origin this is less free for my parents got their water for bathing and drinking fifty laps off the water here I don't remember that but that's what my father told me I'm sure you have a little more information on this night yeah we also said - sometimes it's where we always say where you got your first drink of water from your leisure well this is also known as a carts window it's a naturally occurring feature that happened here because Kentucky has so many caves which I'm sure you both are well oh and it's just basically a cave that a hole has opened up where it's caved into and this natural spring flows down into that made for a perfect drinking source imagine the limestone that is here also foot of that water really well yeah it does and it's it's pretty fresh water I was looking today unfortunately no none of our little friends are here visit us sometimes we have a turtle or crawfish that live down in there that we see from time to time he's probably new to coke today probably need a coat and scarf mr. Lincoln and every time we have these these things and caulk taps you know we just turned them on the water comes out it's fluorinated tastes nasty I think in some ways this had to be really hard to come down and get your drinking water from here but at least I bet it was absolutely delicious taps now that's what they dredges play at a Funeral is it not well that's a different kind of tester oh excuse me excuse me next we see history written in the rings of an ancient oak tree and honest Dave shows us the Lincoln family Bible so Stacey we're here at this cross section of the boundary oh it says here that this tree was probably sprouted around 1781 why's it called the boundary okay how the boundary oak because it's set here at the corner of the property of Sinking Spring Farm fact if you look at the old surveying maps that we have copies of from the time period you can see it referenced on this odd surveying maps that they used this tree as a point of reference is a boundary for the property preceding Spring Farm it's the name Valerie okay it's amazing you can see all the tree rings in it what else can you tell me about it well I always like to think about you know this was here this Lincoln would have seen a piece of this tree and it's just kind of like a tangible link that we have with him which i think is very special and I always like to stand here and look at the different rings because it really marks time and outside of Lincoln one of the other important dates is 1906 which is when the Lincoln farm Association bought the Sinking Spring farm it was a group of private citizens that thought this was such important place they wanted to save it for the future so they bought it and plans were then made to return the cabin and then build a memorial building and then in 1916 also marked by the tree the tree would have been standing here is when the Park Service took this property over so it's really an interesting loop that we have - Lincoln yeah it's beautiful and you can tell by looking at the big thick rings if those designate warm years right in the history right so President Lincoln were standing here by this huge Bible and I think you have some memories attached to it certainly do this is the Bible my mother would read to me when I was a child and she carried over to the Knob Creek Farm that's where I have the most memories of her reading for me as a child fond memories of a very long it's a huge Bible obviously very very old but not Creek Farm you just mentioned that and we're about to head on over there real soon folks this is part one of a two-part series focus on Victor President Abraham Lincoln I think we're going to go have some lunch here before long but join us next week Stacy Humphreys is gonna meet us out at the farm and we'll be walking along and you're gonna tell us some stories Russian certainly all right thanks for joining us today we'll see you next week President Lincoln tell folks how they can get in touch with you they would like you to visit their school or some other kind of event so they have a device now it's called the telephone and you puts these numbers into a device it's five zero two eight three nine seven one nine one and then there's another device that's called the email oh you have and it's called Lincoln a and DC Arnett it's connected with the Kentucky Humanities Council all right sir so you can be reached through this weird thing called email and by telephone certainly folks get President Lincoln a call shinu desire his presence at one of your events

Channel: wbkogolocal

Views: 43,081

Rating: 4.8514853 out of 5

Keywords: Abraham Lincoln, Wes Berry, WBKO, Go Local, Lincoln's Birthplace, Kentucky, Lincoln, Knob Creek, Lincoln bible, Boundary Oak, National Park Service, Emancipation Proclamation, Sinking Springs, Lincoln's cabin, Lincoln log, Daniel Day Lewis, Lincoln Movie

Id: YMWBZ3y36dw

Length: 14min 2sec (842 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 18 2013