We recently spent a day with Abraham Lincoln, our 16th president. I know what you are thinking. “Pam, you realize he’s been dead 151 years, right?” Yes, I do. But his spirit lives on in Kentucky, where you can find National Parks devoted to his memory. We spent a day exploring the Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historic Park and Abraham Lincoln’s Boyhood Home at Knob Creek. We had learned about Lincoln in history classes, and, truthfully, been kind of bored, but this day made him come alive.
Abraham Lincoln’s Boyhood Home at Knob Creek:
This park is small and seemingly out of the way. I’m not sure how many people realize it is there, because when we arrived, only one other car was in the parking lot. The park ranger came out to greet us, told us about the history and offered his services if we had any questions.
Abraham Lincoln lived on 30 acres of the farm at Knob Creek from the time he was 2 1/2 years old until he was 8 years old. The family eked out a living on the farm. I found myself staring out at the field behind the Inn located on the property and thinking, “I’m standing where Abraham Lincoln helped plant crops!”
At Knob Creek you can peek into the cabin of Austin Gollaher, a family friend. We learned a fascinating tidbit that could have changed the course of history. Abraham fell into a creek located on the property which was swollen and overflowing because of recent flooding. As he struggled and almost drowned, Austin rescued Abraham from the creek and saved his life.
Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historic Park
This park is located on a main road and is much larger and more crowded than the boyhood home. “Sinking Spring Farm” is aptly named, as one of the features is a cool flowing spring located almost underground. The spring is inaccessible, but you can stand at the top of the spring and look over the fence and feel the difference in temperature. This is believed to be the spring where Abraham Lincoln took his first drink of water.
On top of a hill beside the spring stands a stone memorial. Inside the memorial, roped off, stands the original cabin where Abraham Lincoln was born. While no one is able to enter the cabin, we could see inside and were able to snap pictures.
To one side of the parking lot is a display of cabins and historical buildings brought to the location from around the state. It’s worth spending some time exploring the cabins to get a feeling of the past.
Both parks are free to the public, but The Boyhood Home at Knob Creek is only open seasonally from April to October from 8:30 to 4:30 and closed from November to March. The Birthplace National Historic Park is open year round. If you want to get physical, hiking trails are available.
Have you visited the Abraham Lincoln Birthplace or Boyhood Home?
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Oh wow, what a rich place. Even the sinkhole looks historically healthy, I just love fun facts like this when it concerns important people.
We went there a few years ago when the kids were younger and we were studying American Presidents. It is a really cool place to visit.
What a fun adventure for all ages! It looks like it’s great there – I’d love to go one day! I bet you had a blast!
I want to take my nieces here. I love trips like this because it gives a great learning experience while the kids are having tons of fun.
Omg this must of been so neat to see in person! I majored in history so this kinda stuff facinates me
That must have been an amazing experience. I like historical places like that.
This is really neat and that’s great of them for having this open for free. Hope to visit there someday.
This is one of the park that is worth to visit. I would love to go there, one of these days.
Knob Creek where the boyhood home of Lincoln and Abraham Lincoln Birth Place Historical National Park are both awesome places to visit for history about President Abraham Lincoln. Hopefully we can get there some day. Thanks for sharing your experience.
We’ve been to the Abraham Lincoln library in Illinois and loved it. This is on our bucket list, hopefully this summer we can make it there.
This is so great! Theme parks are always a favorite for our kids.
I don’t know if the kids would have fun but I know I sure would! Theme parks are the only things that keep them happy anymore haha
I want to go here!! This looks like it would be SO much fun! History is one of my favorite subjects!
Wow, this is such a very beautiful park. I love Abraham Lincoln, he is a great president.
I would love to take the grand kids to see this park. I’m nuts over history and try to visit places like this when ever possible. we recently went on a train tour to President Jimmy Carters childhood home. I am in love with your photos btw.
It would be nice to take the kids here especially since it’s rich with history and there are plenty of lessons to learn about the late president. I think it’s going to be a fun experience for them as well.
Wow. This is pretty amazing. I love things like this, history is seriously something I adore and the birth place of Abraham Lincoln would be something neat to see.
I didn’t even know this was a thing, it sounds like a wealth of history. That story about him falling and almost drowning is crazy. It would have changed history for sure.
What an interesting experience! I always enjoy exploring historic sites with my family, as it provides a bit of education along with entertainment.
I find this so interesting. So much to learn. I bet it was a fun experience visiting his birth place.
We want to go here in the future, because besides its historical background, we feel like it is so peaceful in there.
I love going to places that have such history and would love to visit there! I learned so much from reading this so I can only imagine how much more there is to learn. Thanks
How cool! I never knew there were so many places to visit that were associated with Abraham Lincoln.
I have never been to Knob Creek, I would love to visit someday and will definitely add this historic park to my must visit list while I am there. 🙂
I think my son would go absolutely gaga if we visited this attraction! What an awesome way to help him tangibly connect to our history -definitely on our must do bucket list of adventures!
What an amazing historical place. It’s really cool that you can see the famous log cabin. I’d love checking out some of the other cabins too.
I’ve never had the pleasure of visiting Abraham Lincoln’s Birthplace or Boyhood Home but this would be a good family outing to learn about a part of history.
That looks like such a wonderful place to check out! I am always interested in historical stops!
This is so awesome. I love historical stuff like that so this is my kind of place.
What a beautiful park!!! This needs to go on our must visit list of parks.
What an experience! I would have loved to visit this park, I am out of the states but when I visit the states? I will have to keep this on my must visit list!
I’m going to have to add this park to my list of places to visit. I love anything with history, so, this sounds like a perfect vacation to do one day!
I’ve never been to Lincoln’s birthplace but this looks like a lot of fun. What a great historical journey.
That looks like so much fun! I love visiting historical places like this and learning how life was back then.
My family loves combining vacations with history. My daughter would love to take a walk where Abraham Lincoln grew up, sound like we need to take a trip soon.
I love this kind of history! Anything where I can physically see is something I absolutely love! I have not been east for ages I need to get back there!
This is the kind of thing that can really help kids connect with history. I would love to take the kids here and really let them SEE the history.
That is so amazing. I love going to places like this and really SEEING history. It’s like stepping back in time.