The Log Cabin

The original one-room boyhood log cabin home of Lincoln no longer exists. Our cabin is based on what little is known about the Lincoln Boyhood Home in Indiana, 1818 - the third log cabin in which young Lincoln lived with his family after they moved from Kentucky where he was born. Ours is surrounded by trees. With the help of historians, studies were made of what the dominant plant growth was in Indiana in the early 19th century. With this information, high fidelity reproductions of Black and White Oak, Ash, Sugar Maple and Flowering Dogwood were made and placed in a natural setting around the cabin. The logs constructing the cabin have the authentic look and feel of a 19th century cabin, because…they really are a 19th century cabin! A 30’x30’ tobacco barn, built in the mid-1800s and very similar in style to Lincoln’s, was found in storage in Cynthiana, Kentucky. A second one, 20’x20’, was located in storage in Abington, Virginia. Each was shipped to Springfield and reassembled, using genuine materials and techniques. The result looks and feels authentic, because it is!

It may seem small but the cabin at the museum is actually larger than we think the real Lincoln may have been. Ours needed to be a bit larger than Lincoln’s to accommodate visitors walking through the structure.

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