The Early Years at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum

The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum was one of my favorite museums we visited on our Middle States trip.  The exhibits were well done and told his story in a way that was educational, informative, and engaging.  There are two main features of the museum:  Lincoln's early years from childhood through the election of 1860, and his Presidential years.  This blog entry is focusing on the early years of Lincoln's life.

The early years exhibits begin in a log cabin designed to re-create what the Lincolns' cabin may have looked like in Indiana when Abe was a young boy / teenager.  He is depicted with a book in hand reflecting his self-education and desire to learn.

There is a map outside the cabin that shows where he lived as a youngster.  We visited most of the places on this map as we went to Hodgenville and Knob Creek, and we also visited the Lincoln Boyhood site in southern Indiana.

We didn't visit the other places until after we had been in Springfield; it felt like we were traveling back in time when we did get to those sites.

You can zoom in on the pictures with writing to read more about the cabin and other things shown.

Inside the cabin, a young Lincoln reclines by the firelight, reading, as we often pictured him from stories we learned in school ourselves.

If you listen carefully while in the cabin, you can hear the others sleeping.

From the cabin, the exhibits go on to highlight other significant events in young Abraham's life.  One in particular is when he made a dollar by taking some men out on the river on his flatboat.

Another time, Lincoln went down the river to New Orleans.  It was there that he saw a slave auction and witnessed families being broken apart as each was sold to different men.  This is recorded as being a defining moment for Lincoln, whether he realized it then, or not.  This scene is depicted as below.

Lincoln continued to learn and move about, and at one point he operated a store called the Berry-Lincoln store in New Salem, Illinois.  There is a state historic site there that re-creates the village from Lincoln's time there.  We had several people ask if we were going to visit there as well, but because we had originally thought we would only have one day in Springfield, we hadn't looked beyond what was immediately downtown.  We opted to not drive out to see it as it was raining on the first day, and the following day was pretty full already.  The museum has an exhibit showing Lincoln as a shopkeeper.

This map shows more places of significance in Lincoln's life post-adolescence and pre-election.

Abraham Lincoln courted Mary Ann Todd and eventually married her.  They had four children.  One of their children, Eddie, died as a young boy while they lived in Springfield.

This is a picture of Mary Todd Lincoln with their sons Willie and Tad.  

It's said that Mr. Lincoln would often turn a blind eye to the rambunctiousness of the two boys.  The museum has a scene with the boys having a bit too much "fun" in his law office.  

The way this part of the museum is set up, you hear the noisiness of the children before you get to the exhibit.  You wonder why someone is letting their kids be so loud in the museum, and then you turn the corner and see it's the soundtrack.  I asked the museum attendant if she's ever tempted to shush the Lincoln boys!

The last segment of the early years of Mr. Lincoln's life focuses on the Lincoln-Douglas debates and the path to running for President.  

And when Lincoln won the election and left Springfield, he made a heartfelt address to the people who had been his neighbors and friends and community for the years he and his family lived in Springfield.  You can read it here.

There is much more in this part of the museum than I've posted here.  DH is usually the slow one in the museums, but for this one, it really engaged me to immerse myself into the period of time covered, so he had already moved on to the White House side without me.

Have you been to the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield, Illinois?  What did you think of it?  And did you also try to shush the Lincoln boys?

~ Cindy D.