Lincoln Road Trip

Jane Simon Ammeson

Description

America's favorite president sure got around. Before Abraham Lincoln's sojourned to the Oval Office, he grew up in Kentucky and began his career as a lawyer in Illinois. In fact, Lincoln toured some amazing places throughout the Midwest in his lifetime. In Lincoln Road Trip: The Back-Roads Guide to America's Favorite President, Jane Simon Ammeson will help you step back into history by visiting the sites where Lincoln lived and visited.
This fun and entertaining travel guide includes the stories behind the quintessential Lincoln sites, while also taking you off the beaten path to fascinating and lesser-known historical places. Visit the Log Inn in Warrenton, Indiana (now the oldest restaurant in the state), where Lincoln stayed in 1844 when he was campaigning for Henry Clay. Or visit key places in Lincoln's life, like the home of merchant Colonel Jones, who allowed a young Abe to read all his books, or Ward's Academy, where Mary Todd Lincoln attended school. Along with both famous and overlooked places with Lincoln connections, Ammeson profiles nearby attractions to round out your trip, like Holiday World, a family-owned amusement park that goes well with a trip to the Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial and Lincoln State Park.
Featuring new and exciting Lincoln tales from Springfield, Illinois; Beardstown, Kentucky; Booneville, Indiana; Alton, Illinois; and many more, Lincoln Road Trip is a fun adventure through America's heartland that will bring Lincoln's incredible story to life.

Prologue

1. In the Beginning: The Lincoln Heritage

2. Bardstown & Bourbon

3. Athens of the West: Lexington Belle

4. Southeastern Indiana Trails

5. Southwestern Indiana: Life in Little Pigeon Creek

6. A River Runs Through It: Lincoln in Illinois

7. Other Places Along the Way

8. Endings

Sujets

• Road Travel
• Midwest
• Transportation
• 19th Century
• HISTORY
• Honest Abe
• Medio Oeste de Estados Unidos
• Mensajería instantánea
• Lodging
• Travel
• Midwestern United States
• History of the United States
• History of the Americas
• Food
• American Civil War
• United States
• Feed
• Abraham
• Abe
• KS
• Middle West
• IL
• ND
• IN
• NE
• OH
• MN
• SD
• MO
• MI
• Guerre de Sécession

Informations

• Publié par: Red Lightning Books
• Date de parution: 01 avril 2019
• Nombre de lectures: 1
• EAN13: 9781684350643
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

LINCOLN ROAD TRIP

JANE SIMON AMMESON
This book is a publication of
RED LIGHTNING BOOKS
1320 East 10th Street
Bloomington, Indiana 47405 USA
redlightningbooks.com
2019 by Jane Ammeson
All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
Manufactured in the United States of America
ISBN 978-1-68435-062-9
ISBN 978-1-68435-065-0
1 2 3 4 5 24 23 22 21 20 19
Contents

Preface and Acknowledgments
Prologue
1 In the Beginning: The Lincoln Heritage
2 Bardstown and Bourbon
3 Lexington, Kentucky: Athens of the West
4 Southeastern Indiana Trails
5 Southwestern Indiana: Life in Little Pigeon Creek
6 Lincoln in Illinois: A River Runs through It
7 Other Places along the Way
8 Endings
Selected Bibliography
Index of Place Names
Preface and Acknowledgments
Though the largest and best-known place to explore Lincoln s history is Springfield, Illinois, where his home, law office, mausoleum, and other remnants of his life are well preserved, when I began my journey for this book I wanted to find Lincoln and his family off the well-traveled roads, on the backroads and byways where he lived most of his life before becoming president. Following Lincoln s footsteps meant spreading out large maps and pinpointing the interconnecting links that crisscross through Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, and even Michigan-though Lincoln seems to have made it there only once.
I am not a historian by training, but I love historical travel, and telling Lincoln s story as a journey is something I ve always enjoyed, whether it s for magazines, newspapers, or travel apps, and getting to explore new old places has been a joy. In my wanderings, I ve met people who were related to Lincoln s neighbors and even to Lincoln himself, such as Daryl Lovell, Barb and Jim Hevron, and Jerry Smith, who live in southwestern Indiana. Though no direct descendants survive (three of Mary and Abe Lincoln s four children died young), there are still family stories, passed down through generations, about Lincolns time in the area. I ve also met and befriended descendants of Lincoln s brother Josiah, who settled on the southeastern side of Indiana.
Much of the natural landscape, with its rolling hills and woodlands, seems not to have changed since Lincoln s time. Sure, there are no longer panthers, bears, or wolves, but its rural beauty endures. Many of the historic buildings from the time of Lincoln s youth remain as well. When you touch this bannister, the guide says as I walk up the stairs of the Mary Todd Lincoln home in Lexington, Kentucky, you re touching the same wood Abraham Lincoln once touched.
It s a simple sentence, but it still produces a thrill.
Though we know about many of the major events in Lincoln s life, there s controversy as well. Indeed, my good friend Mike Flannery, a longtime Chicago television political reporter, tells me more books have been written about Lincoln than anyone besides Jesus Christ. Real Lincoln historians spar over many aspects of his life, although I think they do all agree on the date of his death. When researching and writing this book, I often found well-respected scholars with conflicting information and interpretations. I ve tried to use the most frequently reported facts and contemporary sources, although I understand that having something reported often doesn t mean it s true, and that even chroniclers of his day could and did misinterpret Lincoln or have their own agenda.
I d like to point out that in this book I mention numerous incidents where settlers in the Lincoln/Boone families were killed by Indians-but it s important to note that settlers also killed a large number of Native Americans. In his book The Wild Frontier: Atrocities during the American-Indian War from Jamestown Colony to Wounded Knee , lawyer William M. Osborn attempted to list both alleged and actual atrocities in what would eventually become the United States. Starting from first contact in 1511 and ending in 1890, he documents the intentional and indiscriminate murder, torture, or mutilation of civilians, the wounded, and prisoners. His tally accounts for 7,193 people who died from monstrosities perpetrated by those of European descent and 9,156 people who died from atrocities committed by Native Americans. Of course, many attacks and murders were never recorded, and countless records have been lost to time. But Osborn s work indicates neither side was innocent of violent behavior.
Many of the people in Lincoln s early life were uneducated, and their spelling is irregular and characteristic of the time. In trying to keep the flavor of their written statements, I have kept their original spellings as well. Many newspapers in the early part of the 1800s used that old English spelling where the letter s in the middle of a word looks like an f . That I did change when necessary because it drove me crazy, and I figured it would drive readers just as crazy.
As for my own history writing this book and retracing Lincoln s life, I ve had the wonderful support of so many people whose very hard work made all this possible. I owe a big thankyou to all of them. I hope I haven t left anyone out, but if I have, please forgive me.
Darlene Briscoe , descendant of Josiah Lincoln
Melissa Brockman , executive director, Spencer County Visitors Bureau
Mike Capps , chief of interpretation and resource management at Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial
Dixon Dedman , owner of the Beaumont Inn and distiller of Kentucky Owl
Megan Fernandez , descendant of Josiah Lincoln
Michael J. Flannery , Fox News-Chicago political anchor
Katie Fussenegger , CTP, CTIS, executive director, Shelby, Kentucky, Tourism Visitors Bureau
Karen P. Hackett , executive director, Harrodsburg/Mercer County Tourist Commission
Niki Heichelbech-Goldey , director of communications, VisitLEX
Kathy Hertel-Baker , director of archives, Sisters of Charity of Nazareth
Jim and Barb Hevron , authors and historians
Joe Hevron , 1929-2011, avid Lincoln historian who worked at Holiday World for sixty-five years
Harold Holzer
Mike Kienzler , editor, SangamonLink.org , online encyclopedia of the Sangamon County Historical Society
Debbie Long , owner, Dudleys on Short
Daryl Lovell , author and historian
Pat Koch
Will Koch , 1961-2010, whom I will always remember and treasure-your love of Lincoln was sublime
Ouita Michel , executive chef, owner of Holly Hill
Jon Musgrave , author and historian
Natalie Partin , communications manager, Georgetown/Scott County Tourism
Carol Peachee , photographer and author of Straight Bourbon: Distilling the Industry s Heritage
Dawn Przystal , owner of Blue Elephant
Ruth Slottag , president, Sangamon County Historical Society
Jerry Smith , historian and member of the Broadwell family
Stephanie Tate , Alton Regional Convention and Visitors Bureau
Irene Tung , Quinn PR
Dan Usherwood , president of the Pleasant Plains Historical Society
Sheryl Vanderstel , food historian
Paula Werne , director of communications, Holiday World Splashin Safari (Koch Development Corporation)
Kathy Witt , sites director, Midwest Travel Journalists Association, Society of American Travel Writers, Authors Guild
And the biggest of thank-yous to Ashley Runyon, Peggy Solic, and Nancy Lightfoot at Indiana University Press for always being there for me. The same goes to my children, Evan and Nia. Love you!
Thank you, Jane Simon Ammeson
LINCOLN ROAD TRIP
PROLOGUE
My friend Kathy Witt has set up a dinner for me at Eleanor Hamilton s Old Stone Tavern in Simpsonville, Kentucky, to meet Charlie Kramer, owner of Kentucky Back Roads. The tavern, which dates back to the 1700s, was likely another restaurant where Lincoln ate, and that s why I m here-to enjoy the ambience of the thick stone walls, timbered ceilings, and the feel (yes, there s a feel) of the early 1800s, when horses and buggies passed by the front door and guests included tired travelers who had struggled along roads that were mostly covered in mud or dust, depending on the time of year. Kramer, who loves to joke and tell stories, tells me how Lincoln is buried just a few miles away.
Of course, my mind starts ruminating, running through my mental file of Lincoln lore. Is he referring, I wonder, to when Lincoln s body was removed from its grave and hidden for years because of fears it would be stolen by grave robbers (a big dirty but money-making business back then)? I ask him, and Kramer laughs. No, it s Lincoln s grandfather Captain Abraham Lincoln, who was killed by Indians. His nephew Mordecai managed to kill one of the attackers before he got him too.
President Lincoln s grandfather is buried nearby? I quickly look through all the Lincoln guides I carry with me. Not one mention.
Where is it? I ask.
He describes an out-of-the-way cemetery on a country road and then volunteers to take me after dinner. As if I could say no.
Turns out the Long Run Cemetery isn t far away but is not well marked, and it s getting dark when we finally find it. The gate looks locked. But never mind: further along part of the fencing has been torn down. Entering, we see a marker commemorating the Lincoln Tree, grown from an acorn from a spot in Albion, Illinois, where Lincoln campaigned for William Henry Harrison in 1840. The sign tells us that Captain Lincoln was killed near here