Abraham Lincoln was born to Thomas and Nancy (Hanks) Lincoln in a one-room log cabin at Sinking Springs Farm near Hodgenville, Kentucky, on February 12, 1809. Thomas Lincoln moved his family to a farm called Knob Creek, about 10 miles to the northeast, in 1811.

The Sinking Springs property changed hands many times over the subsequent years before being bought by Alfred W. Dennett, a New York businessman, in 1894. The following year Dennett acquired a nearby aging log cabin, which according to local tradition contained some of the original logs from the Lincoln cabin, and moved it to the farm property, which by then he had converted into a tourist attraction called "Lincoln Spring Farm" and "Lincoln Birthplace." In 1905 the property and cabin were bought by Robert Collier, publisher of Colliers Weekly. He and his associates then formed the Abraham Lincoln Farm Association, which raised funds for the building of a memorial that would both honor and protect the late President's birthplace. President Theodore Roosevelt dedicated the cornerstone in 1909, and President William Howard Taft dedicated the Memorial Building two years later.

The Memorial Building and surrounding property were donated to the federal government in 1916. Abraham National Park was established on July 17, 1916. It was redesignated as the Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park on August 11, 1939. The Knob Creek Farm site was added to the Historical Park on November 6, 1998. Its official website is www.nps.gov.

Abraham Lincoln log cabin

Birthplace Memorial

Sinking Spring for which the farm was named

See Also

President Theodore Roosevelt
President William Howard Taft

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This page was last updated on August 30, 2018.