BEMENT, ILL (WAND): You can catch a glimpse into life during the 1850's at the Bryant Cottage Historic Site in Bement.
This Piatt County historic site preserves the home of Francis Byrant and his family in 1856. Inside the cottage, the pieces in the home come to life as you get an inside look at what life for a middle-class family looked like during that time.
Yet, what's brought fame to this quaint cottage, is what many tourists flock to. Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas met here as they were running for the 1858 senate race. In the cottage, they planned what would come to be known as the famous Lincoln-Douglas debates.
From furniture to flooring to cooking, the cottage leaves no detail left behind, "They'll see a lot of furniture pieces that are from that time period from the 1850s until 1880s which is the time period the Bryant family lived here," April Rothenbach, the Site Interpretive Coordinator tells WAND News. “A lot of the furniture pieces are actually owned by the Bryant family so they'll get to see a lot of what life looked like at the time”."
Another fun fact, Marilyn Monroe visited the home in 1955. Bryant Cottage Historic Site also has a garden and is located right in the heart of Bement in Piatt County.
