MACON COUNTY, Ill. (WAND) - “It’s a beautiful park,” said James Farris, chair of historic research and development for the Friends of Lincoln Trail Homestead State Park and Memorial.
Located on the Sangamon River, just 10 miles southwest of Decatur, sits the land of our 16 president’s first home in Illinois.
“It’s the location where the Thomas Lincoln family migrated to in 1830,” said Farris.
Dedicated as a state park nearly 60 years ago, the Lincoln Trail Homestead state park and memorial is a site to see.
“If they don’t care about learning about Lincoln and his family that’s okay, they will by accident when they come out here,” said Farris.
President Abraham Lincoln read his first law books and gave his first political speech in the one year he spent in the area.
“You’ll run into people who know all about New Salem, all about Lincoln’s time in Springfield as a lawyer and about his home in Indiana when he was a boy and being born in Kentucky,” said Melody Arnold, chairmen on Friends of Lincoln Trail Homestead State Park and Memorial, “but they don’t even know this place exists.
Visitors will find three memorials- one dedicated to the Lincoln family, a second to the approximate location of the family’s log cabin and a third to the Whitley family.
The Whitley family owned a mill on the land years after the Lincoln family moved on.
“Once you know where it’s at and its value, you find a way to get here,” said Farris.
Now 162 acres of educational and recreational land is open to explore.
“The bird watching is wonderful,” said Arnold, “I happen to be a member of the Decatur Audubon and in the spring wildflowers and there’s a lot of other neat birds to see year-round.”
From hiking trails to canoeing down the river, the state park has something for everyone.
The Friends of Lincoln Trail Homestead State Park are continuing their efforts to restore and preserve the park. To learn more about or join the group, click here.
