Living Like Lincoln?

Thanks to a recommendation from the LaRue County Chamber of Commerce, I learned about a unique lodging opportunity in Lincoln's birthplace of Hodgenville, KY. It was, for all practical purposes, IN Lincoln's birthplace and it was, with the exception of a couple of critical factors, LIKE Lincoln's birthplace. The Nancy Lincoln Inn is a commercial establishment immediately adjacent to the National Historic Site; it provides souvenirs and snacks for visitors to the birthplace. It also has available four log cabins for overnight stays. I decided this opportunity was one not to be missed.

The cabins are made of squared-off logs with traditional chinking. During the day, little pinpricks of light in the chinking prompted Carolyn to worry about eager mosquitos visiting during the night, but I found no evidence of such visits the next morning. Concessions to modern use were limited to the presence of wooden floors instead of the dirt floors the Lincoln family likely had and, most important, electricity. A single globe ceiling fixture and a light by the outside door provided sufficient illumination and the duplex electrical outlet provided me a way to recharge various battery-powered equipment I had with me while still powering the most welcome air conditioner - the Lincoln family would have loved that.

The room contained two antique double beds, a bureau, a large and small table, and a straight back chair. There was also a bentwood rocking chair on the porch which I dragged in for a more comfortable place to read under the solitary light. The cabin was without plumbing; a shower, sink and toilet were in a concrete block building about 75 yards from my cabin (similar facilities for women were located on the other side of the building, I was told). There was no phone, of course, and as I had learned earlier, my cellphone only worked near the front gate; there was a deep feeling of isolation in that cabin, although the nearby highway provided traffic sounds and I knew the woman who managed the Nancy Lincoln Inn lived in her own (non log cabin) home just a few steps down the private road.

I was the only guest that night. I walked around the grounds at twilight. Directly across from the porch of my cabin, maybe 200 yards away, were the stairs leading to the memorial building. Unlike the Lincoln Memorial in Wasington, DC, which is seen and visited at all hours of the day, the birthplace memorial is off the beaten path and closed at night, so there is no illumination kept on it throughout the night. AS dusk led to dark, I was able to erase the memorial and instead see the tiny cabin at the top of the rise. Unfortunately, a high-wattage industrial light at the bath facility cast some unwanted light on the scene, but nonetheless, with little effort, I was able to put myself back in Lincoln's time and look up at a starry sky not unlike what his parents would have watched nearly two centuries ago.

I slept well and woke early the next morning just shortly before the rising sun cleared the trees. It was a long way to Elizabethtown and I wanted to get going, but I left with some reluctance. On that cold February Sunday in 1809 when Nancy delivered a baby boy and she and Tom Lincoln named that baby after Tom's father Abraham, it was just like countless other frontier births. Only the passing of time would let us know what an important event had taken place that day in those rustic surroundings. One hundred ninety six years later, I felt honored to have spent the night in such an auspicious location. It was a good start for my Lincoln trek.