Lincoln Log Cabin State Historic Site

I love Lincoln Log Cabin and have since I was a very young child.

In the past, there were many animals there and actors who would talk to you in the part of people living during the time period. This was always super fun. I see that much less often now. There are less animals (last time I visited they had sheep, pigs, and chickens only) and I haven't seen any actors there in a while.

With that being said, I enjoyed the sheep, chickens, and pigs and I also enjoyed looking at the buildings. They were all locked during my last visit, but sometimes you can go inside of them and look at the insides of the cabins, which is much more fun.

During my last visit they were offering free produce they grew in their garden and I liked that a lot. We grabbed some tomatoes.

The reduction of one star is simply because I remember the past when this place was super amazing. Now there haven't been actors the last few visits. I have seen sheep, cows, horses, pigs, chickens, turkeys, and cats there before, but my last visit only had three of those animals. In addition, it's more fun when you can enter the buildings.

Even without all the animals and actors and access to the buildings, it's super fun and I'd recommend it!

This is not "Abe Lincoln", but his father "Thomas Lincoln". They were owned by Abraham Lincoln and deeded to his father Thomas. There's a museum which talks about the time/place when Thomas Lincoln lived here - takes about 45 minutes. There are groups where it is set up with buildings and farm animals of the Thomas' Lincoln's time. His grave is just down the road.

A key part compares two farmers of the time period. One is a farmer from the area that was interested in farming for profit with the latest technology and Thomas Lincoln, who farmed for the purpose of being a self-sufficient farm owner. There is an example of the homes of each type of farmer.

We went in March; apparently there are tours during the summer. Ours was self-guided.

I wish I caught the gentleman's name that gave us the tour! Our family could tell that he was very passionate about the fact based stories that he told about Thomas Lincoln and his family. This was an unexpected stop on our back back home to Indiana! So incredibly thankful for the tour and now newly gained knowledge!

Hope to be back to see the inside of the museum. Until next time!
Thank you so much ,

The Dixon Family

While on a weekend getaway to visit the relatives in Mattoon, we decided to sneak off and learn ourselves a bit on the ways of Lincoln. A mere 10 miles from Mattoon lies the homestead (sort of ) of Mr. Lincoln's family. We learned he never actually lived there, but did purchase some land later to keep his unruly step brother from conning his parent's from their home - see, learning can be fun!

The area contains a very nice welcome ceneter with a walk through area describing the homestead as well as Lincolns life. The end of the walk brings you to a movie theater where you can enjoy a 15 minute clip further describing the area. Outside are plenty of paths that take you to the cabin where Lincoln's parents and 15 of their children and friends lived as well as by a number of animal pens that contain sheep and chickens. Fairly stand-offish are the sheep, but they're fun to watch!

On the other side of the farm is the home and land of the Lincoln's neighbors who were considered progressive farmers for the time period as they bought seeds from a catalog and sold their crops for a profit. Within this area is an amazingly nice sheep that loves to be pet and fed grass.

A great place to go spend a few hours, learn about a great gentleman and his family as well as make a friend w/ a very nice sheep! Well worth the trip.

I happen to come here during the 2015 Harvest Frolic so there were a number of reenactors there portraying the various aspects of time period these farms were in operation.

If you're not familiar with this place or its history, the web sight www.lincolnlogcabin.org is pretty good and goes into some detail. In fact, reading through this web page "before" you visit the farmstead itself will enhance your visit.

The short of it is, this is the farm of Thomas & Sarah Bush Lincoln, the father and step mother of President Lincoln. Pres. Lincoln never lived here himself, but did visit it often and was part owner of the land, which he deeded back to his father. There is actually two farms here; the Lincoln farm and the Sargent Farm, which was moved to this location.

The grounds of this historical sight are nice, with a mix of woods and open fields. There is also plenty of parking. I would suggest you stop to be the Visitor center as it has some nice artifacts on display, useful information and a short movie, then proceed the various out buildings.

If you like history, or a Lincoln fan, or just like seeing something different, then this is a sure bet. It's informative and neat to see. Although I noticed this places does have different operating hours, depending on the time of year and they are not open every day of the week, so you may want to check their opening days/hours before coming here.

Drove all the way there and it's closed on Mondays. Bummer. Also the address listed here isn't correct.