Lincoln's New Salem Village

In our history lesson we are learning about the Civil War and the many people who helped shape history.  A study could not be complete without taking an in depth look at Abraham Lincoln before he became president as well as his Presidency.  Since we are only about two hours away from Springfield, Illinois we took a trip out to visit a few of the sites that would give us more information about Lincoln.

First stop was New Salem which is about 20-30 miles away from Springfield and where Lincoln moved as a young man, it is here he owned and operated a store (which failed) and really worked on his education.  Lincoln only had one or two years of schooling as a child so he really was a self taught man.

New Salem is a reconstructed 1800's Frontier Town.  There is only one original building at the site, however it is the  original site of the town

The site often hold public days where more reactors are present giving tours and answering question but the day we attended there were few around.

Many of the building are fitted to show what living conditions were like

Kids inspecting the way long cabins were built

outhouse

Sitting down in the one room Church/school house

This town had about 30  families that lived here during the time Lincoln lived here

cellar

Many homes had their business on one side of the house and then the family lived in the other side of the house

Loved the way this window open

Many homes have kitchen garden outside the homes that were attended by the wives.  Further out many of the men had larger fields and attend  to the animals.

Lincoln co-owned a store and it is said that his partner drank and Lincoln read so neither paid much attention to the store

There is no actual record of what Lincoln sold in his store but it would look something like this

I loved the spelling of Cigars on this jar!

We were told this broom was made from broom corn, which I had never heard of!

And we were shown the many uses of the broom corn and told every household had seeds to grow their own in their gardens

Broom corn, looks exactly like corn except much taller and no corn:)

We were also told that the hats were tall for the farmers as it allowed more air to circulate  and reduce heat on their heads

Town Tavern

Guest would often sleep 3-4 to a bed!

An early cotton machine that carded the cotton 

we were told that in order to move the machine, oxen were placed outside to walk on this wooden  wheel

Black smith house 

This house was unusual as it contained two families one family on each side.  

Throughout the property there were many animals  to see as well.

This trip gave us an idea of Lincoln's early years as a young man,  We heard of a rumor love story (historians aren't sure if the story is true)  We heard stories about his childhood.  We also heard stories of how Lincoln self taught himself law and business.  It was a good introduction to seeing how Lincoln grew up.  Our next stop was to see the Lincoln house, museum and tomb!