Lincoln Trail Homestead State Park: Lincoln’s first home in Illinois

Abraham Lincoln is famous for calling Springfield, Illinois, the land of Lincoln, his home. This despite his being born in Kentucky, living in Indiana as a young man, and ultimately moving to Illinois. To the surprise of most, Springfield was not Abraham Lincoln’s first home in Illinois. In fact, it was his third.

In the spring of 1830, 21-year-old Abraham Lincoln, his father, and other family left their farm in southern Indiana. Wagon-packed and pulled by ox-teams, they set out towards Illinois. Lincoln would write in an 1860 autobiography of the time:

“His father and family settled a new place on the north side of the Sangamon River, at the junction of the timberland and prairie, about ten miles westerly from Decatur. Here they built a log cabin, into which they removed, and made sufficient of rails to fence ten acres of ground, fenced and broke the ground, and raised a crop of sown corn upon it the same year. These are, or are supposed to be, the rails about which so much is being said just now, though these are far from being the first or only rails ever made by Abraham.”

The Lincoln families’ time along the banks of the Sangamon River would be short-lived and filled with hardship. As autumn settled in, the family fell ill with chills, fever, and aches. As the family’s health improved, what would become known as the “The Winter of the Deep Snow” was upon them.

The Winter of the Deep Snow

This winter was like nothing ever recorded in Illinois, with long periods of sub-zero temperatures and upwards of 6 feet of snow. The severe weather caused their food stores to run empty. It became so bad that Abraham Lincoln crossed the frozen Sangamon River and headed to the William Warnick cabin for any spare food. According to Warnick’s family tradition, Lincoln partially plunged into the icy Sangamon, soaking his feet. It’s said that Lincoln’s feet were nearly frozen by the time he reached the cabin two miles from the river. Over the next week, Mrs. Warnick applied a mixture of “goose grease, skunk oil, and rabbit fat” to Lincoln’s feet while he recovered in the cabin. How true that is is unknown, but what a family tale nonetheless.

After winter thawed, Abraham Lincoln struck out on his own. He would float by canoe down the Sangamon Rover to a future in New Salem.

Visiting Lincoln Trail Homestead State Park

Today, the site of Abraham Lincoln’s first Illinois home is a state park. My wife and I visited the Lincoln Trail Homestead State Park mid-afternoon on a warm summer day. It was beautiful out when I pulled into the empty parking lot—not another car in sight. There are three short nature trails in the park; one takes you right along the river. We went on a short hike and then returned to the large picnic pavilion to make lunch.

Original Site of the Lincoln Cabin

After the snack, we headed up a road into the park. After a short distance, we came to a stone marker said to be the original site of the Lincoln Cabin. The original cabin is long gone. After Lincoln was assassinated in 1865, the cabin was disassembled log by log and sent on exhibits all over the county. Eventually, it was on its way to England when it was lost at sea.

The park is not huge—it’s only about 162 acres. We spent about an hour and a half exploring, and it was very much worth it. We thoroughly enjoyed learning about some lesser-known history of our country’s 16th President. It’s a great stop to complement a visit to the Lincoln Home National Historic Site in Springfield and Abraham Lincoln’s grave.

Where is Lincoln Trail Homestead State Park?

Lincoln Trail Homestead State Park is located south of Interstate 74, about 45 minutes east of Springfield, Illinois, and about 15 minutes west of Decatur. You can arrive in under two hours if you take I-55 north from St. Louis. It’s about a four-hour drive from Indianapolis.