Lincoln's New Salem State Historic Site is a reconstruction of the former village of New Salem in

Menard County, Illinois Menard County is a county in the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2010 United States Census, it had a population of 12,705. Its county seat is Petersburg. Menard County is part of the Springfield, Illinois, IL Metropolitan Statistical ...

, where

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...

lived from 1831 to 1837. While in his twenties, the future

U.S. President The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States ...

made his living in this village as a boatman, soldier in the Black Hawk War, general store owner, postmaster, surveyor, and rail splitter, and was first elected to the Illinois General Assembly. Lincoln left New Salem for Springfield in 1837, and the village was generally abandoned about 1840, as other towns developed. After Lincoln's death in 1865, historians and biographers collected the memories, documents, and plans of the village from former residents and neighbors of Lincoln, and the site's archaeological remains were studied. In 1921, a state park opened on the village site to commemorate Lincoln and Illinois' frontier history. The

Civilian Conservation Corps The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a voluntary government work relief program that ran from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men ages 18–25 and eventually expanded to ages 17–28. The CCC was a major part of ...

built a historic recreation of New Salem based on its original foundations in the 1930s. The village is located northwest of Springfield, and approximately south of Petersburg.

Original New Salem

New Salem was founded in 1829, when James Rutledge and John Camron built a

gristmill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that has been separat ...

on the

Sangamon River The Sangamon River is a principal tributary of the Illinois River, approximately long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed May 13, 2011 in central Illinois in the United Stat ...

. They surveyed and sold village lots for commercial business and homes on the ridge stretching to the west above the mill. Over the first few years of its existence, the town grew rapidly, but after the

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US st ...

was located in nearby Petersburg, the village began to shrink and by 1840, it was abandoned. The fact that the Sangamon River was not well-suited for steamboat travel was also a reason for the town's decline. In 1831, when Abraham Lincoln's father,

Thomas Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the A ...

, relocated the family to a

new homestead New Homestead is a neighborhood in the 31st Ward of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA's southeast city area. It has a ZIP Code of 15207 and 15120, and it is represented oPittsburgh City Councilby Corey O'Connor. Surrounding communities New Homestead ...

in Macon County, Illinois, 22-year-old Lincoln struck out on his own. Lincoln arrived in New Salem by way of flatboat and he remained in the village for about six years. During his stay, Lincoln earned a living as a shopkeeper, soldier in the Black Hawk War, general store owner, postmaster,

land surveyor Surveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, art, and science of determining the terrestrial two-dimensional or three-dimensional positions of points and the distances and angles between them. A land surveying professional is c ...

, and rail splitter, as well as doing odd jobs around the village. As far as historians know, Lincoln never owned a home in the village as most single men did not own homes at this time; however, he would often sleep in the

tavern A tavern is a place of business where people gather to drink alcoholic beverages and be served food such as different types of roast meats and cheese, and (mostly historically) where travelers would receive lodging. An inn is a tavern t ...

or his general store and take his meals with a nearby family. While living here, Lincoln ran for the Illinois General Assembly in 1832, handily winning his New Salem precinct but losing the countywide district election. He tried again in 1834 and won. Lincoln left New Salem and moved to Springfield, also in his election district, around 1837. When Lincoln lived in New Salem, the village was home to a

cooper Cooper, Cooper's, Coopers and similar may refer to: * Cooper (profession), a maker of wooden casks and other staved vessels Arts and entertainment * Cooper (producers), alias of Dutch producers Klubbheads * Cooper (video game character), in ...

shop,

blacksmith A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such as gates, gr ...

shop, wool carding mill, four general stores (including the

Lincoln-Berry General Store The Lincoln-Berry General Store was a general store that was co-owned by Abraham Lincoln. The store is one of the reconstructed 1830s buildings at Lincoln's New Salem, a state historic site. It is the only frame (not log) building in New Salem. ...

), a

, a grocery, two doctors' offices, a

shoemaker Shoemaking is the process of making footwear. Originally, shoes were made one at a time by hand, often by groups of shoemakers, or cobblers (also known as '' cordwainers''). In the 18th century, dozens or even hundreds of masters, journeymen ...

, a carpenter, a

hat maker Hat-making or millinery is the design, manufacture and sale of hats and other headwear. A person engaged in this trade is called a milliner or hatter. Historically, milliners, typically women shopkeepers, produced or imported an inventory of g ...

, a tanner, a schoolhouse/

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * C ...

, several residences, common pastures, and kitchen gardens. During its short existence, the village was home to anywhere from 20 to 25 families at a time. New Salem was not a small farm village, but instead a commercial village full of young businessmen and craftsmen trying to start a new life on the frontier.

Lincoln's New Salem State Historic Site

In 1906,

William Randolph Hearst William Randolph Hearst Sr. (; April 29, 1863 – August 14, 1951) was an American businessman, newspaper publisher, and politician known for developing the nation's largest newspaper chain and media company, Hearst Communications. His flamboya ...

purchased the village land and deeded it to the Old Salem

Chautauqua Chautauqua ( ) was an adult education and social movement in the United States, highly popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Chautauqua assemblies expanded and spread throughout rural America until the mid-1920s. The Chautauqua br ...

Association. In 1919, the land was gifted to the State of Illinois. The site was open to the public on May 19, 1921. Over time, building reconstructions were erected on the foundations of the original village, mostly by the

, during the Great Depression. The location is presently called Lincoln's New Salem State Historic Site, featuring 23 buildings, mostly

log house A log house, or log building, is a structure built with horizontal logs interlocked at the corners by notching. Logs may be round, squared or hewn to other shapes, either handcrafted or milled. The term " log cabin" generally refers to a sm ...

s and costumed interpreters, representing the era of Lincoln's residency. The cabins, shops, and businesses are furnished by period implements, objects, and furniture, with many acquired from area farms and homes. In addition to the village, the park includes extensive woodlands. Twenty-two of the village buildings are reconstructed; one log cabin, the Onstot Cooper Shop, is original, although it had been previously moved by Henry Onstot to Petersburg in 1840. In 1922, it was returned to New Salem on what archeologists believe was its original foundation. In addition to archeological investigations, much of the town was recreated based on period documents and the recollections and drawings of former residents, who had been interviewed in the late 19th century.

Steamboats ''Talisman''

In 1832 a 136-foot, 150-ton river steamer ''Talisman'' ventured from

Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wi ...

, down the Ohio River, up the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers, and into central Illinois on the Sangamon River, while chartered to Springfield businessman Vincent Bogue. Lincoln helped clear obstructions from the riverbanks on ''Talismans trip upriver, and co-piloted the steamer with Rowan Herndon back to Beardstown. New Salem - Steamboat

In the summer of 1961, after a period of design and fabrication by Dubuque Boat & Boiler Works at

Dubuque, Iowa Dubuque (, ) is the county seat of Dubuque County, Iowa, United States, located along the Mississippi River. At the time of the 2020 census, the population of Dubuque was 59,667. The city lies at the junction of Iowa, Illinois, and Wisconsin, a r ...

, the new sternwheel steamboat ''Talisman'' made its way to New Salem by way of the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it fl ...

, Illinois River, and the Sangamon River. The steamer, christened ''Talisman'', was a scaled-down representation of the previous vessel, at 40 tons and 73 feet in length, with an upper cabin and powered by a 60

bhp BHP Group Limited (formerly known as BHP Billiton) is an Australian multinational mining, metals, natural gas petroleum public company that is headquartered in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The Broken Hill Proprietary Company was founded ...

diesel engine. The recreation boat was given a landing next to the Rutledge Camron Saw and Grist Mill site on the riverbank, and tourists had the opportunity to take short excursions on the river. Unfortunately, just like the original ''Talisman'', the recreated steamer was plagued by low water levels on the river which gradually increased the difficulty of navigation over the years until in 1998 the river dam at Petersburg was abandoned and water levels became too low. The boat was finally grounded a few miles upriver from the historical site, and then served as a large lawn decoration about a hundred feet from the riverbank. On November 19, 2021, the boat was destroyed in a controlled burn.

Visitors

Lincoln's New Salem was visited by approximately 600,000 people in 2006. It was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

in 1972, under the name, ''Lincoln's New Salem Village.'' The historic site includes a visitor's center with an exhibit and theater. Active recreational infrastructure centers on the ''Mentor Graham Trail'', long, and the ''Volksmarch Trail'', long. The state park contains 200 campsites, including 100 electrical hookups.

References

External links