Welcome to the audio-described version of Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park official print brochure. Through text and audio descriptions of photos, illustrations, and maps, this version interprets the two-sided color brochure that park visitors receive. The brochure explores the history of the park, some of its highlights, and information for planning your visit.
This audio version lasts about 38 minutes which we have divided into 35 sections, as a way to improve the listening experience. Sections 3 to 12 cover the front of the brochure and include information regarding the history of the Lincolns and of the park. Sections 13 to 35 cover the back of the brochure and contain information about the creation of the park as well as practical visitor information.
Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park, located in Kentucky, is part of the National Park Service, within the Department of the Interior. The 343 acre park is situated three miles south of the town of Hodgenville, Kentucky. This park, established in 1916, is one of seven national parks in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Each year, over 250,000 visitors come to enjoy the unique experiences that only can be had at the Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park. We invite you to explore the park's natural beauty and historic resources. Take a journey back in time and walk in the footsteps of our 16th President and where young Abraham Lincoln walked as a boy. Touch the cool granite of the park's Memorial Building or the rough, wooden logs of the Boyhood Cabin. Hear the drip of the Sinking Spring or babble of Knob Creek on a hot summer's day. Take a hike on one of the park's trails and hear the crunch of leaves underfoot. For those seeking to learn more about the park during their visit, park brochures, Braille brochures, and tactiles can be found at the Birthplace Visitor Center. Contact the park directly, or visit the "Accessibility" and "More Information" sections at the end of this audio-described brochure.
DESCRIBING: A black bar across the width of the brochure, which includes NPS branding
SYNOPSIS: This black bar, about an inch tall and the width of the page, includes the park's name in large white text: Abraham Lincoln Birthplace, and in smaller text: National Park Service / U.S. Department of the Interior / National Historical Park / Kentucky. In addition, the U.S. National Park Service arrowhead logo is shown on this same black background. The logo is a brown textured arrowhead logo, point down. At top right, white text, National Park Service. At left, a tall tree. At bottom, a white bison stands on a green field ending in a distant tree line, a white lake at right. A snow-capped mountain towers behind.
DESCRIBING: Large horizontal photograph.
SYNOPSIS: Photograph of a split-rail fence zig-zagging from the bottom left of the photo to the top right. On the right side of the fence is a lawn. On the left side are bushes and trees.
IN-DEPTH DESCRIPTION: A Rectangular photograph arranged horizontally that encompasses the bottom portion of the first fold of the brochure. This picture appears to be taken on a bright, summer day and is of a “split-rail” fence. The fence spans the length of the picture from bottom left to top right at a diagonal. To the left of the fence is a wooded area and to the right is a grassy lawn.
There are twenty sets of log rails cut into approximately six-foot sections. Each section of the fence has five logs stacked horizontally like fingers linked together. The fence zigzags from the front left of the picture to the back right. This is known as a split rail fence.
From the foreground to the back left of the fence are some bare sticks sticking up leaning toward the right. Behind the fence are at two large, full, bright green bushes with a large mature tree growing between them. Behind the first bush and to the left of the large tree there is another tree angling to the left with leaves around it. Halfway along the fence there is a small bare tree with a bright ray of light highlighting it. There are more lush, dark green trees, shrubs, and bushes visible along and behind the left of the fence as it goes into the distance.
To the right of the fence there is lush green grass carefully mowed with shaded areas and with sun shining through the trees on some areas of the grass.
CAPTION: No caption provided.
CREDIT: W.L. McCoy
DESCRIBING: A line of handwritten text, in a light brown typeface.
SYNOPSIS: The handwritten line reads "I was born Feb. 12, 1809, in Hardin County, Kentucky." The words are written in cursive and contain extra loops on the I in I, F in Feb. 9, H in Hardin, and C in county. The letters, written with a calligraphy pen, range in width from thick to thin within the words.
CREDIT: Library of Congress
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Abraham Lincoln, passionate defender of the Union and the man whose life and ideals affirmed the dignity of working people, was a product of the austere society of frontier Kentucky. After Lincoln had grown to adulthood and prospered as a lawyer and politician, he was reluctant to talk about what he called the “stinted living” of his early years. When asked for a campaign biography he responded: “It can all be condensed into a simple sentence and that sentence you will find in Gray’s Elegy —‘The short and simple annals of the poor.’” Lincoln did furnish the information, and almost everything we know of his childhood was contained in his own remembrances.
Before the Lincolns came into Kentucky, the ancestors of our 16th President had a long and restless history in colonial America. Generation after generation had left their fathers’ homes in search of more land and fewer constraints. The first American Lincoln, Samuel, sailed from the west of England in 1637 and settled in Hingham, Massachusetts. His descendants moved on to fertile land in New Jersey and then Pennsylvania, and in 1768 John Lincoln and his family of 10 migrated into Virginia. One of John’s sons and Lincoln’s grandfather, Abraham, reached the edge of the frontier, settling in the Shenandoah Valley.
By 1782 Abraham had sold his farm and, with his wife Bersheba and five children, struck out for the Kentucky wilderness. Daniel Boone had blazed the first trail into this region only seven years earlier. It was still uncharted territory, the “Dark and Bloody Ground” of Indian warfare, but it offered rich bottomlands for farming. Possibly at Boone’s own urging, Abraham entered Kentucky through Cumberland Gap and settled near the present site of Louisville. In May 1786, as he and his children worked in the newly planted fields, Abraham was killed in an Indian raid. Ten-year-old Thomas, the future father of a president, remained with his father’s body and was saved from death at the last moment when one of his brothers shot an approaching Indian.
After Abraham’s death the Lincolns moved to what is now Washington County, a more secure and populated area. Lincoln wrote that Thomas, “by the early death of his father, and very narrow circumstances of his mother, even in childhood was a wandering labor-boy.” He was uneducated, an honest man but without driving ambition. He fulfilled the duties of a frontier citizen, serving as a militiaman and county guard of prisoners, paying his taxes, and sitting on juries. On at least one occasion he labored alongside slaves, which may have helped shape his antislavery views.
After roaming up and down Kentucky, Thomas and his family moved to Hardin County in 1803 and settled in Elizabethtown. He learned the carpenter’s trade and was good enough at it to purchase a 230-acre farm. Thomas saved his money and in 1806 married a young woman named Nancy Hanks and brought her back to Elizabethtown.
DESCRIBING: A large sepia-toned image of a statue of Abraham Lincoln
SYNOPSIS: A photo of a large bronze statue of President Abraham Lincoln. He is depicted to be sitting on an ornate chair. He is staring down, past his shoes, with a stoic expression.
IN-DEPTH DESCRIPTION: A large bronze statue of President Abraham Lincoln sitting in a chair, bathed in light except for shadows around his head, coat tail, upper right leg, and lower left leg.
Lincoln is angled and facing towards the right, with his face almost in full profile. He has short curly hair, a pronounced brow, bushy eyebrows, a large nose, bushy sideburns connecting to a beard and defined wrinkles on his face, especially smile lines. His large right ear protrudes from under his hair. His head is angled downward and appears to be looking down past his feet. He is wearing a suit coat with a tall collar which reaches up to his chin. There is one button on his sleeve.
His long fingers are curved over the rounded, circular knob at the end of the armrest. His coat is long and drapes in folds over the side of his chair under the armrest. His pants are wrinkled at the knees and hang in drapes over the length of his leg. His right leg is pulled back close to the chair and his foot is not pictured. His left leg is extended further out showing the toe and top of his square-toed dress shoe.
The chair he is sitting in is ornately carved. The armrest is plain except for the rounded, circular knob with a swirl design at the end. The part of the chair that connects the armrest to the seat is angled and rounds to the right from the middle of the armrest to the front of the seat.
The seat is carved with what appears to be flowers and leaves. Below the seat, or apron of the chair, is a carving depicting a drape with strips of fabric woven together like a basket at the top quarter, and fringes hanging to the floor below. The leg of the chair is rounded with a swirl on the side which leads to a leg that is thicker at the top and gradually narrows toward the bottom. The bottom ends in an animal foot which includes knuckles and claws. Behind the statue is a khaki-colored background. CAPTION: Statue of Abraham Lincoln, in Hodgenville, Kentucky, by Adolph A. Weinman, 1909.
CREDIT: NPS
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In December 1808 Thomas and Nancy bought Sinking Spring Farm, paying $200 for 300 acres of stony land on Nolin Creek. The couple’s first child, Sarah, was a year old, and as they moved 14 miles southwest to their new home, Nancy was expecting another. The life of this young frontier woman is shadowy. Lincoln remembered her fondly, but we know only that she was born in Virginia, was illiterate, and died shortly after the Lincolns left Kentucky. For historian Albert J. Beveridge she remains “Dim as the dream of a shifting mirage . . . her face and figure waver through the mists of time and rumor.”
Sinking Spring Farm’s red clay was not noted for fertility. The farm stood on the edge of the Barrens, a great tract of land made treeless by Indian fires set to create grazing land for game. Perhaps the Lincolns bought it because it was closer to Nancy’s relatives and only three miles south of Hodgen’s mill.
Thomas, Nancy, and their young daughter moved into a one- room log cabin built on a knoll near Sinking Spring. Their cabin was probably a typical frontier dwelling: about 18 by 16 feet, a dirt floor, one window, and one door, a small fireplace, a shingled roof, and a low chimney made of clay, straw, and hardwood. The tiny window opening might have been covered with greased paper, animal skin, or an old quilt to keep out summer insects and winter cold.
The winter deepened as Nancy’s time drew near. On Sunday, February 12, 1809, she lay close to the fire on her bed of cornhusks and bearskins. The family, in the words of Carl Sandburg, “welcomed into a world of battle and blood, of whispering dreams and wistful dust, a new child, a boy.” He was named Abraham after his grandfather.
Thomas and Nancy Lincoln and their children lived the self-sufficient life of a frontier farm family. Thomas continued to do a little carpentry and cabinetmaking, but he was now a farmer. He spent long hours behind the plow and tramping through the woods with his rifle in search of meat. Nancy cooked plain food—bread, corn, pork—in her Dutch oven and long-handled frying pan. Their life was spare, but the Lincolns were not poverty-stricken. As members in good standing of their community, they owned two farms, a lot in Elizabethtown, and livestock.
As Abraham grew from infancy, a young oak sapling grew near their cabin. Until its death in 1976, the Boundary Oak was a living vestige of the quiet farm where Lincoln spent the first two years of his life.
DESCRIBING: Isolated photograph of the Lincoln Family Bible.
SYNOPSIS: A bible sits open with its worn, gray-brown pages on display. The book’s charcoal black cover peeks ever so slightly from behind the left page. On the left page are various blocks of text rendered illegible due to the images size and books age. The right page provides the books title, THE HOLY BIBLE, author, and likely the printer. Along the left-hand side of the right page is a brown streak encompassing a third of the page that darkens as it travels down the page. The page is wrinkled along its left and bottom thirds. Two thirds of the page are almost eggshell white.
IN-DEPTH DESCRIPTION: The book’s charcoal black cover peeks from behind the gray-brown left page. At the page’s top left corner, a larger portion of the cover is visible due to the page corner being cut at an angle. Beginning at the missing corner and running the length of the page is what appears to be a thin line caused by water damage. Approximately one third of the way down the page on the left is what appears to be a date, rendered illegible by time and the image’s size. Under that and one fourth of the page from the left is illegible writing and the top of a light brown spot. The brown spot slants to the left until it stops about one quarter of the way down the page.
A quarter of the way down the left page and centered are three lines of illegible writing. Above the lines right side are two light gray spots, possibly from water droplets. Halfway down the page another block of text begins. This text block is comprised of four lines mixing numbers and words. The first line reads “9994” in numerals with illegible writing beside it. The numbers “9994” are repeated below. The third line begins with an illegible word beginning with a capital “K” and the word “Black” with the b capitalized. The fourth line is illegible due to the image’s size.
Three quarters of the way down the left page are two capital letters. One is a T. while the other is illegible. From the top of the “T.” on the left side of the page to under the other letter, the page is discolored. The discoloration makes a spot roughly resembling a horse where it stops. Below the discoloration the page is light-gray and brown.
The right page has a thin black border running along its top, bottom, and right-hand sides. Approximately one third of the page’s left-hand side had brown discoloration running the length of the page. The discoloration grows darker from light brown to dark brown as it travels down the page. Inside the discoloration the page is wrinkled. The wrinkles run from the top of the page to about the midpoint of the page. The bottom third of the page is wrinkled along its left side. The bottom of the page where the boarder would be has been eaten by time. There is writing on the page beginning almost at the top of the page and running all the way to the bottom. All of the writing is centered on the page.
The book’s title “The Holy Bible Containing the Old and New Testaments” encompasses the first quarter of the right page. The second quarter of the page contains the book's subtitle spread over six lines. The subtitle reads “With Arguments Appendixes to the Different Books, and Moral and Theological Observations Illustrating Each Chapter”. After the subheading roughly one eighth of the page is taken up by three lines of text. The first word of the first line is illegible due to the image's size. The second word is “by”. On the second line the first word is illegible, while the remainder of the line reads “Mr. Osterwald Professor of Divinity.” The third line is illegible. Under the author are two illegible lines of text with a thin black bar above and below the text. Centered roughly three fourths of the way down the page is a graphic of a forest. The graphic is too small to make out too many details. Below the graphic are two lines of text, likely the publisher's information.
Separate from and below the image of the Lincoln family bible are two signatures written with a pen dipped in ink. The top reads “Thomas Lincoln” in ornate cursive writing. Thomas’ signature has flourishes on the T and h in Thomas, and the first L in Lincoln. The bottom signature reads “Nancy Lincoln.” In between Nancy and Lincoln is an X with “her” above it and “mark” below. This indicates Nancy could not sign her name. The N in Nancy has a flourish to the left with a stem connecting to the N, and there is a flourish on the first L in Lincoln.
CAPTION: The Lincoln family bible.
CREDIT: © W.L. McCoy
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In 1811 the Lincolns moved 10 miles northeast to a farm on Knob Creek, where the soil was richer. Lincoln’s earliest memory was of this farm, helping his father plant pumpkin seeds. There the boy got his first taste of education in Caleb Hazel’s “ABC school,” or as Lincoln called it, a “blab school” because of the constant recitation. Lincoln’s views on slavery may have been formed at Knob Creek, as Hazel was an outspoken emancipationist, and the Lincolns belonged to an antislavery church. Life was better there, but the slavery issue, along with lawsuits over the titles to his farms, induced Thomas to move to Indiana. Late in 1816 the Lincolns crossed the Ohio River to the land where the child shaped in Kentucky grew to manhood.
DESCRIBING: A handwritten line of text, in a light brown typeface.
SYNOPSIS: The text, in Lincoln’s handwriting, reads, “My earliest recollection, however, is of the Knob Creek place.” The handwriting is in loopy cursive, and is somewhat hard to read. The letters, written with a pen dipped in ink, range in width from thick to thin. The commas are short, and there is a line at the end of the sentence. The handwriting is a light brown color, on a light peachy-brown background.
CAPTION: LIBRARY OF CONGRESS: LINCOLN'S HANDWRITING (BELOW AND AT TOP)
CREDIT: LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
DESCRIBING: A color photograph.
SYNOPSIS: A small color photograph of a landscape with a split-rail fence, trees, and a grassy lawn.
IN-DEPTH DESCRIPTION: Color photograph of a split-rail fence in front of a long grassy field. Tree-covered hills are in the far background.
The split rail wood fence zig-zags toward and away from the camera over the width of the picture from left to right. Each rail appears to be around 10 feet long. The first five sections of the fence are stacked horizontally like fingers linked together. The last two sections are collapsed into a pile of rails.
On the far right of the picture is the left section of a large tree trunk with large tree limbs. Numerous small limbs covered in green leaves are seen in the upper half of the picture and covering most of the cloud covered sky. In the foreground is a grassy lawn with shadows of leaves darkening the lighter green grass.
Behind the fence is a long grassy lawn ending at the tree covered hills in the far background.
CAPTION: Views of hills, or knobs, surrounding Knob Creek Farm.
CREDIT: W.L. McCoy
RELATED TEXT: View of hills, or knobs, surrounding Knob Creek Farm.
DESCRIBING: A small color photograph.
SYNOPSIS: A small color photograph of a cabin. There is a sidewalk leading up to the cabin. There are trees in the background, and a stacked split-rail fence in the foreground.
IN-DEPTH DESCRIPTION: Picture of a log cabin. A portion of a split-rail fence is in the foreground and mature trees with bare limbs are in the background. In the foreground there is a wooden split rail fence. There are six rails stacked on top of one another on the ends in a zig-zag manner. Just behind is a bush with bare limbs.
The log cabin is rectangular and angled slightly right and is in the center of the picture. It is made up of square shaped logs ranging from dark brown to light tan. The spaces between the logs are filled in with mud that has dried to a light brown color. Seven logs make up the front of the cabin, seen on the right. The bottom portion of the narrow side of the cabin, seen on the left, is made of twelve logs. The last five logs create the peaked roof. There is a light tan color wood doorway in the center of the front section of the cabin. A dark wood door is closed in the opening. A small window to the right of the door is covered with wood from the inside, showing the window frame.
The roof is covered with six horizontal rows of light wood shingles. A tiny top portion of a wood chimney is exposed above the roof, the rest is hidden on the back side of the cabin.
A light grey, flat, paved concrete sidewalk enters from the left and ends at the door to the cabin. There is a short one-foot tall step up to the cabin door.
The split rail wood fence zig-zags toward and away from the camera over the width of the picture from left to right. Each rail appears to be around 10 feet long. The first five sections of the fence are stacked horizontally like fingers linked together. This is known as a split rail fence.
CAPTION: The reconstructed boyhood cabin at Knob Creek.
CREDIT: ©R. Blanton
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Almost 100 years after Thomas Lincoln moved from Sinking Spring Farm, a log cabin originally accepted as the birthplace cabin of Abraham Lincoln was placed in the Memorial Building. While the cabin is old and typical to the area, it is not the original Lincoln cabin. The National Park Service considers it a symbolic cabin.
New York businessman A.W. Dennett purchased the Lincoln farm in 1894 and had the cabin moved to a site near Sinking Spring. But shortly thereafter it was dismantled and reassembled for exhibition in many cities. In 1905 Robert Collier, the publisher of Collier’s Weekly, purchased the farm where Lincoln was born. Collier, along with Mark Twain, William Jennings Bryan, Samuel Gompers, and others, formed the Lincoln Farm Association in 1906 to preserve Lincoln’s birthplace and establish a memorial to the nation’s 16th president.
That same year, the group purchased the cabin and raised over $350,000 from 100,000 citizens to build a memorial to house the cabin. President Theodore Roosevelt laid the cornerstone in 1909. In 1911 President William Howard Taft dedicated the marble and granite memorial, designed by John Russell Pope. The neoclassical structure in a farm setting may seem grandiose for a man who wrote: “I was born, and have ever remained, in the most humble walks of life.” But the rough cabin within the memorial dramatizes the basic values that sustained Lincoln as he led the nation through its darkest period.
The memorial and Sinking Spring Farm were established as a national park in 1916 and designated Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historic Site in 1959. Abraham Lincoln Boyhood Home at Knob Creek became a unit of Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historic Site in 2001. This date marked the culmination of efforts by many individuals and groups, including the Kentucky General Assembly, the Kentucky Heritage Land Conservation Fund Board, the Larue County Fiscal Court, and the National Park Trust, to purchase this historic property from the Howard family, who had operated the site since the 1930s. In 2009 the site was redesignated a national historical park.
DESCRIBING: Horizontal color photograph.
SYNOPSIS: A horizontal photograph of a neoclassical gray building with six columns topped by an overhang and an entrance doorway in the middle. The building is surrounded on three sides by trees and grass with a bright, blue sky above.
IN-DEPTH DESCRIPTION: A color horizontal photograph of a neoclassical gray building with six columns topped by an overhang and an entrance doorway in the middle. In between the building’s columns are five clear windows, covered in shadow. The building is square, about 35 feet tall and about 36 feet wide and has a shallow peaked roof. There is a long, wide staircase with 56 steps leading to the gray building. The staircase has four landings and no railings. There are two small concreate benches on three of the landings, one on each side of the stairs. At the bottom of the staircase is a stone path that cuts through shrubbery. There is an illegible brown sign to the left of the stairs. On either side of the staircase are green shrubs, then leafy green trees and a bright blue summer sky. White text in the upper left corner of the photo reads "Creating the Park".
CAPTION: The Memorial Building protects the symbolic birthplace cabin.
DESCRIBING: A small historic black and white photograph.
SYNOPSIS: Small, horizontal, black and white photograph of a small cabin.
IN-DEPTH DESCRIPTION: An old black and white image showing the "Symbolic Birth Cabin". The cabin is a rectangular wooden structure made out of logs that are stacked one on top of the other. There is a peaked wooden roof with rough, wooden logs laid long-ways across the top of the roof. The logs are oriented near to far on the roof. Some of the logs are longer and hang over the edge of the roof. On the left side of the cabin, there is a log chimney extending a few feet out from the middle half of the cabin. The chimney is made out of the same rough-looking wooden logs that make up the rest of the cabin. The chimney is large at the base and then tapers in width to the top of the chimney that ends just under the roof’s edge. There is a white, wooden door in the middle of a long wall and a small window opening to the left of the wooden door. Underneath the photo there is text that reads: “The cabin before its placement inside the Memorial Building.” The cabin appears to be sitting on a grassy surface.
CAPTION: The cabin before its placement inside the Memorial Building.
CREDIT: NPS
RELATED TEXT: The cabin before its placement inside the Memorial Building.
DESCRIBING: Small a black and white photograph of a natural scene.
SYNOPSIS: A historic black and white photo of two men near the Sinking Spring. The two men stand in front of the Sinking Spring, slightly right of the photographs center. The man on the left appears to be of advanced age while the man on the right appears to be middle aged. Behind the men is a dark cave, barely visible is the spring’s opening behind the man in the center of the photo. To their left is a dirt path, extending towards the camera. Around the spring are various trees and foliage.
IN-DEPTH DESCRIPTION: In the center of the black and white photo is the Sinking Spring. The spring is in a dark cave, with a partial rock outcropping creating a roof over the spring. Bearly seen through the darkness is the cave’s wall. A rough, creased opening texture, in a mix of gray and black. The shading results from the way light hits the cave wall. The cave floor is barely visible in the center of the photo. Two large grooves run along it from left to right. The grooves terminate into a large hole just right of center. In the hole lies the spring containing cool, refreshing water.
In front of the spring stands two men. Both men appear to be Caucasian, the man on the left appears to be of advanced age. His long chest length beard is light gray and white. He wears black pants, a white shirt with suspenders, and a hat with a wide brim that runs along the hat’s circumference. His head comes up to the halfway point of the cave wall. From the knees down his legs are obscured by a small hill. He hands a ladle presumably filled with water to the man on the right.
The man on the right is one third of the picture from the right. He is dressed rather well for standing so close to a cave. He wears a light gray pair of pants, a dark belt, a dark gray suit jacket, and a bowler hat. One hand appears to be in his pocket as the other reaches for the ladle. The man’s head reaches slightly past the roof of the cave. While his feet are obscured by leaves. The picture is too small to make out any further details for either of the men.
Behind the man on the right sits a young tree that extends above the spring. The tree rests on the spring’s roof. Blanketing the spring’s roof is a layer of leaves and vines. With some of the vines extending below the cave roof, in the center of the photo. In the photo’s foreground is a thin, young tree on the left-hand side of the photo, with vines drooping behind it. Shrubbery covers the left and right sides of the photo’s foreground. On the photos extreme right is a portion of a large tree with vines crawling up it. With the dirt path sitting in the middle of the photo.
CAPTION: Sinking Spring as it appeared when the Lincolns lived nearby.
CREDIT: ©W.L. McCoy
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Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park is about three miles south of Hodgenville, Kentucky, on U.S. 31E and KY 61. Knob Creek Farm, Lincoln Boyhood Home is 10 miles northeast of park headquarters on U.S. 31E.
DESCRIPTION: This area map shows the location of Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park in relation to major roads and cities near Interstate 65.
Synopsis: This is a small color wayfinding map of the north central portion of Kentucky and with a small portion of south-central Indiana. On the upper left corner of the map, Indiana and Kentucky are separated by the Ohio River. Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park is located at the Southern corner of the map in Kentucky, just south of Hodgenville. The Knob Creek Farm Lincoln Boyhood Home is located just northeast of Hodgenville and Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park. Both locations are located along US Highway 31E.
Louisville, Kentucky is located at the top center of the map. Several major roads lead south to the park, including Interstate 65 and US Highway 31E.
This is a wayfinding map of the southern border of Indiana and the northern border of Kentucky, where the states are separated by the Ohio River. Louisville, Kentucky is a large city at the top of the map. To the southwest of Louisville is Fort Knox, a nearby military base. Interstates 64, 65, 264, and 265 and Highways 31W, 31E and 150 are featured on the map.
A north arrow sits along the maps right edge, one fourth of the way from the top. The arrow points to the top of the map.
A scale is located above the north arrow. The scale depicts kilometers and miles.
The Ohio River depicted as a thick blue line enters the map at the top, along the left-hand side and generally runs southwest until it reaches just north of Fort Knox, where the river turns to the west. The Ohio River separates Kentucky and Indiana. Along the river’s southwestern bank is the City of Louisville (55 miles from the park) depicted by a light-yellow blob due to the city’s size. Louisville is located at the map's extreme north and is centered one fourth of the way from the top of the map.
Southwest of Louisville and south of the Ohio River is Fort Knox. Fort Knox (30 miles from the park) is depicted as a light gray blob due to its large size and is in the maps left, centered, and roughly halfway between Louisville and Elizabethtown.
Elizabethtown’s location is denoted by a small, yellow dot. Elizabethtown (15 miles from the park) is located south of Fort Knox and north of exit 91.
The town of Hodgenville’s location is denoted on the map by a small, yellow dot. The town is located 3 miles north of the Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park and is off of US Highway 31E.
Bardstown (28 miles from the park) depicted by a small, yellow dot is northeast of the Birthplace and Knob Creek locations along US Highway 31E. The town is south of Louisville and almost directly east of Fort Knox. It is located 27 miles northeast of Elizabethtown.
On this map, interstates and parkways are designated as thick red lines. Smaller roads, like highways and state routes, are designated by thin black lines. The Lincoln Parkway is denoted by a thin, bright red line.
On the top left corner just under the word Indiana the map reads “to Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial”. Interstate 64 runs east and west through the map and enters the map on the top left near this text, indicating that the visitor can take I 64 west to visit Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial. I 64 navigates east over the Ohio River, then curves south through north Louisville and exits the map on the right side, roughly a quarter of the way down from the top. Interstate 264 bypasses I 64 through Louisville.
Interstate 65 runs north and south through the map. I 65 enters the map at the top, nearly at the halfway point. It then travels over the Ohio River and through Louisville, Kentucky, heading south and southwest. Two-thirds of the way down the map on I 65, the Blue Grass Parkway begins and leads east toward the town of Bardstown, My Old Kentucky Home State Park, and Lincoln Homestead State Park.
Exit 91 is located at the junction of I 65, highway 61, 31W and the Western Kentucky Parkway just south of Elizabethtown. At that exit, a visitor can take US highway 31W north to Fort Knox, or highway 61, the Lincoln Parkway, south to the park. One may also take the Western Kentucky Parkway west, where it exits the map.
Further south on I 65, exit 81 is labeled. At that exit, one may take highway 84 northeast to highway 61 southwest to Hodgenville. On the bottom of the map to the right of I 65 text reads “To Mammoth Cave.”
Visitors from Louisville may also take highways 150 and 31E south. This road leads to Bardstown where it splits. From the split, highway 31E runs southwest through Hodgenville and by the park locations then exits the map at the bottom. Highway 150 runs southeast to the right edge of the map.
From I 264, which loops around Louisville, visitors may take highway 31W and highway 60 south. This road begins where it intersects I 264 near the top of the map, then continues south-southeast until the Fort Knox area. Near Fort Knox, highway 60 splits off and continues west, where it exits the map about halfway down the left edge. Highway 31W continues south, through Elizabethtown, and joins I 65 at Exit 91.
Note that there are two locations of the Abraham Lincoln Birthplace that are separated by 10 miles. The two locations are Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park and Knob Creek Farm Lincoln Boyhood Home. The Birthplace is located about three miles south of the town of Hodgenville off highway 31E. The Knob Creek Farm Lincoln Boyhood Home is located about eight miles north of the town of Hodgenville, off highway 31E.
Near the bottom right corner of the map, there is small green text that says, “Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park”. There is a small, thin green line extending to the left of this text, which points to a small, green rectangle that denotes the location of the park. The park sits just to the west of Highway 31 E and just to the south of the town of Hodgenville. Hodgenville is labelled in small black text and is designated on the map by a small, yellow dot.
Near the bottom right side of the map there is small, green text that says “Knob Creek Farm Lincoln Boyhood Home”. There is a small, green line extending to the left of the text, at an angle pointing downward to a small, green rectangle that denotes this location. This rectangle sits just to the west of highway 31E and north of the town of Hodgenville.
DESCRIBING: Full-color vertical photograph of a creek and trees.
SYNOPSIS: Full-color vertical photograph of a creek and trees. The creek is shallow and rocky, filled with leaves. Trees frame the top half of the photo, and a light blue sky is seen at the top of the photo above rolling hills.
IN-DEPTH DESCRIPTION: Vertical, full-color photograph. At the bottom is Knob Creek: a shallow, rocky creek with many brown leaves littering the surface of the water. The creek takes up the bottom half of the photo.
Midway up the photo on the left is a sunny patch of grass, surrounded by trees with green and yellow leaves. On the right is a fallen log.
Moving up the photo, there is a forest of thin trees with dark trunks and broad flat leaves in shades of green, yellow, and orange. Sunlight streams through the scene, which is reflected in the water of the creek below. The scene feels like it could be fall.
A patch of light blue sky can be seen at the top of the photo, above the outline of rolling hills.
CAPTION: Knob Creek at Lincoln Boyhood Home, where Lincoln lived for five years.
CREDIT: ©W.L. MCCOY
Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park
2995 Lincoln Farm Road
Hodgenville, KY 42748-9707
270-358-3137
www.nps.gov/abli
Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park is one of over 400 parks in the National Park System. To learn more about parks and National Park Service programs in America’s communities, visit www.nps.gov.
LOGO: a small, black, rectangular box with a cut-out of an arrowhead shape in the middle of the black, rectangular box. To the right of the small, rectangular box are the words: "National Park Foundation" in bold, black text.
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www.nationalparks.org
RELATED TEXT:
A Walking Tour
Thomas and Nancy Lincoln moved to Sinking Spring Farm in 1808, 16 years after Kentucky became a state. They could visit a few stores, but they were mostly self-reliant for food, shelter, and tools.
Follow the 0.7-mile Big Sink Trail through the Lincoln farm site. Learn about the resourceful, hardworking family’s life from numbered signs along the way.
You may picnic and hike in the park. Camping is not allowed. Please leave things as you find them so others can enjoy them.
About Your Visit
Abraham Lincoln lived at the Knob Creek Farm,10 miles east of the site of the birthplace cabin, from 1811 until 1816. Facilities and services at the Knob Creek Farm are limited. Please ask for information at the Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park visitor center. Groups should arrange tours in advance.
Contact the park for hours of operation.
Emergencies call 911
For Your Safety
Use caution on steps and when crossing roads. Stay on trails to avoid poison ivy, briars, ticks, and venomous snakes. Lock your vehicle and store possessions out of sight. Stay off the walls beside the Memorial Building steps, and the walls at Sinking Spring, Boundary Oak, and the Plaza Area. For firearms regulations check the park website.
Synopsis: The map titled "Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park" shows all of Abraham Lincoln Birthplace Unit and the adjoining roads extending beyond the boundaries of the park and provides wayfinding information, points of interest, major roads, picnic area, visitor center, parking lots, and main trails.
A navigation arrow below the bottom of the map points to the top of the map showing North. Under the arrow is a scale showing meters and feet.
The entire park map is shown in light green. The entire border of the park is denoted by a thick, dark green line that extends around the exterior edges of the entire map. All roads and parking areas are shown as thick brown lines. All park trails are labeled by black dotted lines and each one is labeled with their name in small black letters.
A navigation arrow below the bottom of the map points to the top of the map showing North. Under the arrow is a scale showing meters and feet.
The entire park map is shown in light green. The border of the park is denoted by a thick, dark green line that extends around the exterior edges of the map. All roads and parking areas are shown as thick brown lines. All park trails are labeled by black dotted lines and each one is labeled with their name in small black letters.
The shape of the park resembles a triangle with two protrusions, one is at the top right and the other is at the parks bottom left. The Northern most park boundary creates a pentagon (a 5 sided shape) with a narrow opening on the south side. The boundary then extends to the far western portion of the park angling southwest to form a point. The boundary makes a sharp turn to the Southeast before creating a box shape, then angles slightly to the East. The parks Eastern boundary line runs North to the pentagon shape. At the very top of the maps northernmost point, to the right of US highway 31E is text in small black letters reading, “To Hodgenville and Abraham Lincoln Boyhood Home.”
Some areas of the park are not accessible via trail or road.
The entrance to the Visitor Center is toward the bottom of the map, to the west of US Highway 31E and state route 61. The road travels west into the parking area. The road is depicted by a small brown line traveling to the west. Above the Parking Area (denoted by a brown oval) is a small black rectangle, and to the right of the rectangle in large green letters read “Visitor Center.”
The park’s visitor center has information provided by Rangers found inside along with a small museum, park orientation film (that is audio described and captioned) and a museum store. Accessible restrooms are located at the visitor center.
The parks trails are labeled by black dotted lines and with each trails name in small black letters. Above the black rectangle labeled Visitor Center, the trails text reads “Pathway of a President, wheelchair accessible.” A short walk from the Visitor Center along a black dotted line extends to the left indicating a short walk to the park’s Memorial Building. An illustration of the Memorial Building is depicted by a white set of stairs extending up to the white building and the building itself is shown with a white, peaked roof and columned front. Above the depiction of the Memorial Building is red letters reading “Memorial Building.” To the left of the Memorial Building is a black dotted line, denoting a trail and it is labeled in small black letters that read “Boundary Oak Trail.”
Other points of interest are the Sinking Spring and the Boundary Oak Tree. The Sinking Spring is a spur trail to the left of the Memorial Building stairs. The symbol for the spring, is a blue circle with a small, blue squiggle line extending south. To the left of this symbol are small blue letters which read “Sinking Spring.” To the West of the Sinking Spring and along the Boundary Oak Trail is a small, black circle with a black line extending beneath it to small, black letters that read “Site of the Boundary Oak.”
The entrance road to the Visitor Center is toward the bottom of the map, to the west of US Highway 31E and state route 61. The road travels west into the park. The road is depicted by a small brown line that extends into the park. Traveling down the entrance road there is a large brown rectangle to the south that is labeled in black letters “Overflow Parking Area.” Past this parking area, traveling in a straight line is a circular brown area labeled in black letters “Parking Area.” The Park’s visitor center is located on the map above the circular parking area.
The map is bisected by a major road, which is depicted by a thick brown line. This road is US highway 31E and state route 61, which intersects the park running North and South just right of the middle of the park. Keith Road begins where US highway 31E and state route 61 cross the northern park boundary. Keith road runs parallel to the park boundary, then curves south and east to cross the eastern park boundary. Just south of the park boundary, US highway 31E and state route 61 split at an upside-down Y. At the very top of the map at the northernmost point of US highway 31E is text in small black letters reading, “To Hodgenville and Abraham Lincoln Boyhood Home.” Some areas of the park are not accessible via trail or road.
To the right of US Highway 31E and state route 61, is the park’s picnic area. The picnic area is shown with a road, colored in brown, that ends in a loop. The parking area is designated by a thick brown line. There is a small black square to the right of the parking area; with black text above it reading “restrooms.” Underneath the restroom square is large black text that reads “Picnic Area.” To the right of the restrooms are black dotted lines depicting the picnic area’s trails. The trails extend in connected circular loops on the right side of the map. The trail is labeled with the name in black text, “Big Sink Trail.”
There is a smaller road that intersects the Big Sink Trail that is shown by a small brown colored line. Below the road in small black text, a label reads “Keith Road.” Keith Road enters from the right side of the brochure to intersect with the trail. To the right of Keith Road, on the righthand side of the map is text in red that reads: “Caution! Big Sink Trail crosses Keith Road twice. Be alert for traffic.”
We strive to make our facilities, services, and programs accessible to all. For information check the park website.