🇺🇸 WEEKLY AMERICAN HERITAGE: Lincoln Home National Historic Site

(Explore the history and landscape of the United States as we approach the 250th anniversary of American Independence. Get out your atlas and almanac and follow along!)

Illinois is our homeschool state-of-the-week, so why not spend a few minutes today with your students learning about one of Illinois’ important historical places: the Lincoln Home National Historic Site, which preserves and interprets the home and neighborhood that Abraham Lincoln lived in from 1844 to 1861.

“Abraham Lincoln believed in the ideal that everyone in America should have the opportunity to improve their economic and social condition. Lincoln’s life was the embodiment of that idea. We know him as the sixteenth president but he was also a spouse, parent, and neighbor who experienced the same hopes, dreams, and challenges of life that are still experienced by many people today.”

For seventeen years, the house at Eighth and Jackson Streets in Springfield, Illinois was home to Abraham Lincoln and his family. Purchased shortly after the birth of their first son Robert, the home sheltered the family through the birth of their remaining three sons and the death of their son Eddie, and had been the center of Lincoln’s life as a husband and father. Abraham Lincoln was elected to be the 16th President of the United States on November 6, 1860. The family had three short months to prepare for their move to Washington, D.C. As they made the many decisions related to such a significant move, they had to decide if the home would be a part of their future, as well as their past. The home was rented rather than sold and their best furniture placed in storage for their eventual return.

But on April 15, 1865, an assassin’s bullet took the life of President Lincoln. Mary Lincoln faced a lonely future and wrote that she “could not bear to return to the scenes of the happiest times in my life without my family.” The Lincoln Home remained rental property until Lincoln’s son, Robert, donated the home to the State of Illinois in 1887 to be protected and preserved for future generations. In 1972 the home was conveyed to the United States of America, which through the National Park Service continued the State’s work in preservation and restoration of the home, along with acquisition and restoration of the surrounding four-block neighborhood. (nps.gov)

You can find a wealth of additional information about the Site’s history, landscape, location(s), and visitor facilities on the webpage for the Lincoln Home National Historic Site from the National Park Service, and also on the Park’s page on Wikipedia.

Explore America’s National Parks, National Historical Parks, National Historic Sites, National Monuments, and more via Wikipedia and via the U.S. National Park Service’s website today.

What American treasures are you and your students exploring in your homeschool this Orion Term? 🇺🇸

❡ The great globe itself: This is one of our regular Homeschool Geography posts featuring important natural and historical sites in the United States. Print your own copy of our River Houses American Heritage Calendar and follow along with us, and add your name to our weekly mailing list to get great homeschool teaching ideas delivered right to your mailbox all through the year. 🌎

❡ We set to-day a votive stone: If you want a great long-term history and geography project for your homeschool, explore the Historical Marker Database online (hmdb.org) and make a plan to find all the markers that are listed in your local area. Add any new ones you know of that are missing, and add new photos or descriptions for the ones already included. Your students will gain a better appreciation for your local community and will learn a wealth of new information about history and geography. 🏛️

❡ Print this little lesson: Down at the bottom of this post you’ll find a special “Print” button that will let you create a neat and easy-to-read copy of this little lesson, and it will even let you edit and delete sections you don’t want or need (such as individual images or footnotes). Give it a try today! 🖨️

❡ Books in the running brooks: You can always turn to your River Houses atlas and almanac for more information about any of our homeschool states-of-the-week. The almanac has detailed profiles of all the U.S. states and territories, and the endpapers of the atlas are indexes that will show you where all of the individual national and regional maps may be found. 📚

❡ Homeschool calendars: We have a whole collection of free, printable, educational homeschool calendars and planners available on our main River Houses calendar page. They will help you create a light and easy structure for your homeschool year. Give them a try today! 🗓️

❡ Support our work: If you enjoy our educational materials, please support us by starting your regular Amazon shopping from our very own homeschool teaching supplies page. When you click through from our page, any purchase you make earns us a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you for helping us to keep going and growing! 🛒