Touring with President Lincoln, President Lincoln and 36 more President Lincolns
The Lincolns are coming, the Lincolns are coming — to Spencer County for the Association of Lincoln Presenters (ALP) 2016 convention, to be held April 14-17 near Lincoln’s boyhood home.
The ALP Convention coincides with Indiana’s Bicentennial of Statehood, which in turn coincides with the 200th anniversary of the Lincoln’s family’s move from Kentucky to Indiana the same year the state was born. Convention headquarters will be at Santa’s Lodge in Santa Claus, bringing Spencer County’s two most famous sons together (sort of) under one roof.
Several events are open to the public but two stand out as not-to-be-missed.
Interested in a once in a lifetime opportunity? A chance to spend the day with not one, not two, not three, but 38 or so Abraham Lincolns as they tour the sites dear to the 16th president’s childhood heart?
On Saturday, April 16, area residents will have the chance to join a bus tour along with the Lincoln presenters to many places history has recorded as being of particular importance in the life of Abraham Lincoln between 1816 and 1830, the 14 years he wandered the woods and mud roads of the 19th state admitted to the Union.
Planned by Jim and Barb Hevron, who together count five of the Lincoln family’s neighbors among their ancestors, and organized by members of Think Lincoln, the decision was made to open the bus tour to the general public for this rare opportunity to visit Lincoln-related sites — with a passel of Lincolns. The Hevrons are Lincoln historians in their own right, and Jim will lead the tour on one bus while Bill Bartelt, a Lincoln historian and author from Newburgh will take the helm on the second bus.
The day-long tour will include a box lunch (see schedule below) and is being made available on a first come, first served basis. In addition, tour goers will receive, free, an illustrated guide to the Southern Indiana Lincoln sites included on the tour.
The cost is $50 per person and the deadline for registration is April 7.
Checks or money orders can be made payable to the Spencer County Visitors Bureau, marked for the bus tour and mailed to the Spencer County Visitors Bureau at P.O. Box 202, Santa Claus, Indiana 47579. Be sure to include the names of all who are joining the tour.
Buses will pick up all participants at Santa’s Lodge. The first bus will depart at 8:45 a.m. CDT, followed by the second bus at 9 a.m. Attendees should be at the lodge by 8:25 at the latest, and the tour will return at 4:20 p.m. — in plenty of time for those who would like to attend the gala dinner, with fine food, live entertainment, dancing and a silent auction, Saturday evening at 7 p.m. The cost for this event is $28 per person and period attire is required.
What — no hoop skirt? Contact Diane Unfried (dianafayu@gmail.com, phone 812-431-7549) or Nancy Kaiser (njwkaiser@gmail.com) for assistance with costuming.
Registration deadline for the Gala is also April 7, and the cost is $28 per person. Checks should be made payable to the Spencer County Visitors Bureau and sent to the address listed above.
On Friday, April 15, several activities are open to the public.
About 10 ALP members will give presentations to area schoolchildren on various aspects of the president’s life in Lincoln Amphitheatre from 9:30 to 11 a.m. CDT. The talks promise to be fascinating and everyone is welcome to attend.
Talks by local historians scheduled in the afternoon at Santa’s Lodge (1:30-4:30 p.m.) are also open to the public. Duane Walters will speak on Lincoln’s flatboat trip to New Orleans, as well as the recreation of that trip in both 1959 and 2009. Michael Crews will give a presentation on Lincoln’s Neighbors and the Lincoln Heritage Trail will be Warren Greer’s topic.
Sunday morning church services will be held at the Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial starting at 10 a.m. CDT and will be led by Pastor Joe Kamman.
Itinerary for Lincoln Presenters Touring Sites
NOTE: All participants will receive a tour book with information about the locations to be visited.
Buses pick up participants at Santa’s Lodge on Saturday, April 16. First bus will start loading at 8:30 a.m., and second bus no later than 8:45 a.m.
• First stop: Lincoln Ferry Park on the banks of the Ohio and Anderson Rivers where Abe Lincoln worked as a youth for James Taylor, farming, slaughtering hogs and operating a ferry boat along with whatever else was needed. (Lincoln later said it was the hardest work he ever did.)
• Travel to Troy for an up close vista of the Ohio River and the historic sign on Abraham S. Fulton.
• Continue to Cannelton to view the historic Cotton Mill, built in 1850.
• Cross Ohio River into Hawesville, Kentucky and travel along the Ohio River past Emmick Landing — the location of the Thompson Ferry in 1816 when the Lincolns crossed into Indiana.
• Continue along the river and stop at the Pate House which was built in 1822. In this house 18 year-old Abraham Lincoln was brought into court and charged by the Dill brothers with ferrying people across the Ohio without a permit to do so. Squire Samuel Pate presided over the 1827 trial and sided with Lincoln.
• Continue west and north crossing the Ohio River back into Indiana and to Rockport, passing the location of the old Rockport Inn where Lincoln spent the night in 1844. Continue along the river past the bluff to where the flatboat departed in 1828 with Allen Gentry and Abraham Lincoln on board going to New Orleans.
• Travel up the bluff past the court house where Lincoln spoke in 1844 and on to the Lincoln Pioneer Village and Community Building in Rockport.
• Enjoy a box lunch and then a tour of Lincoln Pioneer Village.
• Travel to Gentryville and along the way learn about the Romine Cemetery and Matthew Gentry. Journey to the east of where Lincoln went to the third school kept by Azel Dorsey.
• Proceed to the William Jones home where Lincoln spent the night in 1844. Gentryville is also the site of the Romine Gentry Store and the James Gentry home, Store and post office where Lincoln worked.
• At Lincoln State Park stop at Lincoln Amphitheatre where Dean Dorrell portrays President Lincoln during the play A. Lincoln: A Pioneer Tale is performed, and Gordon Mill site where Lincoln was kicked by a horse and ‘killed for a while’.
• Next stop, Old Little Pigeon Baptist Church and cemetery where the Lincolns attended church and where Lincoln’s sister, Sarah, and her baby are buried and also some of the Lincoln family’s neighbors. Church was organized in 1816 and still meets today, so this is also the church’s 200th anniversary.
• Lincoln Bicentennial Plaza, constructed to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Lincoln’s birth.
• David Turnham historical marker in front of Heritage Hills High School. The Turnham farm and home were located about one mile north of the sign. Lincoln read the law book, Revised Laws of Indiana in their cabin.
• Site of ‘Crossroads voting place’ where Lincoln spoke and he refers to the site in a letter he wrote to David Turnham, dated October 23, 1860.
• Follow the section line the Lincolns used to reach their property in 1816 on return to Santa’s lodge.
