Abraham lincoln log cabin facts full#
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. During its short existence, the village was home to anywhere from 20 to 25 families at a time. When Lincoln lived in New Salem, the village was home to a cooper shop, blacksmith shop, wool carding mill, four general stores (including the Lincoln-Berry General Store), a tavern, a grocery, two doctors' offices, a shoemaker, a carpenter, a hat maker, a tanner, a schoolhouse/ church, several residences, common pastures, and kitchen gardens. Lincoln left New Salem and moved to Springfield, also in his election district, around 1837. While living here, Lincoln ran for the Illinois General Assembly in 1832, handily winning his New Salem precinct but losing the countywide district election.
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 or his general store and take his meals with a nearby family. During his stay, Lincoln earned a living as a shopkeeper, soldier in the Black Hawk War, general store owner, postmaster, land surveyor, and rail splitter, as well as doing odd jobs around the village. Lincoln arrived in New Salem by way of flatboat and he remained in the village for about six years. In 1831, when Abraham Lincoln's father, Thomas, relocated the family to a new homestead in Macon County, Illinois, 22-year-old Lincoln struck out on his own. The fact that the Sangamon River was not well-suited for steamboat travel was also a reason for the town's decline. Over the first few years of its existence, the town grew rapidly, but after the county seat was located in nearby Petersburg, the village began to shrink and by 1840, it was abandoned. They surveyed and sold village lots for commercial business and homes on the ridge stretching to the west above the mill. New Salem was founded in 1829, when James Rutledge and John Camron built a gristmill on the Sangamon River. The village is located 15 mi (24 km) northwest of Springfield, and approximately 3 mi (4.8 km) south of Petersburg. The Civilian Conservation Corps built a historic recreation of New Salem based on its original foundations in the 1930s. In 1921, a state park opened on the village site to commemorate Lincoln and Illinois' frontier history. 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. Lincoln left New Salem for Springfield in 1837, and the village was generally abandoned about 1840, as other towns developed. President 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's New Salem State Historic Site is a reconstruction of the former village of New Salem in Menard County, Illinois, where Abraham Lincoln lived from 1831 to 1837.
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