Backyard Adventures

BACKYARD ADVENTURES 2018 PIKE PUBLISHING 3E and giving demonstrations, and talking to visitors who come through about what they are doing and about growing up on the frontier and the impact that had on Abraham Lincoln," Capps added. The Lincoln Boyhood National Memo- rial also features the Lincoln Boyhood Trail – which connects Nancy Hanks Lincoln's grave site with the Living Historical Farm – and the Trail of Twelve Stones which, combined, form a loop of about one mile. The Trail of Twelve Stones, which be- gins just east of the Cabin Site Memorial, contains 12 historic stones arranged in chronological order at irregular intervals. Small bronze tablets located near each stone briefly explain the events in Lincoln's life associated with each of the memorial stones. "That, again, dates from the state park period," Capps said. "When they were devel- oping the park, the initial thrust of build- ing the park was centered on preserving Nancy's grave site. That was really what got things started. And then they began to kind of expand from there, and the Cabin Site Memorial was built in, I think, 1933. "At that time, it was felt that there needed to be a way to kind of symbolically, as well as physically, connect the grave site with the Cabin Site Memorial," Capps added. "So one of the gentlemen who was involved in the work came up with this idea of this Trail of Twelve Stones." A third trail – the Boyhood Nature Trail – loops about one mile through the woods north of the Living Historical Farm. Capps said that the Lincoln Boyhood Na- tional Memorial – which does not charge an entry fee – averages approximately 150,000 visitors a year, most of which, he added, comes during the summer time. "This time of year right now, April through May, we get a lot of school kids, on their spring field trips," Capps said. "Most of our visitation tends to be somewhat regional – Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Ohio – but we get them from all across the country and from overseas as well." Paul and Lynn Kilburn, of Denver, Colo., were recent visitors who had, one day ear- lier, visited the Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park in Hodgenville, Ky. "We like the back routes, but getting to Lincoln's Birthplace, we got so lost," Lynn Kilburn said. "The freeways are helpful." "It was wonderful," Paul Kilburn said. "They had it marked beautifully. It was where they said it was going to be." Paul Kilburn described Abraham Lincoln as "one of our heroes." "I didn't know that his mother died of milk sickness," he said. "That was tragic." Capps said that the Kilburns and others often make the Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial one of several visits to area sites related to the 16th president, including the Lincoln Home National Historic Site in Springfield, Ill. "Sometimes they don't always do it chron- ologically, but we do have visitors who say, 'Well, I've been to the Lincoln Home and I'm here now and I want to go to the Birthplace next,' or various combinations of that sort of thing, where they're purposely wanting to visit these sites associated with him," Capps said. "That does happen." "Honestly, though, we're just south of Interstate 64, so we get a lot of people that just see the signs and decide to stop, to see what's here," Capps added. The Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial is open every day except Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day and New Year's Day. The Memorial Visitor Center is open through Nov. 4 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Central time. The Lincoln Living Historical Farm is staffed daily through Sept. 30, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Central time. For more information about the Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial, call 812-937- 4541. This carved stone, called the Culver Stone, was donated by J.S. Culver, the contrac- tor for the reconstruction of Abraham Lincoln's tomb in Springfield, Ill., to serve as a headstone for the grave of Lincoln's mother, Nancy Hanks Lincoln. Dedicated on Oct. 1, 1902, the stone marked Nancy Hank Lincoln's grave until 1933, when it was relocated to the Trail of Twelve Stones at the Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial. A sign located just outside the Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial's Memorial Vis- itor Center provides a short history of the park, which is located off U.S. 231 on State Highway 162 in Spencer County. The Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial's Living Historical Farm, located on four of the original 160 acres owned by Thom- as Lincoln, is a recreated 1830s homestead that is staffed by people in period clothing, doing various pioneer-type activities and chores and giving demonstrations, and talking to visitors. This marker, located next to the Lincoln Boy- hood National Memori- al's parking lot directly across from the Memo- rial Visitor Center, pro- vides information about Abraham Lincoln's moth- er, Nancy Hanks Lincoln, whose gravesite is located just beyond the flag pole.

• Cover