101 Places to See Before You're 12 - A Hero's Home

A Hero's Home

(I don't think David was as excited as I was to pose as Abe and Mary Todd Lincoln.)

OK, here's a little more enthusiasm.

Last weekend we got to make some impromptu stops on our way back from visiting family.  One stop we made was to visit Abraham Lincoln's Birthplace and Museum. 

When we started looking at the "101 Places" book earlier this year, I asked the boys who they considered a "Hero".  They both agreed on Abraham Lincoln, which worked out nicely since we live in his part of the country :)

Abraham Lincoln was born in Kentucky and lived there until he was a young boy.  Then his family moved to Indiana, then to Illinois.  All of these states have memorials and tributes to him.

Our first stop in Hodgenville, Kentucky was the Abraham Lincoln Museum.

Then we went to the beautiful park that has a memorial to his birthplace.

This is the memorial that houses his symbolic birth home.  It is over 100 years old and is under renovation at this moment so we could not go in, but we could climb the 59 stairs that symbolize the 59 years of his life.

All around the memorial are trails and paths.  There were several families having picnics on this really hot summer day. 

This is a scan of a postcard of the symbolic first home of Abraham Lincoln - where he was born.  It's inside the building above that we could not go into.

When Abraham Lincoln was running for president, an investigator went to this area of Kentucky to see if the soon-to-be famous president's original birthplace was still intact since it would soon become a place Americans would want to visit.  There was some confusion, but it turns out that by that time the home no longer existed.  So this symbolic representation was built.

In the National Park building at the park, this beautiful bronze statue of Abe's parents, his sister Sarah, and himself as a baby greets us.

We feel like we have gotten to see quite a bit of Abraham Lincoln's tributes and important locations in our recent travels.

In October 2008 we went to Washington, D.C.  The Lincoln Memorial became Brennan's favorite memorial.  He took this photo below as a 6 year old.

Here he is in front of his favorite spot.

We also toured past the Ford Theater where Lincoln was shot.

From the Book:

#90 - A Hero's Home

Brave.  Determined.  Inspiring.  Unforgettable.  Those are all words that describe the greatest leaders, the people whom we know as heroes.  They come from different backgrounds - some rich, some poor, some well educated, others self-made.  But somehow they became people that we've all heard of and admire.  When you visit the home of a hero, you learn something about his or her story and contributions to history.  But more than that, you leave with the impression that one person really can change the world, and that's reason enough to try.