The Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park is a two-site park, with the more northern site the Lincoln Boyhood Home at Knob Creek, which is about 10 miles from the Birthplace site. The visitor center at the Boyhood Home is closed during the week, but the grounds crew working there told us feel free to roam the park, which we did. A 3-mile out and back trail runs through what was a farm when the Lincolns lived there, crossing a field and then running up hill through some woods to an overlook which really isn’t much of an overlook since you can’t see anything. But, it was a pleasant walk with the dogs, and the usual National Park informational signs explained the history of the area before, during, and after the Lincolns’ residence.
The trail was very peaceful, and we didn’t see anyone else on it either out or back.
The building on the other side of the meadow is the visitors’ center for the site, which was a tavern shortly after the Lincolns left the property. The field itself was the site of a Boy Scout Jamboree in the 1950s where to get the award for the event, they had to hike over 10 mlles to the field carrying all their stuff, set up the camp, and then hike another 10-plus miles the next day to the end of the trail and get there before 4PM. Then, they had to recite the Gettysburg Address from memory.
This is a replica of Lincoln’s boyhood home. Oddly enough, it’s identical to another replica of the house where he was born at the other site. Apparently house builders in the early 1800s were only selling one model.
We then headed to Lincoln’s Birthplace, which is more of a museum. The main feature of the site is a Memorial which houses a cabin representing the cabin where Lincoln was born, and makes clear that it is a reproduction. Other buildings are scattered around the site for historical relevance, although nothing is as it was when Lincoln was born. It was drizzling when we were there, so we left the dogs in the truck and had a quick wander before heading towards Mammoth Cave National Park.
After the difficulties finding a place to stay the night before, we did a more thorough job of scoping out our options for that night. Mammoth Cave National Park has a campground within walking distance of the cave, but basic campsites were about $50/night, which seemed extreme. I found a small city park in the town of Munfordville which was reported to allow overnight camping. It seemed too good to be true, but we decided to check it out. One of the warnings on the apps was that you need to go down a steep hill to get to the park, so we parked on a city street to walk down to the park to make sure we could make it. We just happened to park behind a city police car, so Tom talked to the officer to make sure it was actually okay to park there overnight. The officer assured him that it was, but said that checking the approach was probably a good idea. We walked down the hill with the pups and decided that it was fine, and went back for the truck. We pulled into the parking lot and backed into a space, just as the police officer pulled in with another patrol car. We had a brief “Oh, it was too good to be true” moment, but the two officers were there just to tell us that there were much nicer places we could park, and that the park would be a little busy in the early evening with kids’ soccer practice. At the officers’ recommendation, we moved to a site along the river next to a picnic palapa, and spent the evening watching soccer practice - although it really wasn’t very busy- and walking around the exercise trail that runs around the perimeter of the park. We were also entertained by Ty’s reaction to a life-sized bison statue, although we never figured out the significance of the statue since the park is named after a deceased town resident, Thelma Stovall, and doesn’t appear to have anything to do with bison. After dark, we were the only ones there, and it was great to spend a quiet night away from people.
