How to Enjoy Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial

Posted on May 1, 2020

The following is a guest post by Rhonda Schier, Superintendent of Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial, and offers guidance for enjoying the park safely and responsibly. Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial's 200 acres are a welcoming site for exercise and fresh air in a significant historic landscape! Open for visitor access is the cultural landscape known as the Allee that leads from the Visitor Center to the majestic flagpole and the Pioneer Cemetery where Abraham Lincoln's mother Nancy Hanks Lincoln is buried. Three hiking trails are also open in the park, offering views of the landscape that was the childhood home of Abraham Lincoln and his family from 1816 to 1830, a time period that influenced the development of Mr. Lincoln from a boy to a national leader.  The Lincoln Boyhood Trail and the Trail of Twelve Stones are one-half mile each, and the Nature Trail is one mile, and when combined as a walking, hiking, or running route, afford a refreshing loop that provides views of wayside exhibits, the bronze memorial cabin foundation, a majestic forest, open pastures, farm livestock, and fields with planted crops and vegetables. The park experience takes visitors back in time and back outdoors!  

Follow Health and Safety Strategies

Please utilize all the best precautionary strategies for health and safety as advised by our health officers and organizations to prevent overcrowding and ensure health and safety, including the following guidelines: 

Travel to the park solo or with your family group, remain six feet apart in the park, and respect other park users. Show courtesy by providing space on the trails as much as you can, keep moving without crowding or gathering.

Keep hands free from exhibits, objects, and benches. Keep dogs on leash, and please pack out what you pack in, including trash and pet waste.

Use restrooms before you arrive as the park has limited facilities in the form of one comfort station located at the second parking lot at the visitor pavilion near the farm site. Wash your hands before you arrive and after you depart and carry hand sanitizer to use where there is no running water.

As a health precaution, the cabin yard with the small reproduction cabin and carpentry shop will have a delayed seasonal opening because of the small, confined interior spaces.

Park information, learning activities, and Lincoln family history are available on the park's website. Digital education is posted on Facebook including photos, maps and videos. Changing times and modern modifications now bring you a virtual passport stamp for your National Park Service collection by visiting the park's website where park updates also will be posted.

Share a smile with others who are enjoying the open space as you watch for wildlife, birds, and beautiful varieties of spring and summer blooms!

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How to Enjoy Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial

Follow Health and Safety Strategies

Enjoy!