BGuthrie Photos: IL -- Petersburg -- Lincoln's New Salem State Historic Site -- Museum

IL -- Petersburg -- Lincoln's New Salem State Historic Site -- Museum:

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Copyrights: All pictures were taken by amateur photographer Bruce Guthrie (me!) who retains copyright on them. Free for non-commercial use with attribution. See the [Creative Commons] definition of what this means. "Photos (c) Bruce Guthrie" is fine for attribution. (Commercial use folks including AI scrapers can of course contact me.) Feel free to use in publications and pages with attribution but you don't have permission to sell the photos themselves. A free copy of any printed publication using any photographs is requested. Descriptive text, if any, is from a mixture of sources, quite frequently from signs at the location or from official web sites; copyrights, if any, are retained by their original owners.

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Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. NSALEU_090925_049.JPG: "An Unbroken Forest": Abraham Lincoln was born February 12, 1809, to Thomas and Nancy Hanks Lincoln on a frontier farm in Kentucky. The young boy and his older sister, Sarah, performed farm chores and for short periods attended local schools. In 1816, the family moved to the new state of Indiana, struggling to cut a farm out of what Abraham later described as "an unbroken forest." Lincoln remembered that, although only seven years old, he was given an axe and put to work clearing land for crops. Nancy Lincoln died in 1818. Thomas soon married Sarah Bush Johnston, a widow who brought children of her own to the new family.
2. NSALEU_090925_051.JPG: Glimpses of the World: Abraham continued to labor for his father and was sometimes hired out to work for others. In 1828, the nineteen-year-old helped merchant James Gentry float a boatload of goods down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers to New Orleans. It was Abraham's first look beyond his father's neighborhood. In 1830, Thomas moved the family to Macon County, Illinois, where his son again helped build a home and prepare land for crops. In early 1831, Abraham. now legally an adult and no longer subject to his father's direction, left the family to begin life on his own. He signed on with speculator Denton Offutt to build a flatboat and help float it, loaded with goods, to New Orleans. The trip provided Abraham Lincoln with his first look at New Salem.
3. NSALEU_090925_054.JPG: Odd Jobs: The rootless Lincoln settled in New Salem on his return from the New Orleans trip in the summer of 1831 and worked in a store operated by Denton Offutt. He also worked at the saw- and gristmill. Offutt's enterprise soon failed, leaving Abraham to make a living as best he could. He performed day labor, split rails, tended a still, watched over a store, carried election records to the courthouse at Springfield -- whatever came his way. Lincoln later recalled pondering the future and thinking that he might take up blacksmithing or the law. He never considered establishing a farm.
4. NSALEU_090925_058.JPG: Popularity and Respect: The young man's easy manner quickly made him popular with New Salem's residents. One likely result was his 1833 appointment as New Salem's postmaster, a position that paid a percentage of the receipts and allowed Lincoln to read newspapers that arrived in the office. That same year saw his appointment as deputy county surveyor. Lincoln became an accomplished surveyor and built a reputation for honesty. The part-time nature of the two government jobs left him free to pursue other interests, including his education.
5. NSALEU_090925_062.JPG: Three Terms of Service: In April 1832, Abraham Lincoln joined a company of volunteers raised near New Salem to help drive a band of Indians, led by Black Hawk, across the Mississippi River. The more than sixty neighbors making up the unit chose him as its commander by an overwhelming vote. It was his first election victory. Captain Lincoln and his men spent four weeks marching and counter--marching across western and northern Illinois. When the company's term of service ended, Lincoln re-enlisted, this time as a private. He later signed on for a third enlistment. Lincoln was discharged on July 10, 1832, at White River in today's Wisconsin, and returned to New Salem.
6. NSALEU_090925_067.JPG: Pride and Satisfaction: Lincoln returned to New Salem without having seen a single hostile Indian. Still, he took great pride in his service, especially in having been chosen as leader by his New Salem peers. In 1860, the Republican nominee for president of the United States wrote that he "has not since had any success in life which gave him so much satisfaction."
7. NSALEU_090925_070.JPG: "Readin, Writin, and Cipherin" Abraham Lincoln was largely uneducated on his arrival in Illinois. He attended Kentucky and Indiana "A.B.C." schools for less than a year, picking up, as he later wrote, the ability to "read, write, and cipher to the Rule of Three; but that was all." The youngster was later remembered to have read whatever the neighborhood provided, including biographies, primers, anthologies, and such classics as Aesop's Fables.
8. NSALEU_090925_073.JPG: Self-Education: The education that Lincoln later described as having been "picked up from time to time under the pressure of necessity" continued at New Salem. Some village residents later remembered that the young man stood out from others because of the time he spent reading. A good deal of it probably arose from his effort, beginning in 1832, to master the rules embodied in Samuel Kirkham's English Grammar, a common text of the period. The process of self-education continued through Lincoln's life. His apparent interest in mathematics led him, in the 1850s, to study and master Euclid's geometry. During the Civil War, the commander-in-chief, whose military experience consisted of brief service int he Black Hawk War, borrowed military texts from the Library of Congress.
9. NSALEU_090925_076.JPG: Candidate Lincoln: In March 1832, Abraham Lincoln declared himself a candidate for one of Sangamon County's four seats in the Illinois House of Representatives. A month later, Lincoln joined the volunteer army fighting the Black Hawk War and did not return to New Salem until two weeks before the August election. Though not elected, he won 277 of the New Salem's precinct's 300 votes. He ran again in 1834 and won. On December 1, 1834, Abraham Lincoln began the first of four terms as representative, taking his seat in the statehouse in Vandalia.
10. NSALEU_090925_080.JPG: Roads, Railroads, and Canals: Representative Lincoln enthusiastically supported the Whig party program that promoted commercial development through government construction of roads, railroads, and canals to connect isolated regions into an extended web of markets. Projects that would benefit New Salem area farmers and tradesmen, by making the river navigable by steamboats, were of special interest. A sweeping improvements program was authorized, but it failed, almost bankrupting the state. In early 1837, Lincoln played an important and controversial role in designating Lincoln as Illinois' new capital city.
11. NSALEU_090925_083.JPG: Lincoln's Surveying Tools: In late 1833, Abraham Lincoln was appointed deputy Sangamon County surveyor. The 24-year-old had no training but, as he remembered, "procured a compass and chain, studied Flint, and Gibson a little, and went at it." The part-time work, combined with his postmaster duties and other odd jobs, made it possible for the young man to "keep body and soul together." For over three years Lincoln ranged across northwestern Sangamon County (today's Menard and southern Mason counties) mapping new roads, determining farm boundaries, and platting towns. He soon developed a reputation for honesty and accuracy, resulting in requests to arbitrate boundary disputes. In 1834, the county sheriff seized and sold Lincoln's horse and surveying tools to help pay the debts of the failed store that Lincoln had owned with William F. Berry. A friend, James Short, purchased the surveying tools and returned them to Lincoln.
12. NSALEU_090925_087.JPG: New Salem Tradition: In 1829, James Rutledge and John M. Camron built a dam and a combination saw- and gristmill on the Sangamon River and laid out the town of New Salem on the overlooking bluff. The mill was the basis for the town's founding, but settlers also believed that the river would provide a trading connection to St. Louis by way of the Mississippi and Illinois rivers. New Salem was a commercial village that at its peak totaled about 25 families. The population was literate. There was an active social environment, including storytelling sessions, a debate society, church functions and farming activities. Politics was serious business as Illinois grew and organized itself. Abraham Lincoln was 22 when he arrived at New Salem in 1831. He lived here six years, participating in village life and trying his hand at various occupations before finding his calling as a lawyer and politician. New Salem existed a little over ten years. The village began to decline when it was determined that the Sangamon River could not be navigated by steamboats. Residents began to move to nearby towns, and by the early 1840s New Salem had ceased to exist.
13. NSALEU_090925_094.JPG: Lincoln's Surveying Tools: In late 1833, Abraham Lincoln was appointed deputy Sangamon County surveyor. The 24-year-old had no training but, as he remembered, "procured a compass and chain, studied Flint, and Gibson a little, and went at it." The part-time work, combined with his postmaster duties and other odd jobs, made it possible for the young man to "keep body and soul together." For over three years Lincoln ranged across northwestern Sangamon County (today's Menard and southern Mason counties) mapping new roads, determining farm boundaries, and platting towns. He soon developed a reputation for honesty and accuracy, resulting in requests to arbitrate boundary disputes. In 1834, the county sheriff seized and sold Lincoln's horse and surveying tools to help pay the debts of the failed store that Lincoln had owned with William F. Berry. A friend, James Short, purchased the surveying tools and returned them to Lincoln.
14. NSALEU_090925_107.JPG: Compass, staff, and chain used by Lincoln while deputy surveyor of Sangamon County. The instruments were manufactured by Rittenhouse and Company of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in the late 1700s. Although not Lincoln's, the surveying books by Abel Flint and Robert Gibson and the saddlebags are like ones he used. Leather saddlebags could carry notebooks, equipment, and provisions for a day's travel on horseback.
15. NSALEU_090925_112.JPG: Reading Law: Abraham Lincoln began to study law after his 1834 election to the Illinois House. The idea of studying law had arisen before, but he considered his lack of education to be a major stumbling block. He finally began regular study at the suggestion of John T. Stuart, a Springfield attorney and legislator who had met and been impressed by Lincoln during the Black Hawk War. The 25-year-old borrowed books from Stuart and read them during spare time. He also drew up basic legal documents for New Salem residents and argued minor cases before justice of the peace courts. On March 1, 1837, Lincoln's name was placed on the Illinois Supreme Court clerk's roll of attorneys, the final step in his admission to the bar.
16. NSALEU_090925_116.JPG: Riding the Circuit: On April 15, 1837, Abraham Lincoln left New salem to start a new life in Springfield. He began his legal career as the junior partner of John T. Stuart. Lincoln polished his writing, speaking, and persuasive skills in county courthouses scattered over central Illinois, and before the Illinois Supreme Court. Travel across the region provided Lincoln a chance to meet local political leaders, as well as regular citizens who visited on "court days" to listen to the speeches of opposing attorneys. His practice ran the full range of legal work. In the early 1850s, the railroads that were connecting rural Illinois to the larger world became an increasingly important part of his clientele.
17. NSALEU_090925_118.JPG: Member of the Opposition: In August 1846, Abraham Lincoln was elected to the U.S House of Representatives from the only Whig district in overwhelmingly Democratic Illinois. The new congressman made the war being fought with Mexico his subject of special interest. Shortly after talking his seat in December 1847, Lincoln made speeches attacking Democratic President James K. Polk. The congressman and most members of his party argued that the conflict was unjust aggression against a weak neighbor. In spite of misgivings about the war's legality and morality, Lincoln supported appropriations to supply troops in the field.
18. NSALEU_090925_122.JPG: One Term and "Retirement": Representative Lincoln's views on the Mexican War were well within the Whig party mainstream. They did not go over well in expansionist-minded central Illinois. Lincoln did not run for reelection in 1848. Some charged that he dared not run due to his unpopular stand against the war. Lincoln himself declared that the decision not to run was based on an agreement among party leaders to rotate the occupancy of Illinois' one Whig congressional seat.
19. NSALEU_090925_125.JPG: Re-Entering Politics: In 1849, Abraham Lincoln returned to Springfield and resumed his law practice. He became less politically active than he had been in years. That changed in 1854. Democratic Senator Stephen A. Douglas created a firestorm with his Kansas-Nebraska Act which allowed slavery in territories where it had been banned. Lincoln crisscrossed the state denouncing the law. In January 1855, he stood for election to the U.S. Senate as an "anti-Nebraska" candidate. Though defeated, Lincoln had established himself as an important spokesman for a new political movement.
20. NSALEU_090925_130.JPG: A Party Is Born: The explosive issue of expanding slavery soon split the Democrats and helped to kill the Whig party. In early 1856, Abraham Lincoln joined the new Illinois Republican party, a coalition of former Whigs and ex-Democrats standing against the expansion of slavery. He immediately turned his energies to developing its organization. In 1858, Lincoln, now a top state party leader, was declared the only choice of Illinois Republicans to oppose Stephen A. Douglas for the U.S. Senate. Lincoln met Douglas, a national leader of the Democrats, in a series of debates held throughout the state. Though the battle with Douglas ended in defeat, it brought Lincoln attention throughout the United States.
21. NSALEU_090925_132.JPG: The Country Divided: On November 6, 1860, Abraham Lincoln was elected president of the United States on a platform that called for the restriction of slavery to states in which it already existed. He did not win a single electoral vote in states south of the Ohio River. Even at home, the new president was less popular politically that personally. Lincoln split Sangamon County evenly with Stephen A. Douglas, but lost Menard County, the home of many old New Salem friends. The election of a Republican president resulted in a number of southern states declaring an end to their connection with the United States and the formation of a new Confederate States of America. Efforts to compromise the issues of slavery and reunion failed, and war began on April 12, 1861.
22. NSALEU_090925_137.JPG: Building in the Face of War: The Civil War came to be the greatest bloodletting in American history. The president was actively involved in all aspects of the war effort, even to the point of making suggestions about strategy to his generals. Even as the war effort consumed his attention, Lincoln's interest in the nation's commercial development was not forgotten. In 1862, he supported and signed legislation authorizing construction of the transcontinental railroad that would link the Pacific coast with the eastern states. He also approved the Homestead Act, which created opportunity for hundreds of thousands of families by granting parcels of federally owned land to anyone willing to settle on them.
23. NSALEU_090925_138.JPG: Assassination: Abraham Lincoln was shot on the evening of April 14, 1865, five days after the surrender of Robert E. Lee's Confederate army. He died the following morning. The assassination resulted in the publication of dozens of new Lincoln biographies. Many were recycled from works published during the 1860 presidential campaign, which celebrated Lincoln's youthful days as a common laborer.
24. NSALEU_090925_142.JPG: Old Friends Reminisce:: From 1865 to the end of the century, writers were provided with a growing stock of Lincoln lore. Much of it came from old friends and acquaintances from his New Salem days. William G. Greene, who claimed to have clerked with Lincoln in Denton Offutt's store, was especially happy to share his memories. Journalists and biographers seemed to find Greene and his stories irresistible. He continued to be a major source of New Salem traditions until his death in 1894.
25. NSALEU_090925_161.JPG: Life in the 1830s: New Salem owed its location to the mill built in 1829 by the town's founders, James Rutledge and John M. Camron. It was a combination saw- and gristmill powered by Sangamon River water pooled behind the milldam. It was, during its early years, the only mill in the area. The result was a lively business with a widespread clientele. In those days, rivers were important avenues of commerce in Illinois. Rutledge and Camron sold lots along the bluff near their mill to merchants and tradesmen who hoped that growing boat traffic and the mill's importance would make New Salem a center of commerce. After it was proven that steamboats could not easily navigate the Sangamon, the town gradually died out.
26. NSALEU_090925_171.JPG: Reconstruction: The Rutledge-Camron saw- and gristmill was "reconstructed" in the 1940s, after remnants of what was presumed at the time to be the original mill had been discovered. Other mills had occupied the same location since New Salem's decline, making it difficult to determine whether objects recovered here were from the 1829 structure. The historic mill had been constructed on the riverbank. The Sangamon River, however, gradually changed course, leaving the mill site and the "reconstructed" mill completely landlocked.
27. NSALEU_090925_175.JPG: Lincoln Arrives: Abraham Lincoln got his first look at New Salem in April 1831. He was 22 years old and had been hired by speculator Denton Offutt to help build a flatboat and transport a load of farm produce and live hogs to New Orleans. Offutt's crew also included Lincoln's cousin, John Hanks, and his stepbrother, John D. Johnston. Floating down the Sangamon River, the flatboat got stuck on New Salem's milldam. Witnesses later agreed that Lincoln and the others unloaded the boat but disagreed about what happened next. John Hanks told the story of how Lincoln borrowed an auger from New Salem's cooper, Henry Ontor. He used it to bore a hole in the flatboat's bow as it hung over the dam. Water was drained out of the boat, and the lightened vessel floated over the dam. William G. Greene, a village resident who saw the boat get stuck, claimed that the auger story had been made up "out of whole cloth."
28. NSALEU_090925_179.JPG: Life in the 1830s: New Salem was part of an economy based on commercial agriculture. Local farmers had their grain ground at the Rutledge-Camron mill, bartered their produce for imported eastern and European goods at the local stores, and employed village artisans like the cooper and the blacksmith.
29. NSALEU_090925_182.JPG: Lincoln Wins Respect: In the summer of 1831, Abraham Lincoln returned from New Orleans to New Salem. He went to work as a day laborer and clerked in Denton Offutt's store on the bluff overlooking the Rutledge-Camron mill. Offutt is said to have bet money that Lincoln could out-wrestle Jack Armstrong, the toughest of some local roughnecks known as "the Clary's Grove boys." The match took place near the store. Witnesses later disagreed about what exactly had happened. Some recalled that neither man could throw the other. Several remembered that Armstrong threw Lincoln unfairly, but that the newcomer took it in good humor while defiantly refusing to let Armstrong's friends collect bets from Offutt. Everyone remembered that Lincoln's good nature and bravery won the admiration of his new neighbors.
30. NSALEU_090925_185.JPG: Reconstruction: Most of the stories about Lincoln's life at New Salem come from the recollections of his friends and former neighbors, which were recorded many years after his death. Often, people claiming to have witnessed the same incident presented widely differing memories of it. Such conflicting evidence makes it impossible today to know with certainty which version of the wrestling match story -- if any -- is correct.
31. NSALEU_090925_189.JPG: Life in the 1830s: New Salem was a commercial village, not an isolated frontier outpost. It was linked by waterways to eastern and even European sources of goods, which were available in New Salem's stores. Items for central Illinois trade came up the Mississippi River to the Illinois River and then up the Illinois to Beardstown. Money was scarce, so local farmers bought on credit or bartered with their produce. Many of the items on display belonged to Samuel Hill, who was New Salem's most prosperous merchant. Later in life, his wife, Parthena Nance Hill, became a source of information about the village.
32. NSALEU_090925_197.JPG: Hopes were high in the spring of 1832 that a small steamboat, the Talisman, would successfully reach Springfield by the Sangamon River. Several men, including Lincoln, helped clear the river of snags and overhanging limbs as the boat made its triumphant way upstream past New Salem to Springfield. Rapidly receding water,s however, forced a hasty return trip. The Talisman barely cleared bottom, and part of the New Salem milldam had to be removed to let the vessel pass. The ill-fated voyage shifted attention from the river to improved roads as the transportation link for Sangamon County.
33. NSALEU_090925_207.JPG: Life in the 1830s: New Salem was a commercial village, not an isolated frontier outpost. It was linked by waterways to eastern and even European sources of goods, which were available in New Salem's stores. Items for central Illinois trade came up the Mississippi River to the Illinois River and then up the Illinois to Beardstown. Money was scarce, so local farmers bought on credit or bartered with their produce. Many of the items on display belonged to Samuel Hill, who was New Salem's most prosperous merchant. Later in life, his wife, Parthena Nance Hill, became a source of information about the village.
34. NSALEU_090925_210.JPG: The Berry-Lincoln Store: In 1832, Abraham Lincoln became a storekeeper. He went into partnership with William F. Berry, the son of a local preacher. Berry and Lincoln proved to be inexperienced storekeepers and faced stiff competition from the village's most successful merchant, Samuel Hill. Village residents gossiped that Berry drank too much while Lincoln spent his time reading newspapers and telling stories. Lincoln later recalled that the Berry-Lincoln store "winked out." He sold his interest in the store to Berry in April 1833.
35. NSALEU_090925_215.JPG: Reconstruction: The lack of surviving records makes it impossible to know with certainty what Berry and Lincoln sold in their store. It is possible, though, to develop an idea of what might have been stocked there. Some New Salem residents left recollections mentioning the store and the goods it sold. Research in newspapers and surviving ledgers and accounts of other 1830s Illinois stores adds to our knowledge of the kinds of items Berry and Lincoln likely traded.
36. NSALEU_090925_222.JPG: Life in the 1830s: James Rutledge held a prominent position in New Salem as one of the town's founders. Like many village residents, the South Carolina-born Rutledge came to Illinois in stages, settling for periods in Georgia, Tennessee, and Kentucky. He was remembered to have presided over many of New Salem's public gatherings and to have headed the debating society. Rutledges' family operated the village tavern, or inn, and was an integral part of the community until 1833. They then moved to a farm near Sand Rdidge, where Ann died in August 1835, followed by James on December 3, 1835.
37. NSALEU_090925_225.JPG: The Ann Rutledge Story: Ann Rutledge was the daughter of James Rutledge, a founder of New Salem who operated the village tavern or inn for a time. Several New Salem residents later told the story that Lincoln had fallen in love with Ann. Some said that he courted her and the couple actually became engaged. It was also said that when she died on August 25, 1835, Lincoln was grief stricken to the point of becoming temporarily mentally deranged. Modern historians quarrel over the truth of the Abe-loved-Ann story. Skeptics point out that there is not one shred of written evidence in Lincoln's hand to support the story. They also argue that the Rutledge family and many aging residents of New Salem may have waited to enhance their own importance by embellishing the relationship between one of their own and the future president. Believers have argued that there are many recollections of the romance and that the stories of old settlers are fairly consistent.
38. NSALEU_090925_230.JPG: Reconstruction: Most of what we known about New Salem comes from the recollections of former residents recorded many years after the village disappeared. William H. Herndon was Lincoln's last law partner. Hoping to write a biography of Lincoln, Herndon interviewed and corresponded with many of the old settlers. He collected the stories they told about New Salem, including that of the Abe-and-Ann love affair. Herndon's papers are now in the Library of Congress.
39. NSALEU_090925_234.JPG: Most of the objects in this case were owned by the James Rutledges and donated by descendents of this well-known New Salem family. The clock, displayed for many years in the Rutledge Tavern, was made around 1810 by Riley Whiting in Winchester, Connecticut. Its wooden works still operate. On April 30, 1828, President John Quincy Adams signed the land grant for James Rutledge's San Ridge property, located north of New Salem. It was at a farm on this land that Ann died in 1835. The Bible, printed in 1814 by Collins and Company of New York City, records Rutledge family births, marriages, and deaths. The Rutledge coffeepot was manufactured around 1826 by Boardman and Company of New York City. The bed coverlet is an exact copy of a Rutledge family original that is too fragile to display. The wooden bowl shows evidence of heavy use by family members.
40. NSALEU_090925_247.JPG: Recreating a Vanished Village: Joseph F. Booton of the state architect's office was in charge of designing New Salem's "reconstruction." Archeology provided him many clues. Booton also relied on the recollections of former residents. Some remembered that one of the Berry-Lincoln stores was the only frame building in town, and that Samuel Hill owned the only two-story home. Where there was no evidence, Booton made assumptions based on logic. He assumed, for example, that most of the village's stores had porches where people could father to pass the time of day or gossip.
41. NSALEU_090925_248.JPG: Reconstructing New Salem: All but one of the 23 major log buildings standing today in Lincoln's New Salem are hypothetical recreations. The only original building is the Onstot Cooper Shop, which has been altered over the years. The site of New Salem, thought to be threatened by commercial development, was purchased in 1906 by William Randolph Hearst and placed in the care of the Old Salem Cumberland Presbyterian State Chautauqua Association. In 1917, the newly formed Old Salem Lincoln League began marking streets and building locations, and in 1918 erected four structures on original sites. A year later, the property was deeded to the State of Illinois and designated a state park. The work of "rebuilding" New Salem began in 1932. The state raised twelve buildings between November 1932 and October 1933. In 1936-37, the state also "reconstructed" the Rutledge Tavern.
42. NSALEU_090925_255.JPG: The CCC in New Salem: The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), a Depression-era federal relief program, completed the "reconstruction" of New Salem. The CCC phase of the project began in August 1934 and continued until November 1941. The CCC refurbished Onston's Cooper Shop, erected seven additional buildings, began work on the Carding Mill, nearly completed the Saw- and Gristmill, and constructed appropriate outbuildings and fences. The Corps also added non-historic amenities to the park. They included new parking facilities, a small lodge building and walking trails with rest stops.
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Wikipedia Description: New Salem, Menard County, Illinois
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

New Salem is the name of a former village in Menard County (previously Sangamon County), Illinois, United States. It was located northwest of Springfield, approximately 3 mi (4.8 km) south of Petersburg. It was the 1831 homestead of future U.S. President Abraham Lincoln. It is not the same as the present village of New Salem in Pike County, Illinois.

Original New Salem:

New Salem was founded in 1828, when James Rutledge and John Camron built a gristmill on the Sangamon River. 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. The fact that the Sangamon River was not well-suited for steamboat travel was also a reason for the town's decline.

Lincoln arrived in New Salem by way of flatboat at age 22 and he remained in the village for about 6 years. During his stay, Lincoln earned a living as a shopkeeper, soldier in the Black Hawk War, general store owner, postmaster, land surveyor, rail splitter, as well as doing odd jobs around the village. 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 board (take his meals) with a nearby family.

The village was home to a cooper shop, blacksmith shop, four general stores, a tavern, a grocery, two doctors offices, a shoemaker, a carpenter, a hat maker, a tanner, a schoolhouse/church and several residences. During its short existence, the village was home to anywhere from 20-25 families at a time. It is important to remember that 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.

Lincoln's New Salem State Historic Site:

This village was rebuilt on foundations of the ...More...
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Directly Related Pages: Other pages with content (IL -- Petersburg -- Lincoln's New Salem State Historic Site) directly related to this one: [Display ALL photos on one page]:
- 2009_IL_New_Salem: IL -- Petersburg -- Lincoln's New Salem State Historic Site (112 photos from 2009)
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- 2009_IL_CWPT_New_Salem_090925: CWPT Grand Review (2009) in Springfield, IL -- Tour group: New Salem (36 photos from 2009)
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2009 photos: Equipment this year: I mostly used the Fuji S100fs. I've also got a Nikon D90 and a newer Fuji -- the S200EHX -- both of which are nice but I still prefer the flexibility of the Fuji. Overnight trips this year: Niagara Falls, NY, New York City, Civil War Trust conferences in Gettysburg, PA and Springfield, IL, and my 4th consecutive San Diego Comic-Con trip (including Los Angeles, Yosemite, Death Valley, Kings Canyon, Joshua Tree, etc). Ego strokes: I had a picture of a Lincoln-Obama cupcake sculpture published in Civil War Times and WUSA-9, the local CBS affiliate, ran a quick piece on me. A picture that I took at the annual Abraham Lincoln Symposium appeared in the National Archives' "Prologue" magazine. I became a volunteer with the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Number of photos taken this year: 417,000.
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