Lincoln Boyhood's Farm Buildings Get New Roofs Through the Great American Outdoors Act

A worker in safety gear putting a new roof on the log barn. NPS / Schier.

The Living Historical Farm at Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial in Indiana is being rehabilitated with money from the Great American Outdoors Act (GAOA) Legacy Restoration Fund.

The buildings

The work centers on the carpentry shop and log barn, built in the late 1960s from historic material as replicas of farm buildings on the 1820s Indiana frontier. They are key places for showing pioneer farming, letting visitors step back into the world where Abraham Lincoln grew from a boy into a young man.

The crew

A GAOA-funded Maintenance Action Team of craftspeople from the NPS Historic Preservation Training Center, which recruits, trains and employs people in traditional restoration trades, is doing the work.

The work

• Roof frames: refurbishing rafters, purlins and ridge poles of locally harvested oak, tulip poplar and black locust.
• Shingles: replacing about 2,000 square feet. The carpentry shop gets white oak shingles cut and split from southern Indiana forests, laid in a random pattern as a frontier builder would have.
• Hidden upgrades: locally harvested poplar, maple decking and underlayment to keep water out — installed so they can't be seen from outside, preserving the buildings' character.

The goal is to protect the structures better and extend their lives as popular exhibits.

"We are thrilled to have the MAT team at Lincoln Boyhood, having seen their exceptional work on a previous project here when they restored the sculptured panels at the Memorial Visitor Center and repaired the historic terrace," said Superintendent Rhonda Schier.

Visiting

The grounds are open dawn to dusk. Staff offer historical information and demonstrations in summer and for scheduled school groups. Hours and programs: Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial.

Sources

Based on "Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial farm buildings repaired with funding from the Great American Outdoors Act," National Park Service; a work of the United States government in the public domain.