Trail of Twelve Stones

This stone is from the birthplace farm of Abraham Lincoln located near Hodgenville, Kentucky. NPS

The Gettysburg stone is stone 9 located along the Trail of Twelve Stones.  The plaque reads This rock from where President Lincoln stood when he delivered the Gettysburg Address November 18, 1863. NPS

**The Trail of Twelve Stones is a located at Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial. Mementos, or stones, along the trail leads visitors to appreciate the "stepping stones" in Lincoln's life.

It is a unique way to review some of the major events in Abraham Lincoln's life. Use this as a trail guide when visiting the park. Small bronze tablets are located near each stone, briefly explaining the events in Lincoln's life associated with each of the memorial stones.

Stone 1**

“Abraham Lincoln was born February 12, 1809, then in Hardin, now in the more recently formed county of Larue, Kentucky.”

For his first seven years, Abraham, with his sister Sarah, and his parents Thomas and Nancy Hanks Lincoln lived in Kentucky.

This stone was brought here from Lincoln’s birthplace farm (the Sinking Spring Farm) located near Hodgenville, Kentucky.

Stone 2

“He (Thomas Lincoln) removed from Kentucky to what is now Spencer County, Indiana, in my eighth year. We reached our new home about the time the State came into the Union.”

In December 1816, the Lincoln family moved to the 160-acre Indiana farm you are now standing on. Here, the Lincoln family lived for 14 years. Between the years 1917 and 1934 this stone monument (donated by the citizens of Spencer County) marked the location of the Lincoln cabin, 100 yards west of here.

Stone 3

As a teenager in Indiana (Abraham lived here from age 7-21), young Abe worked at many different jobs including that of clerk in a localstore. One store, owned by William Jones, was located three miles west of here.

This stone is from the foundation of that building.

Stone 4

Abraham Lincoln’s stepmother, Sarah Bush Johnston Lincoln, said that “newspapers were

had in Indiana as early as 1824 and up to 1830 when we moved to Illinois. Abe was a constant reader of them.”

Sixteen newspapers were published in Indiana during the mid-1820s. How many of these

papers reached the Lincoln family is not known. Certainly, occasional copies of the Vincennes Western Sun, the Corydon Gazetter, or the New Harmony Gazetter passed through Lincoln’s hands.

Before the Lincoln family’s departure from Indiana to Illinois in March of 1830, the family “passed through Vincennes, Indiana, where they remained for a day.” There Abraham visited the Elihu Stout Print Shop and viewed a printingpress for the first time.

This stone is one of the foundation stones from the Vincennes Western Sun

newspaper building.

Stone 5

“Abraham stopped indefinitely and for the first time, as it were, by himself, at New-Salem.” - A. Lincoln

From 1831 to 1837, Lincoln resided at New Salem, Illinois, supporting himself as a clerk, mill hand, soldier, storekeeper, postmaster, and surveyor. In 1832, Lincoln bought a half-interest in a store with William F. Berry. “They opened as merchants; of course they did nothing but get deeper and deeper in debt.” Lincoln’s career in “high finance” did not last long. Berry died, leaving Lincoln solely responsible for the store’s debts. By October 1833 “the store winked out.”

This stone is one of the foundation stones from the Lincoln-Berry store.

Stone 6

By the 1840s Abraham Lincoln was an up-and-coming young lawyer in the Illinois capital of Springfield. There, Lincoln met a charming young Kentucky woman, Mary Ann Todd.

“In November 1842 he married Mary, daughter of Robert S. Todd, of Lexington, Kentucky. They have three children, all sons -- one born in 1843 [Robert], one in 1850 [William], and one in 1853 [Thomas]. They lost one, who was born in 1846 [Edward died in 1850].” - A. Lincoln

These bricks are from the spacious, girlhood home of Mary Todd which was in Lexington, Kentucky.

Stone 7

The Executive Mansion (The White House) was the Lincoln family’s home from March 1861 until the President’s assassination in April of 1865. For the most part, Lincoln must have found White House life difficult. On a typical day Lincoln rose at 7 a.m. and worked for two hours before having breakfast with his family. From 9 a.m. to 1-2 p.m., Lincoln opened his doors to officials and ordinary citizens. At 4 p.m. he took a daily carriage ride with his wife. The Lincoln’s dined at 6 p.m. The White House had no telegraph service, so after supper, Lincoln usually went to the War Department to read the telegrams from the battle front. After the “war news,” Lincoln often returned to his office and worked until 11 p.m.

This stone was at one time a part of the White House.

Stone 8

President Lincoln’s “Summer White House” was the Anderson Cottage, at the National Soldiers Home, three miles from the Executive Mansion. During the summer and fall of 1862, 1863, and 1864, the Lincoln family resided there to escape the steamy conditions in Washington, D.C. While in residence at the Anderson Cottage in 1862, President Lincoln wrote the Emancipation Proclamation.

This stone was a part of the Anderson Cottage, Abraham Lincoln’s “Summer White House.”

Stone 9

“Four score and seven years ago...” - A. Lincoln (exerpt from Gettysburg Address)

On November 19, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln spoke briefly at the dedication of a national cemetery at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Today his remarks - The Gettysburg Address - are known and cherished by millions as an unchallenged example of patriotic eloquence.

This boulder was brought here from the Civil War Battlefield at Gettysburg.

(Note: President Lincoln did not stand on this stone at Gettysburg. He spoke from a wooden platform especially constructed for the dedication.)

Stone 10

“With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation’s wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan - to do all which may achieve and cherish a just, and a lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations.”

These were some of the words pronounced by Abraham Lincoln when he made his second inaugural address on March 4, 1865.

This stone was a part of the Old Capitol building in Washington, D.C., from where Lincoln made his historic speech.

Stone 11

On the night of April 14, 1865, President Lincoln was shot while attending a play at Ford’s Theater in Washington, D.C. Shortly afterwards, the mortally wounded President was taken across the street to the Peterson House, where he died at 7:22 a.m. the next morning.

This piece of sandstone is part of the original column which helped to support the front porch of the Peterson House, the house where Lincoln died.

Stone 12

Following the most elaborate and expensive state funeral in our country’s history, the body of Abraham Lincoln was transported by railroad to Springfield, Illinois, where he was buried in Oak Ridge Cemetery on May 4, 1865. Ground for the construction of a suitable memorial to Lincoln was broken in 1869, four years after the President’s death. This, the original Lincoln Tomb, was dedicated on October 15, 1874. Due to uneven settling of the earth under the tomb, a complete reconstruction of the structure was performed between 1899 and

1902.

This carved stone is called the Culver Stone, named after its donor, J.S. Culver, the contractor for the Lincoln Tomb reconstruction. Culver had this excess piece of granite carved to serve as a headstone for Lincoln’s mother, Nancy Hanks Lincoln. Dedicated October 1, 1902, the stone marked Nancy’s grave until 1933 when it was moved to this location to mark the end of the Trail of Twelve Stones. The headstone in the cemetery near here had marked Lincoln’s mother’s grave since 1879.

Where this belongs

• Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park
• Ford's Theatre
• Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial
• Lincoln Home National Historic Site

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