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St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Lee Enterprises

Tuesday, April 28, 2009 10:15 PM CDT
OUR VIEW: Reopening sites adds to 'Land of Lincoln'

By the JG/T-C Editorial Board
editorial@jg-tc.com

Local history buffs rejoiced when the Lincoln Log Cabin State Historic Site near Lerna officially reopened on Thursday.

The site had been closed for nearly five months due to budget cuts made by former Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Gov. Pat Quinn reversed the decision to close the site — along with about a dozen others across the state.

We applaud the decision by state lawmakers to spend an additional $1.6 million to reopen the sites. In today’s economy and with the state’s current budget mess, it was surely a hard decision for lawmakers to make.

But it was the right one.

Illinois has a rich history and choosing not to share that history with the public is a mistake. In addition to Lincoln Log Cabin, other historic sites that were closed included the Vandalia Statehouse, three sites in Randolph County and the Hauberg Indian Museum in Rock Island.

Especially in the “Land of Lincoln,” however, it is a shame to close any site in Illinois that has been connected to the state’s most famous son.

Lincoln Log Cabin State Historic Site is the home of Abraham Lincoln’s father and stepmother, Thomas and Sarah Bush Lincoln. Abraham Lincoln was a lawyer living in Springfield by the time his parents moved here in 1837, but he did visit them periodically.

Lincoln Log Cabin is an 86-acre historic site that includes an accurate reproduction of the Lincolns’ two-room cabin that was constructed on the original cabin site in 1935. A working living history farm has been developed around the cabin.

A “grand kickoff” for the reopening of the site is planned during the “From Sheep to Clothing” event on May 9. The site will be open seven days a week through Labor Day.

Lincoln Log Cabin is not a gem only for history buffs. People of all ages have visited and gotten a taste of what it was like living in a rural area during the 1840s.

Area residents who haven’t visited the cabin for a while — or ever — may have been kicking themselves when the decision was made to close it, thinking they had missed their opportunity to learn about this juicy piece of local history.

Well, now is your chance. We encourage all area residents to visit the site this summer, appreciate the lessons to be learned there, and prove to our state lawmakers that they did the right thing in choosing to reopen this historic landmark.

— JG/T-C Editorial Board

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medic57 wrote on May 5, 2009 12:51 PM:

" While I am thrilled that Lincoln Log Cabin is open again, where did the money come from?

Lincoln Log Cabin is like Turkey Run, they have literally ruined it with modern buildings, all of these building need upkeep and employees, before they went nuts, all they needed was some feed for the animals, a little mowing and a little upkeep on the cabin, they don't hardly have any animals anymore.

It could have been done a lot better, and cheaper. "

291953 wrote on May 6, 2009 9:22 PM:

" You have to remember that we the people of Illinois are no longer paying $6000 a day for blago's commute or his $600 haircuts. We can afford this now.

blago closed the historic sites not to save money in the budget, but because he wasn't getting his way and he decided to hold these sites hostage. Lincoln Log Cabin is a Lincoln-connected site and this is the bi-centennial of his birth. Closing LLC was an idiotic move based on nothing more than seeing LLC and other sites as pawns in politics. Thank you Gov. Quinn for re-opening them. "