a pretty piece of land -- where lincoln was born

to mississippi and back, part 1

photos by jerone anderson

recently i had a chance to go on a road trip to oxford, mississippi -- the mythical land inspiring william faulkner's yoknapatawpha county, where in 1962 the african-american veteran james meredith had to fight for admission to ole miss university to become its first black student, and overly caring waitresses call you honey when serving fried catfish with hush puppies.

driving southwest we left ohio to enter kentucky. follow me to hodgenville in central kentucky to find close by the place where abraham linconln was born.











what you see is an exception: a sign telling where you are. the more south you, the harder it was to find road signs. only after driving down roads that seemingly end into nowhere for a while this entrance sign almost magically pops up to congratulate you on finding the destination of your quest. welcome to the almost empty abraham lincoln birthsite.

















this memorial houses a log cabin that resembles the kind of cabin lincoln lived in during his early childhood. unfortunately, the memorial is built so tightly around the cabin that it didn't make sense to take pictures inside. by the way, the steps leading up to the memorial equal the number of years lincoln lived (56).























the place that gives the farm its name: this sinking spring was the water source of lincolns' farm. because of storm damage from the ice storm that roughed up also ohio in january, visitors could not go down to the little cave.
















all that was left to do was zooming on the picturesquely trickling down water with the soft green mossy background.















historical markers, brochures, and a museum -- showing a typically informative but uncritical and patriotic movie of the lincolns' time in kentucky -- offer oodles of details on the life of lincolns family such as the property boundary fights that forced them to leave sinking spring and to journey further west, the kind of chores little abe had to do, and his joy in telling stories to his friends from a tree stump that served as his first stage.























on the way out of the national site i saw another of these cleverly built zig-zagging settler style fences. they always strike me as typically u.s.-american. together with the many big trees, the slightly hilly terrain, and the trails for hiking they provide a pretty piece of land to the eyes and feet of the curious visitor who enjoys an attraction out of way that didn't seem to be overrun by tourists.


to mississippi and back, part 1: a pretty piece of land -- where lincoln was born

to mississippi and back, part 2: the romantic south -- oxford & ole miss

to mississippi and back, part 3: unavoidably ubiquitous -- the world of william faulkner

to mississippi and back, part 4: honey, sweetie & fried fish -- our southern food history

to mississippi and back, part 5: mammoth cave: "the world's largest network of natural caves"