We are saddened to report that our beloved Lincoln Heritage House was gutted by fire on Friday, May 29, 2009. Our loss cannot be expressed in dollars; a building as historically significant as the Lincoln Heritage House, cannot be replaced. However, plans are underway to "rebuild" the cabin using salvaged timbers, rather than just placing a marker on the site. We will update this site periodically to keep those interested abreast of progress. We thank you for your understanding and patience.
The Lincoln Heritage House was restored to perpetuate the memory of a man, humble in origin and deed who probably gave not a single thought to history or to the consequences of the events of the age in which he lived, but who, nevertheless, will go down in the annals of this country as the father of a giant of a man who changed the course of history in the United States for all time to come. Thomas Lincoln was an ordinary man and though he was much maligned by historians and biographers of his renowned son, President Abraham Lincoln, he as a respected, esteemed, substantial citizen of Hardin County.
Thomas Lincoln was a skilled cabinet-maker and farmer and was a resident of Hardin County for more than ten years. He owned a 200-acre farm on Mill Creek and a log house in Elizabethtown where Sarah, the first child of Thomas and Nancy Hanks Lincoln, was born in 1807.
The two log houses which comprise the Lincoln Heritage House were the home of pioneer Hardin Thomas and his family. The first was built in 1789 and the second and larger one was erected about 1805 with the help of a family friend, Thomas Lincoln, who also built the identical stairways, the mantel pieces and other woodwork.
The Lincoln Heritage House marks an important Lincoln historical site. It was restored by the Hardin County Historical Society and opened June 24, 1973.
