Visitor Center at Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial

GENERAL INFORMATION

The Visitor Center at Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial actually predates the park, which wasn’t established until 1962. It opened in 1944 as part of the Nancy Hanks Lincoln State Memorial, the commemorative portion of Indiana’s Lincoln State Park. When built, the facility consisted of two meeting halls connected by a cloister: a covered walkway with one solid wall. The wall was adorned with bas-relief sculptures by E. H. Daniels that depict significant periods of Abraham Lincoln’s life: childhood years in Kentucky, boyhood years in Indiana, his rise in politics, his time as president, and his legacy after death. In 1965, the National Park Service enclosed the cloister and built an additional structure on the back side to hold an exhibit area.

Sculptures by E. H. Daniels adorn the outer wall of the Visitor Center cloister at Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial

Kentucky Years sculpture on the outer wall of the Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial Visitor Center

OPERATING HOURS

The Visitor Center is typically open on Wednesdays through Sundays from 9 AM to 12 PM and 1 PM to 3 PM. It is closed at lunchtime. The facility is also closed on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Columbus Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Day. Keep in mind that times can always change, so be sure to get the latest schedule on the National Park Service’s official Operating Hours and Seasons web page for Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial.

AMENITIES

• Information desk where you can pick up a park brochure
• Park film
• Lincoln in Indiana Museum
• Meeting rooms
• Souvenir and bookstore
• Restrooms

Book and souvenir section of the Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial Visitor Center

PARK FILM

The 15-minute film Forging Greatness—Lincoln in Indiana is shown on demand in the Visitor Center’s Abraham Lincoln Hall. This live-action film covers Abraham Lincoln’s life in Indiana, where he lived from the age of 7 until 21. It also shows what it was like to live on a farm in a rural area in the 1820s. The film is suitable for all ages.

The Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial park film is shown in Abraham Lincoln Hall at the Visitor Center

LINCOLN IN INDIANA MUSEUM

Lincoln in Indiana museum at the Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial Visitor Center

The Visitor Center’s exhibit area is called Lincoln in Indiana. Half of the exhibits cover Abraham Lincoln’s time living in the Little Pigeon Creek Community in southern Indiana, but this is pretty much the script for the park movie, so there is nothing new here if you have already seen the film. There are a few actual artifacts on display, but the majority of the exhibits consist of written information and facsimiles of old photos and letters.

Exhibits in the Lincoln in Indiana Museum at the Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial Visitor Center

I was surprised to find that the museum also covers Lincoln’s life beyond Indiana, particularly his political life, though the information presented is pretty much standard grade-school facts. George Washington Birthplace National Historical Park is a very similar park—it even has a historical farm—and its museum features more exhibits about Washington’s family and what it was like to live on a farm in the 1730s than about Washington himself. The Lincoln in Indiana Museum should have followed the same concept and stuck strictly to Lincoln’s boyhood years.

Exhibit on Lincoln as president during the Civil War in the Lincoln in Indiana Museum at the Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial Visitor Center

There is also a small section about rural life at the time the Lincoln Family lived in Indiana (1816 to 1830) and how the Nancy Hanks Lincoln State Memorial was created.

Cabin exhibit in the Lincoln in Indiana Museum at the Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial Visitor Center

If you watch the movie, there is no pressing reason to spend a lot of time in the Lincoln in Indiana Museum. If you do want to read all the information, it takes about a half hour.

MEMORIAL HALLS

At either end of the Visitor Center is a large memorial hall, one dedicated to Nancy Lincoln and one to Abraham Lincoln. While Abraham’s hall looks like a chapel, it is actually set up as a typical courtroom or meeting hall from the early 1800s. In addition to serving as the Visitor Center’s movie theater, the room is used for meetings and lectures, weddings, church services, and park events. However, there is no mention anywhere on the National Park Service’s website about how the public can go about renting the facilities, if that is even possible.

Abraham Lincoln Hall in the Visitor Center of Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial

Nancy’s hall is only populated with a conference table and chairs, a large circular rug, and a 1945 painting above the fireplace by Clifton Wheeler of the Ohio River. There is a copy of a postcard floating around the Internet from the 1970s that features the hall, and it looks exactly as it does today.

Nancy Hanks Lincoln Hall in the Visitor Center of Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial

SCHEDULING YOUR TIME

Set aside a half hour for a stop at the Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial Visitor Center to watch the park film, ask a Ranger about what there is to see and do at the park, and perhaps give the museum a quick going over. If you do want to read all the information in the museum, plan to spend around an hour.

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