Lincoln Knob Creek Farm

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Historical marker #120 in Larue County marks the site of Abraham Lincoln’s boyhood home at Knob Creek.

On December 12, 1808, Thomas Lincoln bought the Sinking Spring Farm, a few miles south of Hodgen’s Mill. In the one-room cabin near the Sinking Spring, Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809. The Lincolns lived at Sinking Spring for about 2 ½ years following the birth of Abraham, eventually losing their land because of a defective land title. The Lincolns moved onto 30 acres of the 228-acre Knob Creek Farm and lived there until Abraham was 8 years old. At this home, his brother Thomas was born, but died a few days later and was buried on the property. Years later, Lincoln recalled memories of his childhood at Knob Creek. On June 4, 1860, Lincoln wrote to Samuel Haycraft of Elizabethtown “My earliest recollection is of the Knob Creek place.” Lincoln once wrote that while living on Knob Creek he and his sister, Sarah, were sent for short periods to an A, B, C school, which were subscription schools and lasted only a few months.

The Lincoln family moved from Knob Creek to Indiana in 1816.

The Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historic Site comprises of 116 ½ acres of land, nearly 100 acres of which were included in the original Lincoln farm. In 1909, President Theodore Roosevelt dedicated a memorial at the birthplace site. The memorial was later donated to the federal government. The area was established as a National Park in 1916, but the designation was changed to the Abraham Lincoln National Historic Site on September 8, 1959.

This marker was dedicated on May 30, 1955. It reads:

Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) lived on this 228 acre farm, 1811-1816. He wrote in 1860: "My earliest recollection is of the Knob Creek place." A younger brother was born her