Nancy Lincoln Inn
Encyclopedia
The Nancy Lincoln Inn is a historic building located at the Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historic Site
in LaRue County, Kentucky
, just south of Hodgenville, Kentucky
. Despite being on National Park Service
property, it is privately owned.
Built in 1928, the one-story unhewn chestnut
and red heart pine log building is of American Craftsman
style with five bays. It has a stone foundation, limestone
chimney, and gable
d roof. To the east are four small overnight cabins also built in 1928. They are also of unhewn chestnut logs, concrete chinking, brick chimneys, and asphalt
shingles
.
The Nancy Lincoln Inn and its cabins were built to serve the many visitors who wished to visit the birthplace of Abraham Lincoln
. The increase in tourism during the 1920s was due to the ease of transportation that all the new paved roads in LaRue County provided. Jim Howell was the original operator of the inn, from 1928 to 1946; his descendants have operated it ever since. The inn rented out the cabins and served food until World War II
; the cabins would once again be rented out after they were restored by their owners Carl and Sharon Howell, Jr. in 2005, with air conditioning added. However, guests have to use an outside modern bathhouse due to a lack of indoor plumbing.
A National Park Service evaluation called the inn a "unacceptable adjacent commercialization" in 1934, and red cedar trees were planted to obstruct the view of the inn to the memorial log cabin temple.
Over 100,000 tourists go into the Nancy Lincoln Inn every year, mostly to buy souvenirs; it makes $56,000 in sales. It has undergone no major alterations in its years of service. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places
on January 10, 1991, due to its role in the expansion of tourism in LaRue County.
Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historic Site
Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park preserves two farm sites where Abraham Lincoln lived as a child.In the fall of 1808, Thomas and Nancy Lincoln settled on Sinking Spring Farm. Two months later on February 12, 1809, Abraham Lincoln was born there in a one-room log cabin. Today...
in LaRue County, Kentucky
LaRue County, Kentucky
LaRue County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kentucky. It is included in the Elizabethtown, Kentucky, Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of 2000, the population was 13,373. Its county seat is Hodgenville...
, just south of Hodgenville, Kentucky
Hodgenville, Kentucky
Hodgenville is a city in and the county seat of LaRue County, Kentucky, United States. It sits along the North Fork of the Nolin River. The population was 2,874 at the 2000 census...
. Despite being on National Park Service
National Park Service
The National Park Service is the U.S. federal agency that manages all national parks, many national monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations...
property, it is privately owned.
Built in 1928, the one-story unhewn chestnut
Chestnut
Chestnut , some species called chinkapin or chinquapin, is a genus of eight or nine species of deciduous trees and shrubs in the beech family Fagaceae, native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The name also refers to the edible nuts they produce.-Species:The chestnut belongs to the...
and red heart pine log building is of American Craftsman
American Craftsman
The American Craftsman Style, or the American Arts and Crafts Movement, is an American domestic architectural, interior design, landscape design, applied arts, and decorative arts style and lifestyle philosophy that began in the last years of the 19th century. As a comprehensive design and art...
style with five bays. It has a stone foundation, limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
chimney, and gable
Gable
A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of a sloping roof. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system being used and aesthetic concerns. Thus the type of roof enclosing the volume dictates the shape of the gable...
d roof. To the east are four small overnight cabins also built in 1928. They are also of unhewn chestnut logs, concrete chinking, brick chimneys, and asphalt
Asphalt
Asphalt or , also known as bitumen, is a sticky, black and highly viscous liquid or semi-solid that is present in most crude petroleums and in some natural deposits, it is a substance classed as a pitch...
shingles
Roof shingle
Roof shingles are a roof covering consisting of individual overlapping elements. These elements are typically flat rectangular shapes laid in rows from the bottom edge of the roof up, with each successive higher row overlapping the joints in the row below...
.
The Nancy Lincoln Inn and its cabins were built to serve the many visitors who wished to visit the birthplace of Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
. The increase in tourism during the 1920s was due to the ease of transportation that all the new paved roads in LaRue County provided. Jim Howell was the original operator of the inn, from 1928 to 1946; his descendants have operated it ever since. The inn rented out the cabins and served food until World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
; the cabins would once again be rented out after they were restored by their owners Carl and Sharon Howell, Jr. in 2005, with air conditioning added. However, guests have to use an outside modern bathhouse due to a lack of indoor plumbing.
A National Park Service evaluation called the inn a "unacceptable adjacent commercialization" in 1934, and red cedar trees were planted to obstruct the view of the inn to the memorial log cabin temple.
Over 100,000 tourists go into the Nancy Lincoln Inn every year, mostly to buy souvenirs; it makes $56,000 in sales. It has undergone no major alterations in its years of service. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
on January 10, 1991, due to its role in the expansion of tourism in LaRue County.