Lincoln Birthplace / Mill Springs Battlefield

Driving Across Kentucky | Visiting Lincoln Birthplace National Historic Park | Visiting Mill Springs Battlefield National Monument | July 2026

Today we were faced with the task of another long drive across the state of Kentucky, an ordeal that is rarely easy, at least the way we do things. We had a new route planned with a few new counties to enter, and to make things better, we had two stops planned at national park sites we hadn’t visited before (at least together)! We got back on the interstate in Indiana, then at Corydon went South and crossed the Ohio River into Brandenburg. We then began our long and not very straightforward drive Southeast across Kentucky.

Our first stop came Southeast of Elizabethtown, at Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park. Curtis had been here once as a kid, but didn’t remember a lot, and it’s now another one of Lincoln’s historic sites that we can claim to have seen together. (See also: Lincoln’s Boyhood home in Indiana, his home and grave in Springfield, IL, the location of his first debate with Douglas in Ottawa, IL, and his monument in DC.) When we arrived, we first walked through the visitor center and museum. One exhibit that fascinated us was the long list of notable people past and present that are somehow related to the Lincoln family. We got our park stamps, then went outside for a walk around and to see “the cabin”.

Now, Kentucky may be able to claim that it was the birthplace of the future great president; however, we learned from the visitor center and trail that Lincoln’s father struggled to obtain land here in the state. He tried to set up his homestead here, and was eventually kicked off and ended up moving North of here (an area that’s also preserved by the national park, which we did not visit today). However, he was later also forced to leave that homestead, and with that he was fed up with Kentucky’s laws and moved across the border to Indiana.

Also, the log cabin that is very well preserved inside a monument that stands at the top of 56 symbolic steps (one for each year of Lincoln’s short life), is actually probably not the actual cabin. After Lincoln’s presidency and assassination, people realized how special this piece of land was since it was where he was born, and so someone uprooted the cabin they believed to be his and took it on a tour around the USA. It was only later that historians pointed out the inaccuracies and said this is probably not the actual cabin that Lincoln was born in or lived in during his first years. So we can’t claim to have seen his birthplace, but we did see the cabin that was taken on a tour around the country, so that’s something! Anyway, we still enjoyed the stop, if only to visit the museum and learn a little more about the Lincoln family. After our walk, we drove across the highway and had a picnic before carrying on our way.

Next, we continued Southeast, claiming a few more counties along the way — it doesn’t matter how many times we cross Kentucky, all the empty spaces on our map still haunt us at the end of the day, and we contemplate how many more times we must cross this state before we can finally complete it. Our second stop of the day was at Mill Spring Battlefield National Monument. We hadn’t heard of this park before, and it turns out it’s still a relatively new one, having become official in 2019. When we arrived, we watched the short film, and then walked through the museum, and finished with a long conversation with the ranger there. Mill Springs is considered the first “significant” Union victory of the war. Which, paired with General Grant’s victory at Fort Donelson a month later, helped keep the Union and Lincoln administration together. We talked at length with the ranger about the land acquisition and the long term strategy of the NPS towards battlefields. Mill Springs was one of the main acquisitions from the Civil War Sites Advisory Commissions report.

The part that stood out to me the most in the museum was Lincoln’s quote, “To lose Kentucky is to lose the war”. Can you imagine fighting over Kentucky?! Anyway, we enjoyed our time at this small park, and finally it was time to hit the road for our last stretch of driving for today. To start off, we drove through Somerset, which happened to be the town where we stayed just last February on our last trip to North Carolina. Last time we drove through this area with a light snow falling, today we drove through feeling relieved of the oppressive heat that had followed us around the Midwest all summer.

We ended the evening at a boat ramp near Williamsburg, KY along the Cumberland River. We weren’t quite free and clear of the state yet, but we would be after a short drive to Tennessee in the morning. We still have 25 counties to go despite our many drives across Kentucky, and knowing that any reasonable route usually only gets us 2-5 new counties, who knows how much longer this quest will take? But that is a question for another day, because for this year, we have done enough.