Lincoln's Landscape

Lincoln's Landscape. Abraham Lincoln spent the first twenty years of his life in the forests of Kentucky and Indiana. He migrated to Illinois and settled in the village of New Salem, located in the woodlands along the Sangamon River. Other early settlers also chose to locate their homes in the woods that bordered the area's creeks and rivers. In the vicinity of Lincoln Memorial Garden, the forest that ran along Sugar Creek (which was dammed in 1932 for Lake Springfield) was the site of an early pioneer community that Lincoln frequently visited. These Sugar Creek settlers were comfortable living in forested lands and had done so for generations. Trees were their protectors, shielding them from storms, hot sun, and strong winds. Trees also provided wood for homes, tools, wagons, and fuel as well as edible wildlife, fruits, nuts, medicines, and maple sugar. Most of the trees that you encounter in the Garden would have been familiar to Lincoln and the early pioneers. White oak, black walnut, hickory, and sugar maple were all common household names then and are found throughout the Garden today. , Many early emigrants, prompted by popular guidebooks' descriptions of a "New Eden," reached the Sugar Creek community via the Old Indian Trail or Edwards Trace. The Trace was a centuries-old Indian path that ran from Cahokia to Peoria with branches continuing to Chicago and Galena. In this area, its route lay across the high ground running along the east bank of Sugar Creek. The trail was named for Ninian Edwards, the territorial governor of Illinois and father of Mary Todd Lincoln's brother-in-law. Not much remains today of this old trail. A small section can still be found at Lake Park, located 2½ miles north on East Lake Drive. A descriptive plaque marks the site. Now mostly forgotten, the Trace was the main route into the Sangamo Country, and also the primary North-South road. , (photo caption:), In his travels as a politician and lawyer, Lincoln probably would have searched out a shady spot to rest after crossing long stretches of the treeless prairie. These moments of relaxation would have afforded him an opportunity for reading and reflection. This image comes from a calendar series published in the Chicago and Illinois Midland Railroad Company News magazine from 1931-1935.