Issue date: 3/13/09 Section: News

The educational center and the gift shop stand empty and without tourists at the Lincoln Log Cabin historical site on Thursday in Lerna after it was closed down due to budget cuts. The center is still accessible to the public although all historical buildings are closed and the re-enactors are gone. (Karolina Strack / The Daily Eastern News)

At first glance, the small herd of sheep and the few cars in the gravel parking lots may seem the only signs of life at the Lincoln Log Cabin Historic Site near Lerna.

Nearly four months after state budget cuts forced the site to close, site manager Matthew Mittlestaedt is working to preserve the historic park for the day when it opens its doors again.

"I wear many hats these days," Mittlestaedt said. "It's really about constant vigilance to make sure we preserve these things for the next generation."

The historic site includes a 1930s recreation of the home of Abraham Lincoln's father and stepmother, as well as Sargent Farm, a house built in the 1840s.

Although none of the buildings at the site are open to visitors, the park itself is open to the public, since federal conservation funds help fund a lake on the property.

"The grounds themselves are open to provide access to our recreation areas for fishing," Mittlestaedt said. "But (visitors) can't go inside right now."

The Lincoln Sargent Farm Foundation, a local group that has long funded educational programs at the site, plans to open the site for students this summer, he said.

The foundation will hold its annual "Fifth-grade Live-in," during which fifth grade students visit the farm for a day and learn how children lived during the 1800s.

They will also hold a weekly program during the summer for students from ages 10 to 17.

"They get the chance to learn what life was like in the 19th Century," Mittlestaedt said. "We are interpreting life in the 1800s through activities."

Those activities include learning how to perform basic chores and activities from the 1800s.

The foundation is working with Eastern's historical administration department to design an exhibit to go on display at the site this summer, he said.

State Rep. Chapin Rose, R-Mahomet, said, while Gov. Pat Quinn has expressed a desire to reopen closed historic sites around the state, it is unlikely that will happen during the current fiscal year, which ends in July.

"Right now, there's no money," Rose said. "The (governor's) spending authorities aren't there."

Rose said all Illinois state parks have been re-opened, adding that he hopes historic sites will be too. "I hope that we'd be funding all the historic sites next year," Rose said.


Joe Astrouski can be reached at 581-7942 or at jmastrouski@eiu.edu.

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