An accurate replica of the Lincoln cabin was reconstructed on its original site after the State of Illinois acquired the land in 1929. The cabin reconstruction was based on photographs and affidavits, since the original was lost following its move to the Columbian Exposition in 1892. Both rooms are furnished with items and artifacts of the 1840s, though none are known to have belonged to the Lincolns.

Today the Thomas Lincoln Farm comes to life through our historic interpreters. The house and surrounding farm are used as they were in the 1840s, and our interpreters portray the family members and neighbors who lived in the area. Heirloom crops and period-appropriate livestock complete the picture of 19th-century subsistence farming on the Illinois prairie.

In 1840 — the same year that Thomas Lincoln bought the Goosenest Prairie farm — Stephen Sargent sold his dry goods store in nearby New Richmond and purchased a farm about ten miles east of the Lincolns. Three years later, Sargent began constructing a spacious timber-frame house with his wife Nancy Chenoweth Harlan.

Sargent, by all appearances, enjoyed considerable success as a farmer. By 1850, he had accrued 400 acres of land and more than 600 head of livestock. A progressive farmer, Sargent kept up with the latest agricultural innovations of the period — a marked contrast to Thomas Lincoln's older and more traditional farming methods. The Sargent Farm has been fully restored and volunteers assist visitors in understanding the differences between the two living farms.

Reuben Moore came to Illinois with his family pursuing the promise of rich farm land. Within nine days of arriving he purchased 320 acres of land — paying $1,055.00, a princely sum for rich Illinois farm land. The Reuben Moore Home State Historic Site stands among the remnants of the Farmington settlement, one mile north of Lincoln Log Cabin.

n late 1856, Reuben Moore began building a timber-frame house in the village of Farmington. The home, possibly intended for Moore’s daughter — Abraham Lincoln’s step-niece — was still under construction at the time of Mr. Moore’s death, and remained in probate until the winter of 1860.

In January of 1861, Abraham Lincoln bid farewell to his stepmother Sarah Bush Lincoln at the Moore home on his way to the White House. This was their last meeting.

The Moore Home is not typically staffed but is accessible from Lincoln Highway Road approximately one mile before the entrance to Lincoln Log Cabin.

The burial site of Thomas Lincoln and Sarah Bush Lincoln is located approximately one mile west of Lincoln Highway Road in the Thomas Lincoln Cemetery. Sarah Bush Lincoln lived in the Goosenest Prairie cabin until her death in 1869.