Abraham Lincoln Birthplace Historic Resource Study

INTEGRITY OF HISTORIC RESOURCES

For this context, historic resources need to retain integrity of design, location, feeling, setting, and association. Some alteration of historic materials is considered acceptable as long as the original design intent remains intact. For example, the plaza walkways retain integrity of location, design, feeling, and association although the historic fabric has been removed. The workmanship of the limestone structures is evident although some deteriorated materials may have been replaced with nonhistoric fabric. The setting is largely undisturbed, although numerous changes within the historic period occurred. The historic resources classified as noncontributing lack integrity of setting, design intent, or feeling. For example, the entrance drive and parking area, because of nonhistoric intrusions, have lost some of the original pastoral feeling associated with the long winding road and graceful ellipse. Because feeling and association are largely subjective, the LCS team relied heavily on photographic evidence and several key site plans and planting plans to determine the level of integrity based on these aspects.

Figure 26: Aerial photo of the Lincoln Birthplace Memorial complex, 1959. Note the buildings of the Nancy Lincoln Inn in the foreground.

CONTRIBUTING RESOURCES

Memorial Building and Steps: A complete description of the building and staircase can be found in Chapter Three.

Memorial Landscape: This includes the landscape elements represented in Pope's design plans; the landscape that accompanied the building's dedication in 1911; the changes effected by the War Department between 1929 and 1930; and the additional landscaping initiated by the NPS in 1935, which restored some of the original landscape configurations altered over time.

The landscape that accompanied the Memorial Building and steps at the 1911 dedication consisted of three elements: two sets of hedges and a row of Lombardy poplars located behind the hedges. The stairs are flanked by one rectangular hedge and a taller hedge row on the outer edge of the rectangle. Grass covered the exposed ground among the hedges and within the mown basin area at the foot of the stairs. Within two years, gravel replaced the grass in the court and a circle of grass surrounded the centrally located flagpole.

In 1929-1930, the War Department reconfigured the landscape by reconstructing the court and adding numerous stone structures. The War Department enlarged the court to a rectangular plaza, approximately two hundred by eighty feet, oriented on a northeast by southwest axis. Flagstone paths transected the plaza with the longest axis parallel to the Memorial Building. These paths are now laid with a pea gravel aggregate, but preserve their original orientation. A coursed limestone bench, approximately eight feet long and four feet tall, is set in a forty-four foot wall and serves as the southwest plaza boundary. The Sinking Spring lies directly south of the Memorial Building stairway and has coursed limestone walls, progressively taller from the top of the stair to the spring, that create a stair wall and also serve as a retaining wall behind the spring. Three runs of eight flagstone steps descend to a flagstone platform, which encircles the spring pool, approximately six to eight feet below. Two drain pipes are located in this sinkhole and are connected to storm drain pipes under the plaza. Two stone benches are affixed to the south wall at the platform level. The final plaza structure is a limestone and concrete stair that descends from the parking ellipse to the northeast plaza entrance. This thirteen foot wide stair consists of two runs of twelve and thirteen steps and two coursed limestone walls with stone pedestals. The steps, likely originally flagstone, are now concrete and the landings are paved with pea gravel aggregate.

Boundary Oak Site: The Boundary Oak was one of the most significant features at both the historic Sinking Spring Farm and the park. Until its death, the great white oak remained the "last living link" to Abraham Lincoln and was of considerable historic interest and value. The tree served as a boundary marker and survey point for determining property lines. The Boundary Oak was first identified as a specific boundary marker in the original 1805 survey of the farm. The tree was located less than 150 yards from the cabin where Abraham Lincoln was born in 1809. Be fore its death in 1976 and its removal in 1986, the Boundary Oak reached 6 feet in diameter, 90 feet in height, and had a crown spread of 115 feet.

Three separate analyses of a cross section of the tree concluded that the large oak sprouted sometime in 1781. The cross section is now located in the Visitor Center and serves as a template for a chronology of Abraham Lincoln's life and related events. Although the tree is gone, its stump remains as the primary identifying feature of the original farm boundary.

Sinking Spring: The Sinking Spring is a natural landscape feature related to Abraham Lincoln's formative years. Early NPS interpretation of the spring noted how "the infant child, Abraham, had his earliest drinks from these waters." [82] This simple but evocative statement is no doubt true; such springs usually dictated the site for a farm residence on the Pennyroyal. In addition, the Lincoln birthplace farm had always taken its name from the spring instead of the property's owner, being variously known as "The Sinking Spring," "Rock Spring," and "Cave Spring" farm. [83] The hydrology of the spring is typical of that in the Pennyroyal, and the many small ponds that dot the landscape surrounding the park are likely similar sinking springs that have collapsed. [84] Drainage in the Pennyroyal is achieved less by surface rivers and streams than it is by subterranean ones, and the Sinking Spring is a singular example of this larger drainage patter.

NONCONTRIBUTING RESOURCES

Boundary Oak Storm Drain and Dam: Although two boxlike structures appear on War Department site plans in 1931 and 1932 and on NPS planting plans for 1935, it is unclear if the existing limestone wall and drain represents either of these structures. No photographic evidence is avail able that would verify this hypothesis. Thus, these structures are considered noncontributing until further documentation is available.

Employee Residences: Two, single-story ranch-style houses for park employees were constructed in 1959 as part of the Mission 66 program. The houses do not contribute to the memorial landscape. Please note the discussion below on these properties' potential eligibility to the National Register.

Visitor Center: The Visitor Center was constructed in 1958 and 1959 as part of the Mission 66 program. The building was designed by the NPS's Easter Office of Design and Construction (EODC) and built by a Lexington, Kentucky, construction firm. The single-story, flat-roof building has been altered over the years; the most observable change was the installation of a glass atrium over the building's originally open entryway.

A recently published study on NPS visitor centers has provided a context that will help in evaluating their significance. [85] Of the Park Service's estimated 114 Mission 66 visitor centers, only five to date have been recognized for their architectural significance. Three of these five properties were declared National Historic Landmarks early in 2001. The remaining visitor centers, however, including the one under discussion here, were based on generic plans and what the author of the aforementioned visitor center study noted as an "assembly-line" mentality. Although the same author also notes the "potential historic value" of all Mission 66 visitor centers, because the Lincoln Birthplace visitor center was based on the standardized designs of the EODC and because alterations to the building have compromised its original design, it is considered noncon- tributing at this time. At the time of this writing, the entire Mission 66 program and its architecture is being reexamined, and a theme study is being written to guide the determination of the National Register eligibility of individual properties. The Mission 66 structures at the Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historic Site should be reevaluated when the theme study is completed.

Maintenance Garage

A single-story, four-bay maintenance garage is located northeast of the Memorial Building.

Storage Building and Pumphouse

Two War Department-era structures, a storage building (previously used as the Superintendent's office) and a pumphouse, are on either side of the park's maintenance garage. These small stone structures, although well over 50 years old, were not part of the program of commemoration at the Site.