Preserving a storied past

Grant supports habitat restoration at site of Abraham Lincoln's first home in Illinois

 

DECATUR – A place along the Sangamon River enticed Abraham Lincoln and his extended family in 1830 to move hundreds of miles away from their home in Indiana to try their luck in Illinois. This place was to be Lincoln’s first residence in his new home state and his first stop on a journey to the highest office in the land.

 

Volunteers have been working at Lincoln Trail Homestead State Park and Memorial west of Decatur for the past four years to renew and restore the park so visitors can discover its charms for themselves. Those efforts take a giant step forward with the award of a Community Stewardship Challenge Grant by the Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation. This grant has the potential to bring $27,000 to the restoration of the natural habitat of this area through removal of invasive vegetation, plantings of native trees and wildflowers, interpretive signage, and wildlife habitat improvement. The award will be officially announced at the park's fourth annual Celebration on the Sangamon on Saturday, June 8, 2019.

 

Judy Parrish, professor of biology at Millikin University, said the money should allow restoration work to finally make a dent tearing out bush honeysuckle, an invasive species so prolific it robs visitors of the sense that the Lincolns lived on the edge of an open space, between the woods and the prairie. “We are thrilled to get the chance to make real progress on a cause that means so much to us,” she said.

Parrish is also president of Macon County's Community Environmental Council, the umbrella organization over the Friends of Lincoln Trail Homestead State Park and Memorial. So far, the two groups have restored canoe access at the park, planted native plants around the memorial, developed a new trail, repaired stairs leading to the river, and painted picnic tables and restrooms.

 

 “With this grant we can restore the natural habitat so that visitors can see the area as Lincoln saw it in 1830,” said Melody Arnold, chair of the Friends committee.  The Community Stewardship Challenge Grant is a challenge to the community to raise money for the habitat, which the Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation will match 3 to 1 up to $21,000. That means the first $7,000 will be matched! Volunteers will also be asked to contribute 400 hours on habitat care at the park. If that number is reached Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation will award an additional $4,000 to the project. Anyone wishing to help can contact melody2a@hotmail.com or jparrish@millikin.edu.

 

On June 8, the 4th Annual Celebration on the Sangamon Homestead Homecoming will begin with hikes on the new trail at 11 a.m., followed by a potluck lunch. After the kickoff of the grant, Dr. Dan Monroe, chair of the department of history and political science at Millikin University and president of the Illinois State Historical Society, will present "Why Lincoln Matters: Reflections on the Sixteenth President." The First Presbyterian String Band will provide period music at 2 p.m.