Growing Up Where Lincoln Lived: VIP Phyllis

Join VIP Phyllis for a recorded talk about growing up near the Abraham Lincoln Birthplace NHP. 

• VIP Phyllis: Growing Up Near the Park

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  Volunteer Phyliss speaks about growing up near the Abraham Lincoln Birthplace NHP.

  Credit / Author:

  NPS

  Audio Transcript

  Hello, my name is Phyllis Gentry and I am a Park volunteer at Abraham Lincoln Birthplace and the Knob Creek Boyhood Home. I have had a connection with the Lincolns all my life. My grandfather owned a small farm that was part of the original 300 acre Sinking Springs Farm that Thomas Lincoln thought he had purchased in 1808. My mother still lives on that property. When Thomas Lincoln purchased the Sinking Spring farm, the spring was the only water source for the family and livestock. You had to go into a cave-like opening to access the fresh cool running water. It was perfect for natural refrigeration. It was a very valuable resource on the farm. So I grew up less that a mile from the Memorial building. My earliest childhood memories were spent at the park on picnics, hiking and cooling off at the spring. I was very young, but I remember when President Eisenhower visited the Park in 1954. My family and all the neighbors were out in our front yards waiting for the motorcade to go by. I was holding a small American flag and waving when the big black shiny cars with with flags on the fenders drove by. My love for Lincoln continued into grade school. I don’t know what grade I was in, but it was required that we learn and recite the Gettysburg address. I am still moved by those words. I have lived in LaRue County all my life except for a short time in nursing school. When I retired from from nursing, I was looking for something to do. A friend recommended becoming a VIP (Volunteer In the Park) I signed up and have and have truly enjoyed every day that I have worked there. It is exciting seeing children and adults that have an interest in the Lincoln history. People travel from all over the United States and the world to see where Abraham Lincoln was born. The symbolic log cabin is very humbling. It represents so much! From a very simple life a boy became our president! Most people are very surprised by the size and grandeur of the Memorial building. The building is the first in the U.S. to be dedicated to our 16th president. It is over 10 years older than the Memorial Building in Washington DC. If you get a chance to come to Hodgenville Kentucky, please come visit our parks. Sit on a quiet bench and take a deep breath. Think about how a small boy from such a simple beginnings came to live in the White House.