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| New Salem hosts historic farm days for Illinois club |
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New Salem State Park is known as the place where Abraham Lincoln lived in his youth. This is also the perfect place for a spring antique farm show to flourish. On May 1, historic farm enthusiasts came to Honest Abe’s old stomping grounds to share in a bit of spring fun.
New Salem is south of Petersburg, Ill., and north of Springfield. The settlement has been reconstructed and on any given day a visitor may check out the cabins and store where Lincoln lived and worked. Arriving in 1831 at age 22, he found the settlement of New Salem only a few years old.
Located along the Sangamon River, this was the perfect place for the grist- and sawmills that were constructed. Along with the mills, stores and cabins were built and although the settlement only thrived along the riverfront for a brief time, it offered Lincoln a place where he could learn and grow.
New Salem today is a place to get a glimpse into the of life of young Abe, as he worked as a clerk, laborer, merchant, postmaster and surveyor, all before focusing exclusively on law and politics.
This was the setting for the Vintage Ag. Assoc. to set up with their tractors and celebrate historic farm days. The club was set up with 19 tractors that included an array of brands, such as Minneapolis Moline, Farmall, Ford, Allis Chalmers and Oliver. Andy Pettit and Norm Claussen founded the club in 2001.
“They were having antique farm days and they invited us to come. We have been coming almost every year for the past eight years,” Norm explained.
While the tractors were set up, old-fashioned horse plowing was also going on. Some of the draft horses were from Bill and Celia Edwards, who farm near Waverly, Ill. The Edwardses also host a plow day, every year in October, for tractors, horses and mules.
Lincoln’s New Salem State Historic Site, about 20 miles northwest of Springfield, is a reconstruction of the 1830s log village where Lincoln spent six years of his life. Check out the website at www.lincolnsnewsalem.com |
| 6/23/2010 |
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