Happy Birthday to President Abraham Lincoln, born February 12, 1809 in Hardin County, Kentucky (now LaRue County, KY).

Lincoln’s statue, Washington, D.C. (January 2011)

In our Nerd Trips adventures we have come across President Lincoln in a few locations:

The first was a “bonus Nerd Trip” to Lincoln’s boyhood home near Lincoln City, Indiana. I had no idea it was there when my mom and I drove to Indiana for a family reunion in 2009.

A cousin told us about the site, which is opearted by the National Parks Service. We were glad we worked it into our itinerary!

Site of Lincoln’s boyhood home, Indiana

Lincoln lived there for 14 years growing up. I will write a more expanded post on that site another time.

Our other Lincoln encounter came in January of 2011, when we visited Lincoln’s Cottage in Washington, D.C. It sits on the grounds of the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ home and is run by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. I am sure most D.C. tourists have never heard of it, but Lincoln spent a lot of time at the cottage, which is only a few miles from the White House. When I write about that visit in detail, I’ll tell you some interesting things we learned about the trip between the White House and the cottage.

Lincoln’s Cottage, Washington, D.C. (January 2011)

Here are some random facts about our 16th president:

• Lincoln was our tallest president, 6 feet 4 inches
• Lincoln established Thanksgiving as a holiday
• He apparently didn’t like to be called Abe
• He never joined a church but knew the Bible well
• He was Shakespeare fan and could recite long passages from memory
• He spoke one of the best-known presidential quotes, “You can fool all of the people some of the time and part of the people all of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time.”

Julie and me (left) at Monticello, 2009

Also, happy birthday to my friend Julie Fogel who shares a birthday with President Lincoln, which seems appropriate since Julie was there when the idea of Nerd Trips was born!

Have you visited other places associated with President Lincoln? Let me know, and we may add them to the Nerd Trips list.