Farmington Historic Plantation: Lincoln Slept Here - Really!
Built between 1815 and 1816, the Farmington historic plantation hosted its most famous guest, Abraham Lincoln, when he spent three weeks at the hemp plantation in 1841. A permanent exhibit at the Farmington historic plantation museum, Lincoln & Farmington: An Enduring Friendship, presents Farmington as Lincoln would have experienced it in 1941. The future president would have encountered a prosperous 550-acre Kentucky hemp plantation where luxurious Southern living came at the expense of slave labor.
Visitors can take a guided tour of the Federal-style house, its gardens, its outbuildings and grounds. The tour reflects the life of the Speed family from 1816-1841. The home, with its two centrally located octagonal rooms, closely resembles one in a blueprint prepared by Thomas Jefferson for an unidentified home. (Joshua Speed's great-grandfather was Jefferson's guardian.) The home has been painstakingly restored — right down to expertly matched paint colors -- based on research and a detailed probate inventory prepared when Joshua Speed's father died in 1840.
Touring the gardens, one can easily imagine Farmington as it was in its heyday of the 1830s. Rebuilt are the summer kitchen/cook's quarters, blacksmith shop and springhouse. Costumed interpreters periodically present historical re-enactments, including portraying members of the Speed family, Abraham Lincoln and the nearly 60 slaves who lived and worked at the plantation.
Guided tours are on the hour, with the last tour beginning at 4 p.m. Farmington is closed for all major holidays and for some local events. Please call for details.
Prices for a guided tour and the exhibit are $9 for adults, $8 for seniors, $4 for children aged 6-18 and free for children 5 and younger. For just the exhibit, the cost is $4. AAA and prescheduled group discounts are available.
Posted on Feb 8, 2011 by Ivonne Rovira
