This document summarizes a recreated 19th century kitchen garden at the Lincoln Home National Historic Site. The garden features plant varieties that would have been available when Abraham Lincoln lived in the neighborhood. It thanks various groups and individuals for helping to plant and maintain the garden, including the Lincoln Home NHS maintenance staff, local students and scouts, master gardeners, and garden clubs. The garden provides examples of foods Lincoln may have eaten like fruits, vegetables and herbs grown at that time.

1. Lincoln Home National Historic Site National Park Service
U.S. Department of the Interior
Today many people refer to
gardening as a hobby, but in
the mid-19th Century many
families depended on a
kitchen garden to enrich their
diets with seasonal foods
such as fruits, vegetables
and herbs. This recreated
19th Century kitchen garden
features a variety of plants
that were available when
Abraham Lincoln lived in this
neighborhood. As you look
upon the garden see how
many plant varieties you can
recognize.
Special thanks to the following groups and individuals for making this project possible: Lincoln Home NHS Maintenance Staff, Taylorville High School Botany Students; Boy Scout
Troop 32 from St. Agnes Parish; University of Illinois Extension Master Gardeners Christian County and Sangamon-Menard Unit; Springfield Civic Garden Club; and David Kervin
What Did Abraham Lincoln Eat?
Sunflowers protect a garden.
A mass planting helps to dry
marshy soil and acts as a good
windbreak. Bees enjoy the
pollen, and some birds and
livestock eat the seeds.
Garden volunteers help plant and maintain the Heirloom Garden.
Many heirloom
plant varieties are
still eaten today.
“Every blade of grass is
a study; and to produce
two, where there was but
one, is both a profit and a
pleasure.”
Abraham Lincoln
September, 1859