Original Lincoln Home Cottage to be Reconstructed

[RJNorton]

Most of my experience in Springfield was along with busloads of 8th graders on the annual trip held by the middle school where I taught. My guess is that the students would have enjoyed walking through the replica of the 1844 cottage (6 rooms) followed by walking through the historic home (12 rooms). I can easily see having a discussion back in class of the various changes/additions made by the Lincoln family. Dioramas showing the changes are wonderful, but IMO the students of the age I taught would have learned and understood more by walking through an authentic replica of the small home as it was when the Lincolns first arrived in 1844, and then comparing that experience to walking through the much larger 1856 home.