Re-creating Lincoln’s flatboat journey amid Ike-induced waves

Not even soaking rains and wild waves could sink the hopes of some hardy Hoosiers who are re-creating Abraham Lincoln’s 1828 river voyage to New Orleans aboard a 60-foot wooden flatboat.

Six days after the launch of the boat in the Ohio River, the Indiana crew on Sunday battled the remains of Hurricane Ike, which brought steady 4- to 6-foot waves that peaked at 7 feet, said Melissa Miller, executive director of the Spencer County Visitors Bureau, which is promoting the voyage called the Journey of Remembrance. She and a crew of up to a dozen are traveling with the boat.

The boat didn’t weather the weather well, however. En route to Paducah, Kentucky, from Elizabethtown, Illinois, the 50,000-pound vessel’s cabin came loose as ankle-deep water poured onto the deck. An emergency stop at a marina in Golconda, Illinois, allowed for some initial repairs, Miller said via e-mail.

The boat departed from Rockport, Indiana, on Sept. 9, the first day of a monthlong voyage that aims to tell the story of Lincoln’s life in Spencer County, where he lived from ages 7 to 21. Young Lincoln was transporting a load of produce to New Orleans for a local merchant on the trip, which took him three months. In New Orleans, Lincoln witnessed a slave auction splitting up a family, a sight that helped energize his anti-slavery views.

The Journey of Remembrance is one of the more ambitious events to honor the 200th birthday of the 16^th president, who was born Feb. 12, 1809. The boat is owned by Ron Drake, a Washington, D.C., attorney and a Fairbanks, Indiana, farm operator who is writing a blog about his and the crew’s adventures — and misadventures — at www.LincolnsJourney.org.

Of course, the participants also hope to raise awareness of Indiana’s claim to Lincoln fame, though neighbor Illinois, a.k.a., the Land of Lincoln, is more popularly associated with the Great Emancipator. Southern Indiana’s Lincoln sites include the Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial, Lincoln State Park & Amphitheatre, Col. William Jones Home, Lincoln Ferry Park, Lincoln Landing and the Lincoln Pioneer Village, all of which are located in Spencer County.

The boat will visit 23 towns in 27 days in eight states en route to New Orleans, where it aims to dock on Oct. 5. To follow the boat’s progress, you can check into the daily blog.

For more information on Lincoln Bicentennial events, check out the Indiana Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission, the Illinois Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission and the U.S. Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission.

– Valli Herman, Los Angeles Times staff writer

[Photo: Spencer County Visitors Bureau]

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 16, 2008 at 4:44 pm by Valli Herman and is filed under Midwestern States, National Parks. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.