Many events planned for festival

The third annual Fall Festival will take place this weekend at the Lincoln Log Cabin in Lerna, offering various 19th century activities for all ages.

Lincoln Log Cabin’s Volunteer Pioneers are sponsoring the festival, which is scheduled to take place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

Susie Colgrove, president of the volunteers at Lincoln Log’s Cabin Mattoon, said it is her fourth year as a volunteer and she is also the portrayer of Sarah Lincoln.

“It’s just a nice weekend for the family to come out,”she said.

On Sunday morning at 10 a.m., a traditional 19th century church service will take place. The Harris Education Center will be selling concessions including ham and beans, cornbread, ice tea and lemonade throughout the weekend.

“Many people look forward to the ham and beans and cornbread, because we make all of that from scratch,” Colgrove said.

Activities planned for the festival include a cast iron skillet toss, a two-man saw contest, a three-legged race, hearth cooking, weaving, doll making and children’s games.

“We have some contest in the afternoon for anyone who wants to participate,” Colgrove said.

Colrove also said that the winners of the contests can take home a giftcard to the Linoln Log Cabin giftshop.

Colgrove said history administration students from Eastern volunteer at the event because the event is part of their curriculum. The history students will be helping out with the children’s games and will receive community service hours for their work, she said.

Vendors and craftsman are traveling from all over central Illinois to take part in the festival.

“The fall festival consist of period vendors coming in, we have approximately ten,” Colgrove said.

Colgrove said some volunteers at the cabin site are also historical reenactors who have made connections with various vendors and invite them to come out to the festival.

“We feed them good food and we spoil them,” Colgrove said.

According to the Lincoln-Sargent Farm Foundation, the actual log cabin at the Lerna site is actually a replica considering the original was lost in 1892 while being transported to the Columbian Exposition.

The log cabin that is present at the Lerna site now was actually constructed in 1935 based off historical documents.

The original log cabin was home to Thomas Lincoln and Sarah Bush Lincoln, the father and stepmother of Abraham Lincoln, according to Lincoln-Sargent Farm Foundation. Although Abraham Lincoln was working in Springfield as a lawyer and was married with a child at the time that his father and stepmother owned the cabin, he visited twice a year, Colgrove said.

The Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, Division of Historic Sites owns and operates the 86-acre historical cabin site, she said.

The Lincoln Log Cabin is at 402 South Lincoln Highway Road in Lerna, Ill.

 

Kathryn Richter can be reached at 581-7942

or [email protected].