Abraham Lincoln Library and Museum, Tennessee, United States

4Tuckasegee 5:00 PM Jun 23, 2013

Nice Sidetrip
If you've never been to Harrogate, TN before, the last thing that you might expect to find is a museum dedicated to Abraham Lincoln. Yet, right there on the campus of Lincoln Memorial University is one. The museum is easy to find. It's just off the highway. All you need to do is look for the big picture of Lincoln on the building. There is free parking beside the museum as well. There is an admission fee for the museum, but with they do have a Show Your Card and Save discount from AAA. With this, our family of five paid a little more than ten dollars. The museum is very well kept. Nice and clean as well as the restroom facilities. I was a little worried that our younger boys might get a little bored with the museum since there were a lot of pictures and reading about the displays. I was certainly wrong. A lot of interpretation was done through dioramas, and the kids loved these. Also, the museum now also has a couple of hands on areas where the kids can dress up or play games from the Civil War area. As an adult, I was really captivated by the wealth of history that the museum has. The highlight is Lincoln's walking stick that he had on the night of his assassination at Ford's Theatre. The upstairs had displays about medicine during the Civil War. There were some rather gruesome pictures in this area. Had I know this ahead of time, I would've steered my younger boys away sooner. They just were not appropriate for younger kids. Our tour lasted about 45 minutes- self guided. Pictures are permitted without a flash. There is a small gift shop at the front as well. All in all, I was pleasantly surprised by our stop here. I hope we can go again some time.

5kymom40914 5:00 PM May 27, 2013

Well worth the price, other activities year round
We have been to the Abraham Lincoln Library and Museum several times over the past 3 years or so. Our daughter is fascinated with Lincoln and loves to go there. It's not the all-encompassing, gigantic museum you would expect to find in Western Kentucky or in Springfield. However, it does have a many artifacts and information to keep you occupied. The downstairs area is a pretty settled exhibit area that usually contains the same things in it, such as a bed that Lincoln slept in, a hutch built by his father, and china from the White House. It also houses several 3-D diaramas of events in Lincoln's life (such as he early years on the Mississippi) and statues of Lincoln. The upstairs area is a revolving exhibit area that often has themes that change from time to time. Two of the ones we have seen were Weapons in the Civil War and one on Films featuring/about Lincoln's life. Both were really nice and had artifacts donated to the museum. It takes about an hour or so to go through this museum, even with small-ish kids who want to see things. It's well worth the price that you pay to go through it. The University/Museum also has many different events through the year on different topics relating to Lincoln. We took our oldest to their Christmas with the Lincolns event last year and she loved it.