Lincoln's New Salem State Historic Site

10/25/2024

Fall is here at Lincoln’s New Salem SHS! Come see us tomorrow for our Fall Festival from 10am to 4pm-we will have over a dozen interpreters scattered throughout the village to tell you a little bit about Abraham Lincoln and 1830s daily life! 🍁 🍂

10/12/2024

We want to thank you all for making our annual Candlelight Walk event another huge success! We welcomed thousands of visitors into the historic village last weekend for 4 magical hours. We greatly appreciate the volunteers that shared their knowledge of Abraham Lincoln, New Salem, and more!

We also want to thank the following groups for various contributions to make the weekend go as smooth as possible:

Menard County Sheriff's Office
Menard County EMS & Office of Emergency Management
Illinois Department of Natural Resources
Illinois Conservation Police
Illinois Department of Transportation
Clayville Historic Site
Brandt
New Salem Lincoln League
Railsplitter Gifts and Eatery
The Wakery
Lemonade Factory
Shick Shack BBQ

Thank you and we look forward to seeing you all again at the 2025 Candlelight Walk on October 3rd and 4th!

10/04/2024

We can’t wait to see you guys this weekend for the 2024 Candlelight Walk!

10/03/2024

We are in full on Candlelight Walk preparation mode today! Our maintenance crew is putting out the hooks for the lanterns, and our interpretive staff are prepping the buildings for all of our visitors this weekend.

The event starts at 7pm tomorrow night. For 2 hours each night this Friday and Saturday, October 4th and 5th, the historic village is open to the public at night.

We will have food trucks and the Railsplitter Gifts and Eatery open for the evening. The visitor center will be open 9am to 9pm both days. We know the event gets crazy so plan accordingly and try to be patient as we try to find parking spots and maneuver the crowd through the site.

You are welcome to bring your own candlelit lanterns, but we ask to keep the flashlight usage in the historic village to a minimum so we don’t ruin the magic of the evening.

09/07/2024

What a beautiful night to kick off the 43rd Annual Traditional Music Festival and Bluegrass Concerts!

We are back again tomorrow with music in the historic village from 10am to 4pm and then back onstage at 6pm. We have a full lineup of talented musicians tomorrow night and the forecast looks beautiful once again.

Thank you to all the volunteers that come from all over the Midwest to spend the weekend at Lincoln’s New Salem!

09/05/2024

ONE MORE SLEEP and we will host the 43rd Annual Traditional Music Festival and Bluegrass Concerts!

The fun starts tomorrow night at 6pm in the outdoor amphitheater. We are currently finalizing the groups for tomorrow night—we should have it posted tomorrow morning in the Visitor Center and campground.

Come back on Saturday, where you will find jam sessions throughout the entire historic village from 10am to 4pm before we head back to the stage from 6pm to 10pm for more music under the stars.

As an added bonus, our friends across the parking lot, Railsplitter Gifts and Eatery will be open late on both Friday and Saturday night! We can’t wait to see you all this weekend!

09/02/2024

The 43rd Annual Traditional Music Festival and Bluegrass Concerts are only a few days away! The concerts are on Friday and Saturday night and the music festival is in the historic village from 10am to 4pm on Saturday.

Here are some helpful tips to some frequently asked questions:
▪️The entire event (music festival and concerts) are free of charge! We do accept donations in the Visitor Center.
▪️No tickets are needed.
▪️Concessions will be open on both nights of the concerts.
▪️The concert starts promptly at 6pm and will conclude by 10pm each night.
▪️The campground does fill up during this time as many of our musicians are traveling from all over the Midwest. If you are staying in the campground, you may hear the sweet sounds of music late into the night/early morning. 🪕 🎻🪕

We could potentially take another group playing on Friday night if interested!

08/30/2024

We are only ONE week away from one of our most popular events of the year, the annual Traditional Music Festival and Bluegrass Concerts!

The Bluegrass Concerts are from 6pm-10pm on Friday, September 6th and Saturday, September 7th in the Kelso Hollow Outdoor Ampitheater behind the Visitor Center.

The Traditional Music Festival is on Saturday from 10am-4pm in the historic village. Musicians will be playing impromptu jam sessions on their traditional instruments throughout the historic site, and we will also have some historic interpreters on hand as well.

Note: if you are a musician and reading this and have considered playing on stage on Friday and Saturday night (especially Friday), please contact Trevor Thompson at [email protected] and we will get you on the schedule. The concert schedule will be posted on Thursday at the Visitor Center.

08/22/2024

Congratulations to our friends at Menard County Trails and Greenways on receiving the Illinois Department of Natural Resources Volunteer of the Year award! Volunteers spend countless hours removing invasive species in an effort to restore Lincoln’s New Salem SHS back to its natural habitat. Thank you for all your hard work and dedication to this very important cause!

If you are interested in volunteering, please contact Menard County Trails and Greenways.

This past Saturday we received an Illinois Department of Natural Resources Volunteer of the Year award for the work we've done at the Lincoln's New Salem State Historic Site Habitat Restoration Project! Since the spring of 2021 over 50 volunteers have contributed 973 volunteer hours over 128 days cutting & treating extremely dense and often very large honeysuckle bushes; and 195 hours hand pulling 196 garbage bags of garlic mustard. There's more work to be done!! Let us know if you'd like to join the volunteer crew!

08/15/2024

Calling all Food Trucks/Portable Food Trailers‼️

We are looking for Food Trucks to set-up outside our Visitor Center for the annual Candlelight Walk Event held on October 4th & 5th.

Interested parties should email the site at [email protected] for more details.

07/01/2024

Come celebrate Independence Day this week with us at Lincoln's New Salem State Historic Site! We will have readings of the Declaration of Independence at noon on both July 3rd and July 4th. A small parade of interpreters will commence from the Visitor Center to the Carding Mill, where the reading will occur.

06/12/2024

Join us this Saturday, from 10am to 4pm, for our annual Summer Frolic!

We will have various historic interpreters scattered throughout the village along with some period demonstrations.

The Stone Museum, our hands-on children’s area, will be open from 10am to 3pm.

Also, our friends Railsplitter Gifts and Eatery will be having their grand opening as well. Check out their page for more information on what they have planned!

06/04/2024

It's summer at Lincoln's New Salem State Historic Site!

We have a great full month of fun planned to enhance your visit. Every Wednesday and Friday at 10am throughout June come take a guided walk through the historic village with one of our interpreters. They will give a deeper understanding of the rise and fall of this historic village.

We are also pleased to open our popular hands-on children's area, the Stone Museum, from 10am to 3pm on Fridays and Saturdays throughout June.

Finally, don't forget to visit us on Saturday, June 15th for the Summer Frolic! This little festival brings in many of our volunteers and highlights various demonstrations.

04/27/2024

Thank you to all of our volunteers and thanks for following along and reading just a handful of our volunteer’s stories this week! If you couldn’t tell, we are very proud of our volunteer corps and thankful for their service. If you are thinking about joining the Lincoln’s New Salem volunteer community, we would love to add you into the mix.

Our volunteers range in age from 4 to 85. Some volunteer as a retirement gig, others for their homeschool, and some just spend quality time with their family in period clothing.

We have everything you need to get started! And even have a volunteer training coming up on Tuesday, May 14th from 10am-3pm! The training is in segments so you can come for as little or all of the training as your schedule allows.

If you are still reading this and considering becoming a volunteer, reach out today! You can email [email protected], message this page, or call 217-632-4000.

04/26/2024

Rounding out our celebration of volunteers for National Volunteer Week is the Phifer family!

They have been volunteering together in the historic village since 2018. Tyler (the oldest pictured) attended Pioneer Day Camp in 2016 and 2017 and then wanted to continue practicing his skills he learned at camp. In order to volunteer, he needed an adult with him. Hence, his mom brought the rest along as well!

According to their mom, Amy, their favorite thing is “spending time with visitors and our fellow volunteers.” Their favorite days are “when there are lots of volunteers because the village really comes alive!”

Amy also serves in another volunteer role this year as one of our wonderful campground hosts! Thank you for being a part of the Lincoln’s New Salem community!

04/25/2024

Next featured volunteer story is Cheryl (& Bob)!

Cheryl has been volunteering at Lincoln's New Salem for almost 5 years. You can usually find her greeting visitors at the Visitor Center desk, but she also enjoys being in the Village. You may also find her out in the historic village with her husband, Bob, and their great granddaughters.

What does she love about volunteering? Cheryl says, "I absolutely love meeting people from all over the United States and all over the world. We also enjoy the campground."

Thank you Cheryl for immersing the whole family inn the volunteer community at Lincoln's New Salem!

04/25/2024

Continuing our celebration of our fantastic volunteers, today we start off with Donna!

Donna has been volunteering since 1994. She say, "I started out with my 8 year old daughter and my 14 year old son. I had to quit for a few years as life happened but have been back for over 10 years. New Salem is a great place to volunteer. I love learning new things to show the visitors. My favorite things are getting to know the other volunteers and sharing my knowledge with the public."

Thank you Donna for so many years of volunteering at Lincoln's New Salem!

04/24/2024

Meet Sheri!

Here is here store: “I started volunteering about 25 years ago when I was homeschooling my 3 kids. We all have great memories of those days. We worked in several different homes, and especially liked the tavern. We met and had our pictures taken by people from all over the world. We were filmed for a video that was included in some sort of college curriculum. We learned so much from the many wonderful volunteers and employees that we spent time with. While my kids are grown and haven’t volunteered for many years, they never lost their love of history, which was the best thing about the experience to me! There have been many years when I wasn’t able to go out to NS when I was caring for my husband who passed away 6 years ago, but in the years since then spending time at New Salem has been good medicine for me, and I hope to do it more often, especially since I now have 10 grandchildren who are homeschooling, and are beginning to be interested in history as well. I’m hoping to encourage the many homeschooling families I know to consider taking the plunge and becoming volunteers.”

We love homeschooling families that want to try “hands-on history” through volunteering as interpreters! Sheri and her family has set a great example. Thank you Sheri for your “quarter of a century” of service!