Friends of Lincoln State Park

Autumn will be here very soon and that means it’s time for the Friends Fall Frolic and Haunted Trail. This year’s events will be held on Saturday, October 18th and 25th. From 12-3 PM each Saturday the Troy Road picnic area and Spring Shelter will be the site of hayrides, pumpkin painting, crafts, and games. Then from 7-10:30 PM Lake Lincoln will be transformed into Lake Fear as we present the 3rd annual haunted trail.

This year, the haunted trail will begin near the campground shelter and take guests toward the beach and through the lower level of the beach house. Face your fears this October and see if you can survive Lake Fear. The cost per person will once again be $3 per person and $2 for members. Parking for Lake Fear will be at the beach parking lot.

As work continues on a new nature center at Lincoln State Park, the Friends of Lincoln State Park continue to support this effort by funding exhibits to be on display there. Work has already begun on an artistic mural depicting Lincoln and the Indiana State Seal which is being funded by a $1,000 grant to the Friends by the Spencer County Community Foundation. The Friends previously appropriated funds to complete bobcat and otter mountings that will be on dislplay in the nature center and recently provided $750 to purchase a beaver mounting that will also be on display. We likely be supporting additional projects in the new nature center before it is completed. Many thanks to our supporting members whose membership dues help us to support these projects at Lincoln State Park.

If you have not yet renewed your membership this year, it's not too late! Return the renewal form you should have recently received in the mail or visit the Membership area of our website.

Learn more at www.lincolnamphitheatre.org

The Lincoln Drama Association recently announced the completion of their search for full-time staff for the Lincoln Amphitheatre as the June 2009 revival of the outdoor drama gets closer to being realized. Earlier this year, the Drama Association announced the hiring of Steve Wright of Seattle, Washington as executive producer who has since been working to complete the hiring of full-time staff and working with the script committee to finalize details with the proposed playwright.

The Association has hired Eric Altheide as the Managing Director for the amphitheatre. Altheide recently returned to the tri-state area in 2006 after spending seven years living in New York where he obtained his Master’s degfree from New York University’s Graduate Acting Program. He also worked as a professional actor for five years while he was in New York. Altheide has performed on regional stages throughout the country as well as in New York.

Since returning to live in Evansville and be closer to family, Altheide has been working for Fifth Third Bank in retail branch management and most recently as a recruiter in their human resources department.

The position of Communications Director has been filled with the hiring of Laura Barker. Barker comes to the Lincoln Amphitheatre from the Spencer County Visitors Bureau. She has an Associates Degree in Office Administration from Vincennes University and says that she developed a love from Abraham Lincoln and this area where he spent his boyhood years while working at the Visitors Bureau. Barker says that she is very excited to be a vital part of educating visitors about Lincoln’s formative years in Spencer County and is enthusiastic about promoting the world premiere of the new Lincoln play.

The Drama Association has also hired R. Scott Lank to serve as Director. Lank has directed over sixty productions, many of which have appeared at the regional and national levels of the Kennedy Center/American College Theatre Festival. He has taken master acting classes at The Actors Center and New York Ensemble Studio Theatre with Ron Van Lieu, J. Michael Miller, Uta Hagen, Robert Cohen, Earle Gister, and Michael Kahn.

Lank’s professional experience includes major positions as director, actor, production manager, and playwright for such companies as the Chautauqua Theatre Conservatory, Spoleto Festival USA, Hope Summer Repertory, Joffrey II Dancers, Paul Taylor Dancers, Sewanee Writers' Retreat, William Inge Theatre Festival, Great Plains Theatre Conference, Edward Albee Theatre Conference, Houston Shakespeare Festival, the Barter Theatre, Nebraska Repertory Theatre, the New Harmony Project, the New Harmony Theatre Company, Opera Omaha, Tales and Scales, the Lark Theatre, and founder/artistic director of the Illinois Stage Company in Chicago. His recent DVD, An Actor’s Path To Creativity, is distributed internationally through Design Video Communications, Inc.

On Friday, September 19, the LBDA board of directors will have their first read through of the proposed script for the new production which is still set to debut in June of next year.

The Indiana Historical Society Press recently released a new publication on Abraham Lincoln’s formative Indiana years by local Lincoln scholar, William E. Bartelt, entitled “There I Grew Up”: Remembering Abraham Lincoln’s Indiana Youth. Using Lincoln’s own words, interviews with family members and others who knew him in Indiana, and noted Lincoln biographies, the author analyzes the historical record of what is known of Lincoln’s formative years living in the Little Pigeon Creek community in what is now Spencer County.

Much of what is known about the years that Lincoln spent in Spencer County from 1816-1830 comes from the interviews that were conducted by Lincoln’s former law partner, William H. Herndon. Following Lincoln’s assassination and death, Herndon set out to write a biography of the 16th President and as he researched Lincoln’s life, he exchanged letters and conducted interviews with Lincoln’s stepmother Sally Bush Johnston Lincoln, cousin Dennis Hanks, stepsister Matilda Johnston Moore, neighbors Nathaniel Grigsby, Elizabeth Crawford, and David Turnham, and others who knew Lincoln during the Indiana years.

William Bartelt begins the story with Lincoln’s own words about his Indiana youth. During a return trip to Indiana in 1844 to campaign for the Whig Party’s candidate for President, Henry Clay, Abraham Lincoln came back to visit the community where he grew up near Little Pigeon Creek. Following that trip, Lincoln was inspired to write a poem which began, “My childhood-home I see again.” Lincoln also wrote two very brief autobiographies—one in 1859 and another in 1860. The first autobiography consisted of one paragraph and two sentences and was published in Pennsylvania after the famous Lincoln-Douglas debates brought Lincoln nationwide notoriety. The second one was a bit longer and was published in the Chicago Press and Tribune after Lincoln had been nominated as the Republican candidate for President.

The book, featuring a forward by Harold Holzer of the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art, provides an in-depth look at Lincoln’s boyhood home and reveals much about a time and place encompassing nearly a quarter of Lincoln’s life.

William E. Bartelt resides in Newburgh and is a retired educator who spent fifteen summers as a ranger and historian at Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial. He taught social studies at Harrison High School in Evansville from 1968 to 2005 and also served as chair of the social studies department. He holds degrees from Indiana State University and the University of Evansville and has served as an adjunct instructor since 1986 at the University of Southern Indiana. He is a member of the Federal Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission’s Advisory and Education Committees and serves as vice chair of the Indiana Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission. Bartelt has served as a consultant research historian for the Col. William Jones Home and is currently a supporting member of the Friends of Lincoln State Park. He is also a current member of the board of directors and executive committee of the Lincoln Boyhood Drama Association working toward the premiere of a new Lincoln play at the amphitheatre in 2009.

The last weekend of September will feature many activities related to the Lincoln Bicentennial in Spencer County.

Keepin' Up with the Jones'

The first event is being called Keepin’ Up with the Jones’ and will take place from 11 AM to 4 PM at the Col. William Jones Home. Sponsored by the Interpretive Naturalist Program at Lincoln State Park, this event will feature demonstrations of various pioneer skills. Demonstrations will include woodworking, lard rendering, hearth cooking, and spinning, as well as a cider-making demonstration from 11-1. There will also be tours of the Col. William Jones house and hikes to the nearby spring throughout the day. For more information call the Lincoln State Park office at (812) 937-4710.

Civil War Ball

Also on Saturday evening, September 27, the Friends of the Lincoln Pioneer Village & Museum will host a Civil War Ball in the rotunda of the Spencer County Courthouse. Period costumes are required and the event will feature period music and dance instruction. For more information including ticket information, contact Gay Ann Harney at (812) 649-6027.

"I Love America" Concert

Finally, on Sunday, September 28 at 2 PM, the Celebration Singers will present a patriotic musical performance entitled “I Love America” at the Lincoln Amphitheatre in Lincoln State Park. The southwestern Indiana choir will perform a musical patriotic program of music written by John W. Peterson and Don Wyrtzen in 1976 for the U.S. Bicentennial celebration. The concert is free and the park entrance fee is waived for persons attending this event. Concessions will be available for purchase and provided by the Friends of Lincoln State Park. Prior to the concert starting at 1 PM, there will be spinning, tatting, and bobbin lace demonstrations in the concourse area as well as a visit from President Lincoln himself. The event is sponsored by the Spencer County Lincoln Bicentennial Committee. For more information please call (812) 544-2946.

Lincoln's Journey of Remembrance set sail on Tuesday, September 9, from Rockport following a send-off celebration which began at 11 a.m. The celebration featured musical performances by the Spencer County Community Band, South Spencer Choir, and “George and the Country Boys.” The farewell event also included presentations by the office of Rep. Baron Hill, Rep. Russ Stillwell, Rep. Suzanne Crouch, Jeff Lindsey, Gene Steinkamp, Cheri Daniels, Rockport mayor Nedra Groves, Connie Nass, and a keynote address by Indiana Treasurer Richard Mourdock. Also addressing the crowd were Ron Drake, owner of the boat and Washington, D.C. attorney from Sullivan County, and the boat’s captain for the journey, John Cooper. Ron Drake also recognized former Indiana Governor Ed Whitcomb who attended the ceremony.

Prior to the send-off, a special "Time of Remembrance" service was held at Little Pigeon Church in Lincoln State Park, the church that was attended by the Lincoln Family and where Lincoln's sister, Sarah is buried in the church cemetery.

Lincoln's Journey of Remembrance will include traveling from Rockport to New Orleans, Louisiana, on a 60-foot replica flatboat while telling the story of Lincoln's life in Spencer County. The historic trip is a re-enactment of a similar trip Lincoln took himself in 1828 while transporting a load of produce for local merchant, James Gentry. While in New Orleans, Lincoln was very disturbed by a slave auction he witnessed on the docks. It was an experience he would never forget and one that influenced his views on the practice of slavery in years to come.

In addition to educating people about this important part of our nation's history, the trip is intended to increase awareness of Abraham Lincoln-related sites in Southern Indiana such as the Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial, Lincoln State Park & Amphitheatre, Col. William Jones Home, Lincoln Ferry Park, Lincoln Landing, and the Lincoln Pioneer Village. Discussions are underway to have the flatboat on permanent display at the Lincoln Pioneer Village.

You can follow the journey at www.LincolnsJourney.org which includes a daily blog and much more information about the boat, it’s passengers, and their activities along the way including how the crew survived the winds from former hurricane Ike.