Mothers To Receive Free Tulip Trees At Event Celebrating Lincoln Bicentennial

April 29, 2008 - PRLog -- In celebration of the role women played in Abraham Lincoln’s life, mothers attending a May 11 event marking the 200th anniversary of his birth will receive free tulip trees. Families are being encouraged to plant the trees as a lasting tribute to Lincoln’s bicentennial and his Indiana heritage.

On Mother’s Day – May 11, 2008 – the state where Lincoln spent his formative years will host one of only five national signature events created by the National Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Celebration.  To be held at the Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial in Lincoln City, Ind., the free event will celebrate the nation’s 16th president on the Spencer County land where he lived, farmed, grew up and even buried his mother.

The Mother’s Day celebration date is no coincidence. Lincoln often credited his mother, Nancy Hanks, and stepmother, Sarah Bush Johnston, for helping to shape his character, foster his education and instill in him the values that made him a great leader.

Mothers who receive the trees will be given instructions on how to plant them as living legacies to the Lincoln bicentennial. Named the Indiana State Tree in 1931, the tulip poplar (liriodendron tulipifera) is a tall, straight-growing tree that would have been used in Lincoln’s day for building log cabins and furniture. It’s likely that Abraham Lincoln and his father, a carpenter by trade, used axes to clear poplar trees from their Indiana farm.

Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial preserves the site of the farm where Lincoln lived from the ages of 7 to 21. Originally built as the Nancy Hanks Lincoln Memorial Park and opened in 1943, the memorial became part of the National Parks Service in 1962. Open to the public 362 days a year, it includes a living-history farm, visitors’ center museum and the gravesite of Lincoln’s mother. Lincoln’s sister, Sarah Lincoln Grigsby, who also died during Lincoln’s years in Indiana, is buried at nearby Lincoln State Park.

Gov. Mitch Daniels, who recently dedicated new highway signs proclaiming Indiana as “Lincoln’s Boyhood Home,” will speak at the event, along with U.S. Rep Baron Hill and keynote speaker Joan Flinspach, president and CEO of The Lincoln Museum in Fort Wayne.

To learn more about Indiana’s Lincoln sites and statewide bicentennial efforts, visit http://www.IndianasLincoln.org,  http://www.ThinkLincoln.org or http://www.nps.gov/libo.  The Indiana Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission Web site was produced in partnership with the Indiana Office of Tourism Development. The IALBC was formed by the Indiana General Assembly in 2006.

PLEASE NOTE:
While this event is free and open to the public, tickets are required for reserved seating. Tickets must be reserved in advance by calling the Spencer County Visitors Bureau at 888-444-9252. Visitors will be admitted without a ticket; however, they might have to stand for the ceremony.

EVENT DETAILS:
DATE:             Sunday, May 11, 2008
TIME:              1 p.m. CDT (Music); 2 p.m. CDT (Program)
PLACE:           Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial, Lincoln City, Ind.
COST:              FREE; though tickets must be reserved by calling 888-444-9252 (Tickets will be mailed in advance)
PARKING:     Heritage Hills High School, corner of CR 1600 and SR 162, Lincoln City
INFO:              www.ThinkLincoln.org or www.IndianasLincoln.org or www.nps.gov/libo

•   Beginning at 1 p.m. CDT, the Red Bank Reunion Band will play Civil War-era music in period military costume.
•   At 2 p.m. CDT, The Lincoln Bicentennial Mother’s Day Celebration ceremony will begin. The event will include:
o   Wreath-laying ceremony. A wreath will be laid at the foot of each of the five panels of the Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial Visitors Center building. Four panels represent where Lincoln lived – Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois and Washington, D.C.; the fifth commemorates the heritage Lincoln left to men and women of all time.
o   Musical performances. Indiana resident, singer and music teacher Shelia S. Billings will perform a song about Lincoln’s mother titled, “Nancy Hanks.” Celebration Singers, a multi-county Southern Indiana choir, will sing patriotic music.
o   Original drama performance. Using the words of Lincoln and his stepmother, Sarah Bush Johnston, a 10-minute drama will feature student actors from the nationally acclaimed Department of Theater at the University of Evansville.  The presentation was written by University of Evansville Drama Professor R. Scott Lank.
o   Quilt display. There will be a display of quilts made in patterns of the Underground Railroad in the Memorial’s visitors center.  A quilters group called the Piece Makers from Spencer County sewed all 20 quilts.
o   Lincoln Family Album Exhibit. On loan from The Lincoln Museum in Ft. Wayne, this exhibit features wonderful photographs of the four generations of Lincolns and reveal interesting aspects of their private lives.  
o   Special Lincoln Postmark. The Lincoln City Post Office will offer a Lincoln Bicentennial picture postmark cancellation in honor of this event.

DIRECTIONS: The park is located on Indiana Highway 162, 45 minutes east of Evansville. From Interstate 64, exit at US 231, (exit 57) and travel south through Dale, continue on US 231 to Gentryville, then east on Indiana Highway 162 for two miles. Admission to all activities is FREE.

CREDENTIALS AND MEDIA PARKING: Media interested in covering Mother’s Day Celebration, can obtain credentials and parking passes by contacting Melissa Miller, 888-444-9252 or tourinfo@psci.net. Parking is limited, so making arrangements in advance is necessary.

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The Spencer County Visitors Bureau provides travel information to visitors and media about Spencer County, Indiana, the site of Abraham Lincoln’s boyhood home, the world famous Santa Claus Post Office, and the world’s first theme park, Holiday World & Splashin' Safari. Visit us online at www.legendaryplaces.org or www.thinklincoln.org or call 888-444-9252.