Lincoln Bicentennial Talk at Village Learning Place in Baltimore

Commemorate the bicentennial of the birth of Abraham Lincoln.  Jeffrey, Larry, Preservation Manager at President Lincoln’s Cottage will discuss Lincoln’s life while residing at the Cottage during the summer and fall of 1862-4.  Larry will also discuss the rich architectural history of the Cottage, located on the grounds of the “Soldiers’ Home”  (now known as [...]

10 Facts about the Cottage Architecture

By Erin Carlson Mast
This is the 2nd installment of “100 Things to Know about President Lincoln’s Cottage.”  Today’s list focuses on architectural history.  The previous list of 10 addressed basic information about the site.

The Cottage is an authentic historic home with an incredible wealth of surviving fabric.  Visitors get to walk the rooms, touch the banister, and peer through [...]

Beating the Heat: Windows or AC?

By Erin Carlson Mast
Last August, we published a post that discussed historical, passive methods of cooling the Cottage.  The desire is to use these methods of cooling the Cottage, the methods the Lincolns themselves would have used, to enhance the visitor experience and appreciation for the authentic structure.
While historical methods of cooling are preferred, during the [...]

Artist Releases Limited Edition Prints of President Lincoln’s Cottage

By Erin Carlson Mast
President Lincoln’s Cottage is excited to announce the release of limited edition prints of the Cottage. The prints represent three views of the Cottage, from the north, south, and northeast. Each print is signed and numbered by the artist, Kathleen Rickert Nelson, who created the drawings to support the ongoing preservation and [...]

A Look Back at Restoration

By Erin Carlson Mast
A member of the construction management company that oversaw preservation and restoration of the Cottage interior and rehabilitation of the Visitor Education Center recently forwarded us a photo he snapped in the Cottage in March 2007.

This view shows workers removing loose paint in the entry hallway.  In the foreground is the library [...]

AIArchitect Article on President Lincoln’s Cottage

A Presidential Sanctuary: Restored Lincoln’s Cottage Tells Story of the Emancipation Proclamation
by Cynthia Young
Contributing Editor
http://www.aia.org/aiarchitect/thisweek07/1116/1116d_lincoln.cfm

John Skirving, Architect of the Cottage

Introduction by Erin Carlson Mast
Contributed by David Rotenstein
Previous research indicated that John Skirving was the architect of the veranda on George W. Riggs’s house, which later became President Lincoln’s seasonal residence, and that Skirving’s influence was limited to that portion of the building.  Through the research of Dr. David Rotenstein, it is now evident that Skirving [...]

Call of the Bell Pull

by Erin Carlson Mast
President Lincoln’s Cottage was outfitted with a bell pull system by the time the Lincolns came to live there in the 1860s.  Last October evidence of the bell system was uncovered in the Cottage.  Additional evidence of the old system—pipes in which the pull wires ran—was found two weeks ago during ongoing [...]

Nineteenth Century Gazebo Move

By Matt Ringelstetter

Since the 1960’s, more and more attention has been placed on interpreting landscapes as historically and culturally rich in their own right—not just as attractive picture frames for preserved buildings. For this reason, historic sites have paid greater attention to recreating their landscapes in a fashion accurate to the time period they [...]

South Porch Preservation Project – Summer ‘03

In the summer of 2003, the Lincoln Cottage preservation team undertook a project to disassemble and salvage the porch facing the South Lawn of the property. The following notes from the preservation journal give a great example of some of the work that has been done to restore the character of the Cottage to Lincoln’s [...]