Stephen Foster

Sunday morning is a perfect time for brunch and our American/Jewish brunch was excellent. Chef Mitch prepared eggs and pancakes. His pancakes were topped with his not-so-secret bourbon maple syrup, yum. Chef Jerry made matzoh brei, which is a fried matzoh and egg pancake. Throw in fruit salad, bagels, and lox and it was a fabulous brunch.

The rest of the day was for personal leisure, including trying to put together evil Rich’s
scroll saw cut puzzle. Even he thinks it’s so hard that the man who made it should be skinned alive.

We spent the afternoon with Art and Rita visiting Sinking Springs, the birthplace of Abraham Lincoln and Knob Creek, his early home. The Abraham Lincoln Birthplace NHP is most impressive. The land was purchased by the Lincoln Farm Association, with such members as Robert Collier, Mark Twain and Samuel Gompers, to preserve the 16th President’s birthplace. First there is an excellent movie on his early life. Then visitors climb 56 steps, one for each year of Lincoln’s life, to a monument similar to the one in Washington, D.C.

Inside this building is a replica of what the cabin where Lincoln was born probably looked like.

A new and well-informed docent told such details of the house as that the 3/4 stack chimney was built to be hauled away by chain if there was a risk of the building burning. She also pointed out the theme of having 16 repeating decorative items around the room.

A few miles away is Knob Creek, location of Lincoln’s boyhood home. The knob is little changed with its small farm but the house is not Lincoln’s though much like it.

Local lore says that the boy who did live in the home and was a good friend of Lincoln’s saved him from drowning in the nearby creek.

Two miles down the road is a sign identifying Lincoln’s first schoolhouse.

Instead of the usual cocktail hour, we gathered for bourbon tasting then enjoyed a catered turkey and all the fixings dinner. The highlight of the evening was a presentation of The Stephen Foster Story at the outdoor theater in Stephen Foster State Park. His music is used to tell his own story from youth to adult. It centers upon his love of Jane (Jeannie to him), his friendship with barmaids, drunks, and slaves, and his being conned out of rights for the songs he wrote. The setting was lovely and the costumes colorful.

An excellent cast told his story with enthusiasm and empathy.