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Thanksgiving on Goosenest Prairie
Learn about Abraham Lincoln’s establishment of Thanksgiving as a national holiday at Thanksgiving on Goosenest Prairie, produced by the Lincoln Log Cabin State Historic Site and the Lincoln Log Cabin Foundation. This event takes place from 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. on Friday, November 28th.
Visit with the Lincoln family as they prepare for a Thanksgiving feast, mid-19th century style! The Goosenest Prairie Gift Shop will be open during the event and features many new holiday items, including many locally-sourced products and a great selection of items handcrafted by talented volunteers.
In 1789, George Washington became the first president to issue a Thanksgiving proclamation. Thanksgiving remained predominantly a regional holiday until President Abraham Lincoln revived Washington’s earlier tradition and issued a Thanksgiving proclamation during the Civil War in 1863. Since 1864, Americans have celebrated Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday of November.
“I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens.”
– from Abraham Lincoln’s Proclamation of Thanksgiving, October 3, 1863
Lincoln Log Cabin State Historic Site, a gateway site for the Abraham Lincoln National Heritage Area, was the 1840s home of Abraham Lincoln’s father and stepmother, Thomas and Sarah Bush Lincoln. It is located eight miles south of Charleston and 14 miles southeast of Mattoon, Illinois.
For more information about this or other events at the site, call 217-345-1845, email info@lincolnlogcabin.org, or visit www.lincolnlogcabin.org.