New Salem Lincoln League

The New Salem Lincoln League is a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving the village by sponsoring special events, craft demonstrations, and raising funds necessary to assure the continual care and preservation of this piece of the Heart of America. With more than a century of service, The New Salem Lincoln League has been, and continues to be, a vital part of maintaining Lincoln's New Salem as one of America's premiere Historic Sites.

Lincoln At New Salem

Lincoln's New Salem State Historic Site, about 2 miles South of Petersburg and about 20 miles Northwest of Springfield, is a reconstruction of the village where Abraham Lincoln spent his early adulthood.

The six years Lincoln spent in New Salem formed a turning point in his career. Although he never owned a home here, Lincoln was engaged in a variety of activities while he was at New Salem. He clerked in a store, split rails, enlisted in the Black Hawk War, served as postmaster and deputy surveyor, failed in business, and was elected to the Illinois General Assembly in 1834 and 1836 after an unsuccessful try in 1832.