Jameson Jenkins and the Underground Railroad

Lincoln Home National Historic Site Historian, Tim Townsend will talk about Jameson Jenkins and the underground railroad. Abraham Lincoln’s neighbor, Jameson Jenkins, played an important role in the hopes of freedom seekers passing through Springfield, Illinois from Illinois’ bordering slave states of Kentucky and Missouri, and beyond. The National Park Service acquired the Jenkins lot in January of 1978; ensuring that archeological resources related to the home of Jameson Jenkins are preserved. On Lincoln’s birthday, February 12, 2008, the Jenkins lot was formally included into the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom and the National Park Service is continuing it’s efforts to tell the Jameson Jenkins and Underground Railroad stories.