Lincoln Flatbottom Boat in Owensboro
By: Sarah Lovett
Updated: September 9, 2008
Abraham Lincoln was born in Kentucky, he grew up in Indiana, and he began his political career in Illinois. With his two hundredth birthday coming up, Indiana historians are proving their dedication to Honest Abe with a special project.
An enormous flatbottom riverboat is making its way down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers as a tribute to a journey Abraham Lincoln took in 1828. Before he was a politician, he travelled for three months down the Ohio and Mississippi to deliver goods for a local merchant on a flatbottom boat. The replica boat, made by John Cooper, launched from Rockport where Lincoln grew up and built his own boat.
Coopers boat is made completely of tulip poplar wood -- the state tree of Indiana.
Indiana government officials spoke at the launch ceremony. The First Lady even braved the first voyage from Rockport to Owensboro.
Owensboro officials presented the boats crew members with a key to the city after the boat stopped in town.
The boat will take about a month to go from Rockport to New Orleans. It will stop in eight states and twenty three cities along the way to spread the history of Lincolns life before and during his political years.
