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Abraham Lincoln arrived in New Salem for the first time in
the spring of 1831. He and his stepbrother, John D. Johnston
and cousin John Hanks, were on a raft trip down the Sangamon
River bound for New Orleans.
Two
years earlier, James Rutledge and nephew John Camron had
built a mill and dammed the river to create a mill pond. As
the trio made their way down the river. The raft became
lodged atop this new dam. Lincoln directed the complicated
maneuver to float the craft over the dam.
After
a day and a night this "sorry looking trio" resumed their
trip on the Sangamon River, down the Illinois, and on to the
Mississippi to New Orleans.
In
July of 1831, Denton Offutt opened a store in New Salem with
Abraham Lincoln as his clerk. Lincoln had "stopped
indefinitely" and stayed for six years.
New
Salem was a typical country village, a cluster of log cabins
on a river bend. It provided essential services, such as
milling meal, flour, and lumber. It did attract settlers
because of these services.
New
Salem eventually boasted a mill, three general stores, a
cooper, a blacksmith, a wheelwright, a hatter, a tanner, two
doctors, and a handful of private homes. When Lincoln
arrived in New Salem it was but two years old.
Lincoln
boarded the whole six years he spent in New Salem. William
Greene who also clerked in the store. Said they slept among
the crates and boxes in the back room.
They " slept on the same cott and when one turned over
the other had to do likewise."
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RUTLEDGE TAVERN |
James Rutledge, a native South Carolinian, who
co-founded New Salem with John Camron, erected a
building as a residence in 1828. Once New Salem
began to prosper, he converted it to an inn or
tavern where travelers could enjoy a meal and
bed. Law fixed tavern rates at 37 1/2 cents per
day for a meal and overnight stay. The Rutledge
family left in early 1833. Nelson Alley later
owned the tavern and rented it to Henry Onstot.
In 1837 Alley sold it to Jacob Bale, who by this
time operated both the carding mill and the saw
and grist mill. The Bales used it as a residence
for many years. By 1880 it had decayed to ruin.
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