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Oblivious to the play of his young sons and their cousins, he read Gibbons, Shakespeare, Burns, Prentice's Life of Henry Clay, Byron, Pope. Born in to a wealthy, political family on December 13, 1818, Mary Todd Lincoln was sophisticated, educated, and versed in politics. Yet, few women in American history have endured as much tragedy and controversy. Kentuckians know the Bluegrass State is the birthplace of Abraham Lincoln, but the Commonwealth was also home to his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln. In fact, her family lived in a Georgian abode in downtown Lexington. The home eventually became the first house museum in the U.S. to honor a First Lady, and it is still open to the public today.
The Historical Kentucky House of First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln
After your visit, enjoy our museum store, small garden, and complimentary downtown self-guided walking tour. The Mary Todd Lincoln House was the family home of the wife of 16th president Abraham Lincoln. Mary Lincoln was sophisticated, educated, and versed in politics. Yet, few women in American history have endured as much controversy and tragedy. In the early days of Kentucky's history, a Cherokee chief promised the settlers the land he was giving up would be a “dark and bloody one.” When war broke out in 1860, his prescience may have been recalled with good reason.
Ashland: The Henry Clay Estate
"(For any) woman in that time period … being able to save enough money to buy (your) own home (was) incredible." Show your pride in battlefield preservation by shopping in our store. In the mid-1970s, Beula C. Nunn, wife of Governor Louie B. Nunn, along with the Kentucky Mansions Preservation Foundation, Inc., and the Metropolitan Women's Club of Lexington, gained support to preserve and restore the Mary Todd Lincoln House. In June 1996, the Beula C. Nunn Garden at the Mary Todd Lincoln House was dedicated and opened to the public.
Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park
Wealthy planters built mansions along the city's shaded boulevards, and the finest furnishings, fashions, artworks and wines flowed abundantly from the capitals of Europe. The railroads brought newcomers, and Transylvania University, chartered in 1780, attracted scholars who were destined to play an important role in the young country's history. "She came from privilege, (but) she had a lot of tragedy in her life," Thompson said. "She’s someone who probably deserves a lot more sympathy than she sometimes gets."
Presidents Day Family Event at Mary Todd Lincoln House
As Thompson explains, Willie contracted typhoid fever and died while Abraham was president. In early 1862, when their eleven-year-old son Willie died from typhoid fever, Mary was grief-stricken. He was the second of three Lincoln children who would die before adulthood. The heaviest blow fell on April 14, 1865, with Abraham Lincoln’s assassination. A mutual interest in politics was one of the things that drew Mary to attorney Abraham Lincoln, whom she met while visiting an older sister in Springfield, Illinois. Mary exchanged her life of relative ease and privilege for that of a middle-class wife when she married Lincoln in 1842.
Visit Mary Todd Lincoln House
Four years later, at the instigation of her only surviving child Robert, Mary was confined against her will for several months at an asylum in Batavia, Illinois. Mary Lincoln’s mental health continues to be debated by historians and is frequently the subject of pop culture references to the former first lady. Though there are some queries that may never be answered, interactive exhibits in Mary's old home allow visitors to consider all the possibilities and appreciate the history behind them all. One item is a silver mug, set between photographs of Mary and Abraham's sons, William "Willie" Lincoln and Thomas "Tad" Lincoln.
In summer, all meals were prepared in a separate cookhouse and brought in warming cabinets to be served on the family's prized collection of blue and white Canton china. Today the Todd house is the property of the state and has been leased to a foundation organized by Beula Nunn, wife of Kentucky's former governor, Louie B. Nunn, for the purpose of preserving the state's many old mansions. Working from an estate list left by Robert Todd, the foundation has restored the house and retrieved many of the family furnishings.
Becoming Mrs. Abraham Lincoln
Mary Todd Lincoln House celebrates Presidents’ Day with students - Fox 56 News
Mary Todd Lincoln House celebrates Presidents’ Day with students.
Posted: Mon, 19 Feb 2024 08:00:00 GMT [source]
Designed for children ages 5-9, this free packet includes directions for playing old-fashioned games, making a Lincoln family photo album, Civil War songs, and other pastimes the Lincolns enjoyed. The Mary Todd Lincoln house has the distinction of being the first historic site restored in honor of a First Lady.[3] Operated by the Kentucky Mansions Preservation Foundation, Inc., the house museum was opened to the public on June 9, 1977. 1803–1806 as an inn and tavern, which was called "The Sign of the Green Tree" before its purchase by Mary's father, Robert Smith Todd, for the Todd family. Mary Todd lived in this home until 1839, when she moved to Springfield, Illinois. After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Lincoln visited her family here. "Our primary focus in the dining room has to do with those individuals," Thompson said, adding that one of the formerly enslaved women who was living and laboring in the Todd household was named Jane Wales.
PLAN YOUR VISIT
Mary Lincoln lived independently in Europe for several years following her controversial institutionalization. Illness forced her to return to the United States, where she died July 1882 in the home of her sister Elizabeth, in which she married Lincoln almost forty years before. Her remains are entombed, along with her husband’s, in Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield, Illinois. During these years, she traveled internationally, fought for a widow’s pension, explored the practice of spiritualism, and continued to raise her youngest son Tad.
The Mary Todd Lincoln House in Lexington, Kentucky, explores the life and times of America's most fascinating first lady through tours and public programs. Mary Todd Lincoln was sophisticated, educated, and well-versed in politics. Yet few women in American history endured as much controversy and tragedy as Mary Lincoln. The museum primarily offers self-guided tours with our knowledgeable, friendly staff available to answer questions. The experience offers flexible scheduling and is perfect for those who like exploring at their own pace. The self-guided tour is available during our hours of operation Monday-Saturday and limited to 15 guests every half hour.
While modest in size, the museum store offers a variety of books about Mrs. Lincoln and Kentucky history, Lincoln related items, and souvenirs. Located in the heart of downtown Lexington, the Federal-style house was constructed by 1806 and is one of the oldest structures in the city. Prior to restoration in the 1970s, the property was only a shadow of the grand home where Mary Lincoln brought her husband, future president Abraham Lincoln, for a long visit in 1847. The childhood home opened as a museum in 1977, becoming the first historic site dedicated to a first lady. Mary was the daughter of a prominent Lexington native Robert Smith Todd and his first wife Eliza Parker, who died when Mary was six years old.
She took on the role of first lady-from hosting balls to visiting troops-with enthusiasm. However, controversy and tragedy marked Mary Todd Lincoln’s life in the White House. Lexington, known as the “Athens of the West” at the time, had numerous educational opportunities for affluent citizens, and Mary completed her extensive education under the tutelage of French immigrant Charlotte Mentelle. At the Todd's large home, maintained by enslaved men and women, Mary mingled with influential political guests. The most prominent of these was three-time presidential candidate Senator Henry Clay, who lived less than two miles away.
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