Historical Name: Abraham Lincoln
Common Name: Overcup Oak
Latin Name: Quercus lyrata
The Abraham Lincoln Overcup Oak shades the yard of the Hardin County, Kentucky home where the nation’s 16th president lived as a boy. Abraham Lincoln’s parents, Thomas and Nancy, bought the home, called Sinking Spring Farm, for $200 in December, 1808. The couple’s first child, Sarah, was a year old and Mrs. Lincoln was pregnant with another child. Abraham Lincoln was born in a one-room log cabin on February 12, 1809. The cabin was probably a typical frontier dwelling, about 18-by-16 feet, with a dirt floor, one window and one door, a small fireplace, a shingled roof, and a low chimney made of clay, straw, and hard wood. From these humble beginnings came one of America’s great leaders, who would guide his nation through its Civil War. This tree was grown from a seed taken from the Abraham Lincoln Overcup Oak, and was planted into UCNJ’s Historic Tree Grove in 1997.
(text adapted from American Forests)