Lincoln's New Salem State Historic Site

This reconstructed 1830s village two miles south of Petersburg re-creates the town where a young Abraham Lincoln lived from 1831 to 1837, working as a store clerk, postmaster, and surveyor before his political career began. The Civilian Conservation Corps rebuilt the village on its original foundations in the 1930s, and it is now an Illinois State Historic Site. Visitors and staff have long reported seeing a figure resembling Lincoln walking the grounds at night, particularly around the buildings tied to his years here.