Indiana Residents Reenact Lincoln Boat Trip ROCKPORT, IN (wsiu) - A month long reenactment of Abraham Lincoln's 1828 flatboat trip down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers is under way.
The flatboat's journey began today(Tuesday) as it departed from the Ohio river town of Rockport, about 15 miles from where Lincoln grew up in Southern Indiana. The trip is one of the area's events marking the nation's two-year celebration of Lincoln's life and legacy. Lincoln was born in Kentucky in 1809, then lived in Indiana's Spencer county from ages 7 to 21.
Executive director of the Spencer County Visitors Bureau, Melissa Miller, says the boat was built to be very authentic.
The 60-foot-long, 25-ton flatboat is scheduled to make 23 stops on its journey before arriving in New Orleans on Oct. 5. University of Southern Indiana journalism student Casey McCoy will help write a blog about the trip and because he's 6-foot-4, he'll also portray Lincoln along the way.
McCoy tells the Evansville courier & press that the trip will be "a month of excitement."
The boat will be making stops in Cave in Rock, Elizabethtown, Metropolis and Cairo.
For more information you can visit www.lincolnsjourney.org
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