Published: November 21, 2007 10:10 pm         

Boat commissioned to re-enact trip Lincoln took in 1828

FARMBERSBURG — What started as a family re-enactment for Ron Drake became an Abraham Lincoln re-enactment about a year later.

Drake, 70, of Farmersburg had a 48-foot flatboat built last year so that he could take the same 558-mile journey on the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers that his ancestors took in 1810 from Cincinnati to Cape Girardeau, Mo.

“It was an experience,” Drake said of the trip. “A real experience.”

The boat, built by John Cooper of Pioneer Boat Replicas and Hugh Oxendine and Keith Altvater of Cherokee Development Builders and Corp., is 12 feet wide and weighs 20 tons. It is made of Indiana poplar all cut from Drake’s farm. It took eight weeks to build.

There are two beds in a small bedroom and a restroom in the rear of the boat along with an office for Drake, with black walnut paneling. In the front of the boat is a room with a wood-burning stove.

On Tuesday, a crew of men along with Drake, Cooper and Oxendine were using a 120-ton crane to load the boat onto a semitrailer so that the boat could make its way from Drake’s farm to Rockport.

Once it reaches Rockport, Cooper said he plans to add 12 to 14 more feet to the stern so that some motors with a 400-gallon capacity can be added. The boat will travel to New Orleans.

About taking a second trip in the flatboat, Drake said, “I think it’ll be a lot easier than the last one, we’ll be going downriver.”

Melissa Miller, executive director for the Spencer County Visitors Bureau, said when they heard about Drake’s first trip, they got the idea to commission the boat to be used to re-enact a similar trip Lincoln took in 1828.

“… On this trip, it was the first time that Lincoln had witnessed a slave auction … and that experience really cemented his views on slavery,” Miller said about the importance of the journey. “ … It really was an important voyage for him and we want to make it important for people today just to kind of bring his story to life for them.” Lincoln saw the slave auction in New Orleans, according to one historical account.

Replicating Lincoln’s journey is being done as part of a bicentennial celebration for Spencer County — the county Lincoln lived in from age 7 to 21. The trip, “Lincoln’s Journey of Remembrance,” begins Sept. 9. It will last 26 days and stop in 18 cities throughout eight states, educating people along the way about Lincoln and his journey.

Lincoln’s 200th birthday will be celebrated across the nation in February 2009. “Lincoln’s Journey of Remembrance” is endorsed by the United States Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission, which was established by Congress in 2000 to plan a national observance of Lincoln’s birth, according to the Commission’s Web site.

“During the gravest crisis in American history, Lincoln preserved the Union, led the effort to eradicate slavery and articulated the best aspirations of American democracy,” the Web site stated. “ … Remembering our past, we can better light the way to our future.”

The project is a joint effort among the Spencer County Visitors Bureau, Spencer County Regional Chamber of Commerce, Think Lincoln Inc. and the Association for a Better Rockport as well as Drake, Miller said.

“We’re really excited about being able to take Lincoln’s story on the road,” she said, “but in this case, it’s on the river.”

Crystal Garcia can be reached at (812) 231-4271 or crystal.garcia@tribstar.com.