From left: Geoff Ladd, of the Abraham Lincoln Tourism Bureau of Logan County; Ron Keller, curator of Lincoln Heritage Museum at Lincoln College; Sarah Watson, executive director of the Looking for Lincoln Heritage Coalition; and Barbara Stroud-Borth, secretary of the Mount Pulaski Courthouse Foundation

3 Logan County groups receive Looking for Lincoln Heritage Coalition grants [March 23, 2013]  Three Logan County groups were awarded $1,500 each on Wednesday as part of the Looking for Lincoln Heritage Coalition/Abraham Lincoln National Heritage Area 2012 Partnership Grant program.

Receiving the grant awards were the Logan County Looking for Lincoln Committee of the Abraham Lincoln Tourism Bureau of Logan County; Lincoln Heritage Museum of Lincoln College; and the Mount Pulaski Courthouse Foundation.

The tourism bureau's Looking for Lincoln committee was selected for a partnership grant to be used for Abraham Lincoln's Geocaching Trail in Logan County. Geocaches will be placed at Abraham Lincoln attractions throughout the county, which will draw awareness to these sites. Rack cards will advertise the new trail, and visitors can check out a GPS unit from the tourism bureau. Plastic tokens in the caches can be redeemed for special geocaching postcards.

The Lincoln Heritage Museum of Lincoln College is using its grant for a new living history program that will have several aims. These will include the research, development and performance of living history dramas, vignettes and monologues. Students from the history, English and fine arts departments at the college will work with the Lincoln Heritage Museum staff to research individuals, read written historical accounts, and analyze historic documents and material objects in the museum to develop and prepare scripts. When the new Lincoln Heritage Museum opens in the fall of 2013, the museum will schedule special performance times, which will be open to the public. Also included will be the formation of a college class, open to students and eventually to the community, on how to perform living history, and training of performers for certification.

The Mount Pulaski Courthouse Foundation was selected for a partnership grant to install improved humidity control for the historic courthouse, sponsor a workweek with various projects and a final celebration. A street fest on June 28 will celebrate the end of the workweek with food, music, children's games, and Abraham and Mary Lincoln portrayers on the street in front of the courthouse.

"It is a privilege for us to provide funding to our partner organizations and communities throughout the Abraham Lincoln National Heritage Area," said Sarah Watson, executive director of the Looking for Lincoln Heritage Coalition. "Thanks to funding we received from the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Foundation, we were able to make these grants available."

Funds for all the projects will be used for educational programs, interpretation, displays, event programming or interpretive signage. Projects applying for the grants demonstrated how they will help preserve and interpret the area's local or regional stories and their significance to the nation and the world. Additional consideration was given for cultural, ethnic, arts and recreation programs in line with the area's Lincoln focus.

All of the awarded grants are for projects that are physically located in at least one of the 42 designated Illinois counties within the Abraham Lincoln National Heritage Area: Adams, Brown, Calhoun, Cass, Champaign, Christian, Clark, Coles, Cumberland, DeWitt, Douglas, Edgar, Fayette, Fulton, Greene, Hancock, Henderson, Jersey, Knox, LaSalle, Logan, Macon, Macoupin, Madison, Mason, McDonough, McLean, Menard, Montgomery, Morgan, Moultrie, Peoria, Piatt, Pike, Sangamon, Schuyler, Scott, Shelby, Tazewell, Vermillion, Warren and Woodford. For a list of the grant awards, click here.

The grant program was made possible thanks to the generous support of the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Foundation, dedicated to perpetuating and expanding Lincoln's vision for America and completing America's unfinished work, and by the Abraham Lincoln National Heritage Area.

The Looking for Lincoln Heritage Coalition is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to working collaboratively with local, state and national partners across the Abraham Lincoln National Heritage Area to tell quality stories of Abraham Lincoln's life and times in order to provide high-quality experiences for visitors, economic opportunities for communities and improve the quality of life for residents.

[Text from Looking for Lincoln Heritage Coalition news release received Abraham Lincoln Tourism Bureau of Logan County]