A Brief Background
In 1862, after his first year of presidency, President Abraham Lincoln and
his family moved to a serene cottage surrounded by lush trees and wooded
areas roughly three miles from the White House. From the outside, one could
assume the stay was meant to be a pleasure retreat, though historical
accounts reveal more complex issues. The Lincoln family lived in the
Cottage from roughly June-November of 1862-64. In total, he spent one
quarter of his presidency there.
In 2000, President Bill Clinton declared the Cottage a National Monument
and the National Trust for Historic Preservation began an 8-year
restoration project to bring it back to life. The restored cottage opened
to the public in 2008. Today, President Lincoln’s Cottage is a place of
reflection for children and adults, just as it was for Lincoln and his
family. President Lincoln’s Cottage is located on the grounds of the Armed
Forces Retirement Home campus in the Petworth neighborhood of Washington,
D.C.
According to its website, President Lincoln’s Cottage is “a home for brave
ideas” that inspires visitors to open their minds to all possibilities,
listen to other viewpoints and come up with new ways to honor the human
spirit – all hallmarks of Lincoln’s presidency.
Visitor services manager Michelle Martz says, President Lincoln’s Cottage’s
educational philosophy focuses on social and emotional learning. “The
stories of what happened here historically have the power to bring out the
leader in any person today,” she notes.
The ongoing threat of the Civil War, with its terrorizing bloodshed and the
discord regarding the legality of slavery, followed Lincoln everywhere he
went, causing him to ponder deeply, grieve and carefully consider the
issues of the day during his stay at the cottage. It is these reflections
that today inspire visitors to have “courageous ideas, respectful dialogue
and thoughtful compromise.”
Social Studies Program for Early Learners (Ages 2-5)
Emphasizing President Lincoln’s Cottage as a place of reflection to
encourage people to nurture their brave ideas, the staff piloted Social
Studies, a program for early learners, ages 2-5, offering several sessions
earlier in 2019. After furthering their research on the ways in which
Lincoln managed his emotions during his stay at the Cottage and engaging
program participants with targeted feedback on previous programming, the
staff modified the Social Studies program and is debuting a new session
beginning on December 10.
In the new Social Studies program, museum staff will guide children ages
2-5 and their caretakers on a mission to nurture the children’s social and
emotional learning skills “through interactive storytelling and hands-on
lessons that help foster self-awareness, self-management, relationships and
responsible decision-making skills,” as noted in official literature.
Throughout Lincoln’s presidency, many people doubted his leadership and
ability to end the Civil War. Lincoln, like many of us, knew what it felt
like to fail, but he also knew that when you are passionate about
something, you have to get back up and try again.
The staff honed in on Lincoln’s emotional triumph over people’s doubts and
chose “Maybe: A Story About the Endless Potential in All of Us,” a
children’s book by New York Times best-selling author Kobi Yamada as the
focal point for the social studies programming for 2-5-year-old children.
The social studies program includes an interactive story time and an
endearing craft that symbolizes a child’s “unique potential to change the
world.” The staff hopes to honor Lincoln’s empathy of people from different
walks of life and encourage children in their “understanding and managing
[of] emotions, setting and achieving positive goals, feeling and showing
empathy, establishing and maintaining positive relationships and making
responsible decisions.”
Additional Information
Social Studies is an umbrella program with additional offerings for
families with older children that will be launched later in the spring of
2020. These programs will engage families through innovative games designed
to spark meaningful conversations and ask thoughtful questions on difficult
topics.
President Lincoln’s Cottage offers daily tours and is closed on major
holidays. Check-in begins at the Robert H. Smith Visitor Education Center,
which is housed in a separate building and offers permanent and temporary
exhibits on President Lincoln, slavery, the Civil War and the Soldiers’
Home. Visitors may also purchase grounds passes, which give greater walking
access to the historic grounds.
For more information, please visit President Lincoln’s Cottage’s website: lincolncottage.org/
