Abraham Lincoln quarterly. [Vol. 5, no. 3]

144 ABRAHAM LINCOLN QUARTERLY
one being The Old Plantation. The Old Plantation had six
cabins in it, among which were the Davenport-Lincoln birthplace cabin and the Brewer-Davis cabin. At the close of the
Buffalo Exposition the six cabins were dismantled and the
exhibitors later stated that half the logs of the Lincoln cabin
were lost in transit from Buffalo back to New York.33
Richard H. Barry published an account of The Old Plantation at Buffalo, with photographs of the excellent and imposing entrance to the show and also individual photographs
of the cabins, both of which were used to house some of the
Negro actors in the show. Signs were attached to both cabins
stating they were respectively, the birthplace of Abraham
Lincoln and Jefferson Davis.34
Although it is often mistakenly stated that the Lincoln
birthplace cabin was at the Chicago World's Fair in 1893,
the cabin on exhibition in Chicago was actually the Coles
County, Illinois, residence of the Lincolns. It was not on the
exposition grounds and was not exhibited as the birthplace
cabin. The structure at Chicago had the distinction of being
authentic and was actually associated with the Lincoln family after their removal to Illinois.
In 1904, the Louisiana Purchase Exposition was held at
St. Louis, with The Old Plantation, owned and exhibited
by one James A. Thompson, as one of the features. Also
there, was the Lincoln Museum, owned by the Lincoln Exhibit Company. The Old Plantation and the Lincoln Museum were separate concessions. The former was still a "coon
and cabin" show, but without the "Lincoln" and "Davis"
cabins, which were then in a basement at College Point,
New York.
The Lincoln Museum had a cabin claimed to be ninety
years old and brought from Larue County, Kentucky, and it

88 New York Times, March 23, 1903 -SBarry, op. cit., pp. 125-128.