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Drinkin' With Lincoln Episode 3: Before The Presidency, Before The Beard

Northern Public Radio | By Clint Cargile

Published March 20, 2019 at 10:37 AM CDT

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Lincoln Presenter Joe Woodard at Lincoln Log Cabin State Historic Site in Lerna, Illinois

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Lincoln Presenter Joe Woodard at Lincoln Log Cabin State Historic Site in Lerna, Illinois

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Lincoln Presenter Joe Woodard outside the Lincoln-Douglas Debate Museum in Charleston, Illinois, site of the fourth Lincoln-Douglas Debate

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Lincoln Presenter Joe Woodard at Jackson Avenue Coffee in downtown Charleston, Illinois

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Host Clint Cargile with Lincoln Presenter Joe Woodard in downtown Charleston

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Thomas Lincoln's grave at Thomas Lincoln Cemetery, Lerna, Illinois

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Host Clint Cargile examines the original marble marker for Thomas Lincoln's grave. It was replaced in 1924 and moved to another part of the cemetery.

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The Charleston Riot by Rebecca Sawyer Spoon. On March 28, 1864, fighting broke out between Union soldiers and local copperheads. The brief battle, which took place on and around Charleston’s courthouse square, left nine dead and twelve wounded.";

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The world's tallest Abraham Lincoln statue, located at the former Lincoln Springs Resort outside Charleston, Illinois

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Host Clint Cargile standing at the feet of the world's tallest Abraham Lincoln statue

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Looking up at the world's tallest Abraham Lincoln statue

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Chainsaw carvings of Abraham Lincoln, now in storage in Ashmore, Illinois

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Chainsaw carvings of Abraham Lincoln, now in storage in Ashmore, Illinois

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A chainsaw carving of Abraham Lincoln, now in storage in Ashmore, Illinois

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For our third episode, we head down to Charleston, Illinois, a city bursting with Lincoln history, where we meet up with Joe Woodard, a veteran Lincoln presenter who also happens to be beardless. A beardless Lincoln? How is that possible? But Lincoln didn't grow his beard until the 1860 election, so anyone portraying Lincoln's career as a prairie lawyer in Illinois should, for authenticity's sake, be clean shaven. Woodard's tonsured chops have defined his Lincoln career, giving him opportunities not available to his bewhiskered colleagues.

In the first half of this episode, Joe takes us on a tour of the Lincoln Log Cabin State Historic Site, which recreates and preserves the farm of Thomas and Sarah Lincoln, Abraham Lincoln's father and step-mother. We also visit Thomas Lincoln's grave, the site of a Lincoln-Douglas debate that took place in Charleston, and the world's tallest Abraham Lincoln statue. There's a lot of Lincoln to cover in Charleston, and it's a complicated side of Lincoln we don't often see in the history books: his strained relationship with his father, his defense of a slaveowner in a Charleston trial, and his controversial views on racial equality.

Then Joe and I visit Jackson Avenue Coffee in downtown Charleston, where Joe tells us how he got started as Lincoln, how being beardless affected his career, and how he prepares for the role. We also learn that Joe is not afraid to be critical of Lincoln. You'll find all of that and more in this episode of Drinkin’ with Lincoln.

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Bonus content: