Tue–Fri 9 a.m.–4 p.m. · Sat 1–4 p.m.
Holidays excepted — please call (217) 735-7399 to confirm before you travel.
Plan your visit
Hours, admission, tour options and directions. Allow about two hours for the full museum experience.
Admission
Cash and credit card (Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover) accepted.
Hours
Holiday closings are listed from the museum’s published policy. Please call (217) 735-7399 if your visit falls near one.
Talks, events and day-to-day news are posted on the museum’s Facebook page.
Please allow two hours for the full museum experience.
Coming a long way? Hours and payment methods listed on third-party travel sites are not always current. A quick call to (217) 735-7399 before you set off will confirm that the museum is open, that a docent-guided Immersion Tour is running at the time you want, and which payment methods are accepted that day.
Choose your experience
Tour options depend on the time you have available, the kind of tour you want, and the ages in your party. All options begin at the visitor services desk.
The first-floor exhibit area showcases more than one hundred rare and original historic pieces relating to Lincoln and the Civil War. The displays feature stimulating visuals and story-telling which complement the pieces and provide historical context. Maps, photographs and timelines give an overview of Lincoln’s life and of nineteenth-century America.
An immersive audio-visual experience. Through audio-video presentations, object reproductions, attractive graphics and realistic nineteenth-century room recreations, visitors accompany President Lincoln as he revisits his path from rail-splitter, to self-taught country lawyer, all the way to the White House.
This option is recommended for school groups and specialized tours. A docent will guide visitors through each room, telling stories of the life of Lincoln, and using the recreated rooms as visual backdrops for the journey.
This option is by appointment only. Call or email the museum in advance to arrange a tour.
Getting here
Lincoln Heritage Museum
1115 Nicholson Rd, Lincoln, Illinois 62656
Mailing address: 300 Keokuk St, Lincoln, IL 62656 — please do not use it for satellite navigation.
Arriving on Interstate 55
Take exit 126 toward Lincoln. Turn left onto Route 10 / Woodlawn Road and continue to Lincoln Parkway. Turn left on Lincoln Parkway and travel two miles to Nicholson Road — there is a museum sign at Nicholson. Turn right and continue on Nicholson Road, crossing a railroad track after 0.4 miles. The Lincoln Center is immediately on the right.
Northbound Rt 121 · Westbound Rt 10
Enter Lincoln on Keokuk Street. Travel through the stoplights at Kickapoo and Logan Streets and turn right on Ottawa Street, where there is a museum sign. Follow Ottawa Street 0.3 miles through the former Lincoln College campus. Ottawa curves left and the Lincoln Center is on the left, before the railroad crossing.
Eastbound Rt 10
Enter Lincoln on Route 10 / Woodlawn Road and continue to Lincoln Parkway. Turn left on Lincoln Parkway and travel two miles to Nicholson Road. Turn right at the museum sign and continue on Nicholson Road across the railroad track. The Lincoln Center is immediately on the right.
At the building. Enter the Lincoln Center through the doors beneath the triangular pediment. The entrance to Lincoln Heritage Museum is to your right.
Riding the Mother Road
You are already on the right roads. Historic US 66 is signed through Lincoln along Business Loop I-55, and Lincoln Parkway — the road the Interstate directions use — is the old US 66 bypass around the city.
The downtown alignment runs along Fifth, Logan and Keokuk Streets and out past Kickapoo, which is exactly the approach described in the Route 10/121 directions above. Coming through town on 66 puts you a few turns from the door.
Parking
Parking is free for cars, buses and motor coaches. Passenger drop-off and pick-up is in front of the museum, at the first set of double doors of the Lincoln Center building.
Motor coaches are asked to park along the sidewalk at the far end of the lot adjacent to 1115 Nicholson Rd.
While you’re in town
The museum sits on the Illinois Route 66 Scenic Byway and inside the Abraham Lincoln National Heritage Area. Several more stops are within a few minutes’ drive.
Route 66
The world’s largest covered wagon, with Lincoln reading at the reins — the town’s favorite photo stop.
Lincoln the lawyer
A 1953 replica on the original site of the first Logan County courthouse, where Lincoln practiced law riding the Eighth Judicial Circuit.
Route 66
An original roadside building on the Mother Road, restored as a museum of the highway’s heyday.
Also nearby
The restored neon Tropics sign, the Balloons over 66 festival each August, plus lodging and dining across Logan County.
The Logan County Tourism Bureau can help you plan the rest of the trip.
Destination Logan County Looking for Lincoln Illinois Route 66 Byway
Tourism Bureau: (217) 732-8687
