President Lincoln Revisits the Tecumseh Trail

The Darke County Parks and the Phoenix Committee of the Friends of the Darke County Parks recently installed signage at the Tecumseh Trailhead in Gettysburg as a reminder of the Darke County connection to the Abraham Lincoln Funeral Train Route. This portion of the Tecumseh Trail was once an active railway and was utilized during this funeral train procession.

On Sunday April 30, 1865, the Lincoln funeral train traveled into Darke County. The train briefly stopped in Bradford, entered Gettysburg at 1:10am and later Greenville at 1:36am. The Lincoln funeral train departed Washington D.C., April 21, 1865 at 8:00am and arrived in Springfield, Illinois on May 3, 1865. It is estimated that 1/3 of the population witnessed the train en route to Lincoln’s final resting place.

The Tecumseh Trail is part of an ongoing project of the Darke County Parks. Phase III bidding and construction is set to take place in Summer 2014. For questions or information about the Tecumseh Trail, please call the Nature Center at 937.548.0165 or visit our website at www.darkecountyparks.org