Zen-Sunset Travel Network

The Branson House, Petersburg, Illinois

This large frame "Eastlake Victorian" home was built in 1876 in Petersburg, IL by the Honorable Nathaniel W. Branson, a member of the Illinois State Legislature and an 1876 delegate to the Republican National Convention in Cincinnati which nominated Rutherford B. Hayes for the presidency and resulted in the election that ended the era of Southern Reconstruction.

Mr. Branson was a native of Jacksonville, Illinois and studied law at Illinois College; he graduated in 1857 and was admitted to the bar three years later.

The house, shown in this 1876 photo, is located atop "Brahm's Hill", where once stood the home of Dr. John Allen, a friend of Abraham Lincoln, who moved to Petersburg from New Salem, IL.

The Branson House has a two-story square pillared porch extending to the roof line. Behind the imposing facade lie an equally imposing series of rooms.  The house boasts seven marble fireplaces, four downstairs and three in upstairs bedrooms plus a magnificent wood sculptured fireplace in the main entry hallway.

The Branson House Bed and Breakfast now occupies this beautiful home.  For further details and pictures visit John and Norma Stiltz's website. 

The "Eastlake style" was named after Charles Locke Eastlake (1836 - 1906), a British architect and furniture designer who revived the "Early English" or "Modern Gothic" style popular in Victorian architecture.

Local history:  When Abraham Lincoln arrived at New Salem in 1831 at age 22, the settlement was only a few years old.  Lincoln and two relatives were floating a raft they had built at Springfield down the Sangamon River bound for New Orleans when the flatboat became stranded on a mill dam constructed to harness the water for a grist and saw mill.  Lincoln maneuvered the cargo in such a way as to float the raft over the dam which so impressed onlookers that he was offered a job at a local store when he returned from his journey.

As the store had not yet opened in the intervening three months, Lincoln took a job at the grist mill.  Dr. Allen later recalled seeing Lincoln working at the grist mill. 

It was here the future 16th President began studying law by the light provided from a fireplace.  He is said to have walked the 20 miles to Springfield to return a borrowed book.  This "Lincoln Trail" is remembered each year by Boy Scouts in the Lincoln Trail Pilgrimage.

Ironically, only two years after Lincoln left the town, nearby Petersburg gained the county seat, causing New Salem to dwindle and die as rapidly as it once grew.

Dr. Allen lived in New Salem from 1831-1837, the same period as Abraham Lincoln.  Allen, a graduate of Dartmouth Medical School, set up his practice in a cabin which served as a home and office.  He organized Sunday Schools and a temperance society, and was an active member of a Presbyterian church.  He lived the balance of his life in Petersburg, dying in 1863.

Dr. Allen ministered to Lincoln following the death of Ann Rutledge, the love of Lincoln's life.  (More information from Michael Burlingame – Abraham Lincoln: A Life – Vol. 1, Chapter 4, pg 329; click Here for details.)

Click Here for more information on Abraham Lincoln at New Salem.

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