Update on Spielberg's Lincoln Movie

A brief article from The Belfast Telegraph reports that Liam Neeson is ready to begin production of the long-awaited Lincoln biographical film based on Doris Kearns Goodwin's award-winning Team of Rivals. The Steven Spielberg-helmed film, with a script by Pulitzer Prize-winner Tony Kushner, has been in the works for years, but recent reports had suggested that there were financial problems.

While the report is good news, I have been unable to find additional reporting suggesting that production is about to begin. If it does begin soon, though, Spielberg may realize his hope of releasing the film in December of 2009 (just in time for awards season).

Kentucky Lincoln Site Destroyed by Fire

The Lincoln Heritage House, a restored cabin originally built by Hardin Thomas and his friend Thomas Lincoln, was destroyed by fire in the wee hours on Friday.  Authorities believe that the fire was deliberately set and have arrested a suspect.

The cabin was outside of Elizabethtown, Kentucky, where Abraham Lincoln's father Thomas lived prior to his famous son's birth.  A well-known carpenter, Thomas was thought to have built the stairways, fireplace mantles, among other woodwork in the cabin (according to the guide to Lincoln sites In Lincoln's Footsteps by Don Davenport).

Located in Freeman Lake Park, the cabin had been restored by the Hardin County Historical Society, opening to the public in 1973, when it was also listed on the National Register of Historic Places.  The cabin was open to the public during the summer months, and would have opened for the season today.  A picture of the cabin is available on the Elizabethtown website here.

It goes without saying that the destruction of a historical site is a loss.  It is ironic as a group in Virginia has begun an effort to purchase the home of one of Lincoln's ancestors, in the hopes of turning it into a museum, another such Lincoln tourist site has been destroyed.