No debate there: Cottage still a tourist attraction

Between 5,000 and 10,000 visitors a year travel to Bement to tour a small pioneer home where Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas agreed to their legendary debates in 1858.

Bryant Cottage is maintained with many of its original furnishings and artifacts, showing what life was like in the mid-1800s, according to Site Manager Marilyn Ayers.

"This house is the original structure," Ayers said. "At the time it was built, there were just six houses in Bement, so this one was No. 7."

Ayers said the four-room cottage, not far form the Great Western railroad tracks, was the home of Francis E. Bryant, a businessman who opened Bement's first store and bank and who briefly served as the village's postmaster.

Bryant was active in state politics and a good friend to Douglas, who was serving in the U.S. Senate.

In 1858, Lincoln challenged Douglas for his Senate seat. Through the early part of the campaign, Lincoln traveled around the state following Douglas' campaign, but the two men always appeared separately.

On July 24, Lincoln sent Douglas a letter challenging the senator to a series of debates.

On July 29, both men happened to be giving separate speeches in nearby Monticello.

"Douglas has just finished giving his speech in Monticello in the early afternoon and was traveling south to Bryant's home when they crossed paths with Mr. Lincoln's buggy," Ayers said. "Bryant invited the two gentlemen to come to his cottage in Bement."

After Lincoln delivered a late afternoon speech in Monticello, he returned to Bement, where he planned to catch a late night train to Springfield.

"In the parlor of this cottage they worked out the details for a series of seven debates," Ayers said.

"The great national debate over slavery had its origins in a little house on the prairie in central Illinois," said Kent Tucker of Rantoul, an appraiser of Lincoln memorabilia.

Bryant Cottage remained in the hands of the Bryant and Sprague families until the 1920s, when the home was turned over to the village.

In the 1940s, the village turned it over to the state. The site is now owned by the Illinois Historic Preservation Society.

Ayers said it isn't unusual for the cottage to receive visitors from Japan, Europe, Canada, Mexico or South America.

"We get people who come here right after they visit the new Lincoln Presidential museum in Springfield, and we're on the Lincoln Heritage Trail," she said.

Each spring, the cottage's front lawn is the focal point of Bement's Easter Egg Lane. On the second Sunday in July, Bryant Cottage celebrates Heritage Sunday, an event featuring an ice cream social and bluegrass music.

Bryant Cottage will be the site for the national grand opening ceremonies for the 150th anniversary of the Lincoln-Douglas debates in 2008.

If you go

Bryant Cottage State Historic Site

Address: 146 E. Wilson St., Bement

Phone: 678-8184

Hours of operation: March through Memorial Day 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursdays through Sundays; Memorial Day through Labor Day 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily; Labor Day through October 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursdays through Sundays; November through February 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursdays through Sundays.

Suggested donations: $2 for adults; $1 for children