ROCKPORT, Ind. – The southwestern Indiana county where Abraham Lincoln spent most of his youth will celebrate his life next year by recreating Lincoln’s 1828 flatboat journey down the Mississippi River to New Orleans.

Next September, a 60-foot flatboat carrying Spencer County goodwill ambassadors will leave Rockport, Ind., for the 26-day trip down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers.

The journey, called “Lincoln’s Journey of Remembrance,” is one of southern Indiana’s events marking the nation’s two-year celebration of Lincoln’s life and legacy.

Lincoln was born in Kentucky in 1809, but spent 14 years of his youth in Indiana.

Melissa Miller, executive director of the Spencer County Visitors Bureau, said the Ohio River county where both Lincoln’s mother and sister are buried is proud of its ties to the 16th president, who lived there from age 7 to 21 before moving to Illinois.

She said the importance of Lincoln’s youth in Indiana has often been overlooked.

“People know he was born in a log cabin in Kentucky and that his political career began after he moved to Illinois, but they forget about his life in Indiana, from ages 7 to 21. Those are the years that really do shape your character,” Miller said.

In April 1828, when Lincoln was 19, he and another man, Allen Gentry, departed on a flatboat loaded with cargo to deliver the goods to New Orleans’ markets for Gentry’s father.

In New Orleans, Lincoln witnessed a slave auction on that city’s docks – a disturbing experience that historians say influenced his views on slavery.

“He saw families split apart, mothers separated from their children, and it just solidified his anti-slavery views,” Miller said.

The flatboat that will be used on the recreation of Lincoln’s river trek is being donated by Ron Drake, a Washington, D.C., attorney originally from Sullivan, Ind.

The 43,000-pound boat, made from Indiana poplar, will arrive by semitrailer in Rockport on Wednesday and be lifted by a 120-ton crane to a site on land where it will be modified by volunteers over the winter.

Flatboat designer John Cooper of Tennessee will add a dozen or more feet to the boat’s stern, making it 60 feet long. He’ll also add twin outboard motors.

Miller said the trip’s organizers hope to have the governors of all eight states the vessel will sail through board the boat during the trip. Miller, who will follow the flatboat by car, said the group is still raising money for the adventure.