Created to be an experience that reflects the life and legacy of Abraham Lincoln, the Lincoln Financial Sculpture Walk is a collection of sculptures that are all connected to the 16th President of the United States. Located along the Connecticut River in Hartford, Connecticut, the Lincoln Financial Sculpture Walk has been able to cultivate a legacy that is tied to the past of the nation while simultaneously impacting the present of the riverfront to serve as an attraction for audiences of all types.
Reflecting the Life and Legacy of Abraham Lincoln
The Lincoln Sculpture Walk began in 2005 with a $500,000 grant from Lincoln Financial, a financial planning organization with a significant presence in the Hartford community. City stakeholders collaborated with the Greater Hartford Arts Council and Lincoln Financial to design what would be a sculpture park with a direct connection to the life and legacy of Abraham Lincoln.
A nationwide call for entries went out to solicit ideas for how this legacy could be reflected, with representatives from Lincoln Financial and Riverfront Recapture reviewing all of the submissions. Eventually, 16 works were selected for what would be a permanent public art exhibit along the Connecticut River. The final sculpture was installed in 2011, allowing it to serve as an important element of the much larger initiative to recapture the river. That’s the reason other sculptures and murals created by artists from all across America have also been interspersed on the Walk.
Markers that identify the sculpture, artist and the sculpture’s relationship to Lincoln accompany all of the pieces on the Lincoln Sculpture Walk. Sometimes those relationships are obvious while others aren’t as evident, further highlighting the variety of experiences that are available to audiences.
Engaging with a Legacy
Some of the sculptures along the Lincoln Financial Sculpture Walk clearly display their association with Abraham Lincoln. The connection to Lincoln in pieces like “Frontier Life” is immediately recognizable, as it features the types of tools that a young Lincoln would have had to use to support the family farm. Others like “Secession” are far more abstract, as the mural is representative of the events that led to the creation of the Confederacy and the Civil War.
While pieces like “Lincoln Meets Stowe” have an obvious connection to Lincoln’s life, others like “Toward Union Lines” have that same figurative appearance without being as overt. “Lincoln Meets Stowe” shows the literal meeting of the two, while “Toward Union Lines” represents Mary Lincoln’s dressmaker, Elizabeth Keckly, who was a former slave. It was through her that the Lincoln’s learned of the troubles that escaped slaves faced, which came to influence his decision-making as President.
Sculptures like the Statue of Jack the Pardoned Turkey have developed interest and activity that is independent of the Lincoln Financial Sculpture Walk itself. While this sculpture is connected to an event when Lincoln “pardoned” a turkey and gave it to his son, it has been called out as a representation of the strange and wondrous attractions that can compel engagement from different types of audiences.
All of these sculptures are located along and amidst the natural wonder of the Connecticut River, further enabling residents and visitors to have a variety of experiences. This variety has ensured that the Lincoln Financial Sculpture Walk will develop an important legacy for Hartford that continues to resonate with audiences.
Nature, Community and Art
The experiences that audiences can have as part of sculpture walks are varied but few are tied to the legacy of an individual for the benefit of an entire community like the Lincoln Financial Sculpture Walk. The park’s nearly one million annual visitors are drawn and pulled to the Walk via maps and guides, enabling Hartford to showcase a brand new attraction for both residents and visitors. No matter their interest, all of them can simultaneously experience nature, community, and art along the Walk, underscoring what it can mean for a legacy to positively shape the present and future of an entire region.
