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The Five Mile House

    The Five Mile House, located five miles southeast of Charleston, Illinois is one of the earliest remaining structures in Coles County.  The original two room brick house was built in the early 1840s and a frame kitchen ell was added in the 1850s or 60s.The stucco and porch were added in the early 20th century. 

     There is a long list of owners of the property over the years, and it is thought to have been a stage coach stop in it's early days as well as a departure point for wagons heading west to the California Gold Rush.  Legend and logic also agree that Abraham Lincoln most likely visited the house on occasion while traveling the Eighth Judicial Circuit.

     By the late 1990s the house had deteriorated to the point where the owner tore down the rear kitchen ell and bricks were falling off the interior walls.  In 1998, the Five Mile House Foundation was formed to save and restore the house. Today the restoration is almost complete and the Foundation is currently acquiring furnishings and implementing the beginnings of a living history program.

     The house is open in late April for spring school programs and on certain weekends during the summer months.

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PLEASE NOTE: Hosting, design supervision and difficult design elements are being donated by Scott Kelley at Webcraft Marketing. Basic design work is donated by Tom Vance, all resulting in no cost to the Five Mile House Foundation for this website.

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