Archaeologists search for Lincoln's boyhood Kentucky home

In a small Kentucky valley bordered by forested hills and a low creek, Abraham Lincoln's first memories took root: of planting pumpkins, walking to school, nearly drowning in a swollen stream and seeing shackled slaves shuffle along a dusty turnpike.

National Park Service archaeologists are using shovels, sifters and magnetometers to search for artifacts of Lincoln's Kentucky boyhood, and, if they're lucky, the farm's Holy Grail: The missing footprint of the tiny cabin where the nation's 16th president lived from ages 2 to 7.

"He formed his first impressions here, and his connection to Kentucky followed him throughout his life," says Sandy Brue, an official with the nearby Lincoln Birthplace National Historic site.