Bryant Cottage State Historic Site

Bryant Cottage State Historic Site preserves and interprets the home of businessman and politician, Francis Everett Bryant, his wife Sarah, and their children. This Bement, IL cottage, built in 1856, is furnished with period appropriate furniture, including pieces owned by the Bryants. This house museum helps demonstrate what life was like during the settling of this region of Illinois. It focuses on the middle-class life of the Bryant’s in the mid-to-late nineteenth century. The cottage is also important for the role that it played in the Illinois Senate Race of 1858, when Abraham Lincoln challenged Stephen A. Douglas’s senate seat. On July 29, 1858, Douglas and Lincoln met in Bryant’s parlor and negotiated the seven joint discussions that would famously become the Lincoln-Douglas Debates. These debates drew national interest and helped shape political ideas of the time. They also introduced Lincoln to a national audience, which helped launch his presidential candidacy two years later. Bryant Cottage strives to connect visitors and the surrounding community to the important history of the site. Bryant Cottage puts on school programs, presentations to groups, hosts field trips, and puts on special events throughout the year.