I am a slow

  walker,   

  but  

     I never walk    
     backward.   



     -- A. Lincoln  

 

​​​​​​​​​​​​   

  Experience the life story of the Sixteenth

  President and learn about his struggle with 

  the American Civil War

 

Whit McMahan

portrays the life story of

President Abraham Lincoln

Johnsonville, Tennessee State Historic Park

First Place 2021

Look-a-like, Hodgenville, Kentucky

2024 Distinguished Service Award Winner

Association of Abraham Lincoln Presenters

Available for appearances

and presentations within

the middle Tennessee area

​​My goal as a living historian is to provide a taste of a by gone era and a sense of our nation's greatest struggle.


If you would like to schedule a visit at your senior living center, library, historical reenactment, school, or elsewhere within  the Nashville and Middle Tennessee area, I hope you will contact me.

A few of President Abraham Lincoln's philosophies of life:


"I have an irrepressible desire to know that the world will be a little bit better off for I have lived in it.'

"Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds they want to be."

"He has a right to criticize who has a heart to help." 

"Those who deny freedom to others, deserve it not for themselves."


  Check out now how to improve your memory
through our article on
Lincoln's verbal repetition technique.



My Story

Since my childhood, I have been an admirer of the Sixteenth American President, known as the Great Emancipator.  Born in the original county of Jefferson Davis' birth in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, I made stops throughout my ​youth at Abraham Lincoln's birthplace near Hodgenville, Kentucky whenever our family visited the region. I'm not sure why I liked to visit so often, but it seemed like a quiet, serene place.


     yet the story doesn't end here ...


After earning my college degree and growing a beard in 1991, I began to be teased about my actual resem-blance to the former President. My destiny as a presenter then seemed to be written in the stars.  Over a decade later, I began developing a speech dressed in character as Lincoln, which I presented on July 4th, 2003. The following year,  I joined the Association of Lincoln Presenters and became a lifetime member of that organization.​


I portray President Lincoln in the first person for all age groups. Throughout the years, I have visited senior living centers, schools, battle fields, libraries, and more.  



                                                                                           



​​​​
Annual "Lincoln Days" contest
wins in Lincoln's Home Town:

    Look-a-like 2012 - 1st place

    Oratory 2012 - 1st place

    Look-a-like 2014 - 2nd place

    Oratory 2015 - 2nd place 

    Look-a-like 2015 - 1st place

    Look-a-like 2018 - 3rd place


    Look-a-like 2019 - 2nd place

    Look-a-like 2021 - 1st place