New Salem is a village located in Pike County, Illinois. As of the 2000 census, the village had a total population of 136. Everyone acquainted with the Village of New Salem realizes it is more than a collection of log homes and buildings. It is the reconstruction of a Time and Place that enabled a once poor common man like Abraham Lincoln to rise to national prominence and importance through his own diligence and drive. The six years Lincoln spent in the Village formed the turning point in his previously aimless life, for it was at New Salem that he decided to set out upon a career of Law and Statesmanship.