Ford's Theater is an interesting museum. President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated here, Good Friday, April 14, 1865 by actor and political activist/fanatic John Wilkes Booth.
We sat in the packed theater and listened to a National Parks Ranger tell the story of the events that led up to the assassination.
After shooting Lincoln, Booth jumped from the balcony onto the stage, a 12 foot drop. His spur caught on the flag and nicked the framed picture hanging there, causing his awkward landing on the stage floor. No wonder he broke his leg. But that didn't stop him from running away.
There is nothing here original to that night in history. Some say it was haunted after the assassination, and the history of the theater itself is filled with misfortune. It burned at one point and was rebuilt and later on down the line of time refurbished to replicate the way it looked on that night in 1865.
When we were here back in the early 1990's, you could stand outside the booth where Lincoln was shot and see it up close and personal. Lincoln sat in a rocking chair that night, but that is long gone. We heard that some construction workers sat in it at one point in time and broke it.
We had to wait another day to go to the museum here in the basement. Ticket rationing from day to day. Crowd control, I suppose. Makes it inconvenient for the tourist.
Shelby was stylin' in this Lincoln top hat she found in the gift shop.
Our tickets for this day also gave us access to Petersen House which is the house where Lincoln was brought after the shooting, but there were long long lines (school trip kids again) waiting to go inside the house, so we found a Starbucks down the street and had some breakfast. Starbucks was our go-to every morning for breakfast. There was one with an entrance from our hotel which was convenient. Nice place to hang out while we waited.
Petersen House across the street from Ford's Theater--the story goes that the doctor knew Lincoln's death was imminent and no one wanted him to die in a theater of all places, considered an "uncouth" place in 1865
Between visits to her husband, Mary Lincoln waited in this parlor. She was not with him when he died.
In the room where Lincoln died
Not the bed where Lincoln died. Disappointed to find out much of the artifacts such as the bed he died in have been moved to a museum in Chicago. When we were here long ago, we got to see the actual bed and the bloody pillow where he laid and died.
John Wilkes Booth on the left playing Julius Caesar. He reminds me of Lee Harvey Oswald in this picture.
Sergeant Boston Corbett, left, shot and killed Booth.
The Tower of Books about Lincoln
Some 15,000 books have been written about Lincoln — more books than have been written about any other person in world history, with the exception of Jesus Christ. The tower measures about eight feet around and 34 feet — that's three and a half stories tall.
Our next stop was the White House. Looks like we're pretty close in this picture.
But we were really far far away
Hard to pose for a selfie when the sun is so bright in your eyes
A nice fellow tourist offered to take our group picture. We said yes. And then I took his camera and made his family's picture. I don't think I saw one selfie stick the whole time we were here. Maybe because they're banned everywhere inside the government buildings so people know better than to bother with them.
We were all tired and hungry because Starbucks had worn off ages ago, and we had walked what seemed like a thousand miles from Ford's Theater to the White House. Neil Googled restaurants and several popped up in the area but we walked in circles trying to find them. Major frustration for hungry bordering on hangry tourists. A Panera Bread had popped up on that map and that sounded really good but it was nowhere to be found. We finally asked for directions. You know that's always the last resort. We did locate it. I think we probably walked past it a time or two. These places are either inside a larger building or their storefront isn't all that obvious in the grand scheme of things. Not to us, anyway. But we finally got to enjoy a very late lunch of good soup and sandwiches. No more hangry.
That big sister look you get when your little brother is bugging you....
...but you're too tired to care
I vote this the Best Selfie Ever
Please keep scrolling or click Older Posts for more .....
Please keep scrolling or click Older Posts for more .....
No comments:
Post a Comment