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The 1946 "Boothies"' trip - RJNorton - 07-17-2012 12:04 PM
Laurie asked me to upload this file to my server. The file is courtesy of Richard Sloan. Laurie will be making a follow-up comment.
It is a fairly lengthy .pdf file, and if you have dial-up Internet service it will take quite some time to download.
RE: The 1946 "Boothies"' trip - Laurie Verge - 07-17-2012 01:59 PM
As most of you know, Surratt House Museum has been doing multiple bus trips each year since 1977 over the escape route of JWB. It was interesting for me to read this account of a private tour taken by car in 1946. We actually got the idea for our bus tours from the people who piled into cars and did the tour on their own throughout the early part of the 20th century. As I read the account, however, I began to wonder how in the heck they got to where they wanted to go because the "directions" mentioned here are so misleading!
For example, mention is made of getting on Bumpy Oak Road at the village of T.B. In actuality, Bumpy Oak Road is about ten miles from T.B. And, to use Bumpy Oak to get to Dr. Mudd's house is very out of the way. I began to suspicion also that the author did not know a right-hand turn from a left-hand turn. Even exiting Baptist Alley, he had Booth turning left and heading uptown instead of right and towards the Navy Yard Bridge. When he described how they got to Dr. Mudd's, it had to be because they were totally lost!
The history (I'm assuming most of it was supplied by Msgr. McAdams - the priest who supposedly later received Mary Surratt's rosary and gave it to Gonzaga College, which lost it!) is also quite bad. Booth did not break his instep, did not receive brandy at Surrattsville, the name of the town didn't change to Clinton for 13 years, they passed through Dog Patch - not Dogtown, Mrs. Quesenberry's home was/is still standing, Dr. Wilmer was an Episcopal priest at St. Paul's Piney - not a Catholic priest at St. Peter's, etc.
It was comforting, however, to know that the places that these gentlemen saw 66 years ago are still standing and being viewed by at least 500 or more visitors that we take over the escape route each year - and that the history is more accurate this time.
RE: The 1946 "Boothies"' trip - Rsmyth - 07-17-2012 03:00 PM
Laurie, thank you for posting this. It was quite interesting. Is the Lucas house still standing? What about the Rollins house?
RE: The 1946 "Boothies"' trip - L Verge - 07-17-2012 07:28 PM
Unfortunately, the Lucas cabin, the Rollins house, and the Garrett homestead bit the dust years ago.
RE: The 1946 "Boothies"' trip - Lindsey - 07-18-2012 08:10 AM
I believe Mike Kauffman determined a rouogh area where the Lucas cabin could have been. Bob Allen says it was right before you make the turn into the development where Cleydael is. In my mind, I just can't imagine it being so close but I could be wrong.
RE: The 1946 "Boothies"' trip - Laurie Verge - 07-18-2012 09:05 AM
I believe that James O. Hall was the first to establish where the Lucas cabin was located. He specified the general location on the first Booth Tour that he did for the Surratt House in 1977.
One thing to consider is that the entrance to Cleydael and the "front" of the house is the exact opposite of what it would have been in 1865. Because of the new development around the house, the entrance road was changed completely.
When we first did the tours, we went down the main state route for about another 100 yards or more before turning left into a worn, gravel road that was the driveway to Cleydael. After about fifty feet, we had to stop and walk the rest of the way in. The front door of the house actually faces in that direction. What the new driveway now leads up to is the old back door and porch.
That said, the location of the Lucas cabin as best as we can tell would have been in the back acreage of Cleydael and not unusual since most slave cabins/freemen cabins were behind the big house.
RE: The 1946 "Boothies"' trip - DKEast - 04-18-2015 10:05 AM
Thanks RJ quite interesting article. Would love to see the other one from 1945 but I guess my letter requesting such would be returned undeliverable!! Interesting to note, it appears the group didn't stop at the Peyton House in Port Royal, nor apparently visited the Garrett farmstead as that would have been included? I wonder by that omission if the farmhouse had collapsed by 1946 (the WPA photo of it from 1937 shows it probably had less than a decade left!) and that they didn't stop as there was nothing to see but you would have thought they would have visited the grounds?
Continuing, wonder if the 1945 group stopped at Garrett farmstead and recorded their encounter?
RE: The 1946 "Boothies"' trip - L Verge - 04-18-2015 12:27 PM
(04-18-2015 10:05 AM)DKEast Wrote: Thanks RJ quite interesting article. Would love to see the other one from 1945 but I guess my letter requesting such would be returned undeliverable!! Interesting to note, it appears the group didn't stop at the Peyton House in Port Royal, nor apparently visited the Garrett farmstead as that would have been included? I wonder by that omission if the farmhouse had collapsed by 1946 (the WPA photo of it from 1937 shows it probably had less than a decade left!) and that they didn't stop as there was nothing to see but you would have thought they would have visited the grounds?
Continuing, wonder if the 1945 group stopped at Garrett farmstead and recorded their encounter?
As we have been told, the Garrett farmhouse fell in on itself shortly after that 1937 photo. The remains were carted away by the U.S. government when Ft. A.P. Hill Military Reservation was established (in most of Caroline County, it seems) at the beginning of WWII.
Back in the 1960s and 70s, Mr. Hall tried in vain to get permission to locate an old Garrett burial plot that is supposedly on the Reservation. The Army refused because of the possibility of live ammunition in fields there due to artillery practices.
RE: The 1946 "Boothies"' trip - DKEast - 04-16-2016 04:03 PM
I drove up from Florida this year after visiting Ft Myers Beach and Miami Beach in late March and the Rt. 301 bypass takes one around Bowling Green. If I had more time I would have liked to stop and I guess that will be on another trip. My question is the new (circa 1945 or 1946 from article) Bowling Green Grill still there with the signed menu and interior woodwork I hope?
RE: The 1946 "Boothies"' trip - L Verge - 04-16-2016 07:32 PM
Our Booth Tours no longer go into the town of Bowling Green since Miss Maude Motley, owner of the sacred piece of Booth's crutch, passed away years ago. The town is about eight or so miles from the Garrett Farm, and the Star Hotel (where Jett was trapped) no longer exists. The time element on our trips is a big factor, and to not see anything there anymore is not worth the extra half-hour down and back. With the by-pass now going around the town, I don't know how much commercial life there is left on the old streets.
RE: The 1946 "Boothies"' trip - RJNorton - 04-17-2016 04:40 AM
In 2014 Richard and Kellie Gutman sent some wonderful photos of an early Booth Tour.
Please go here.
RE: The 1946 "Boothies"' trip - DKEast - 04-17-2016 06:28 AM
(04-16-2016 07:32 PM)L Verge Wrote: Our Booth Tours no longer go into the town of Bowling Green since Miss Maude Motley, owner of the sacred piece of Booth's crutch, passed away years ago. The town is about eight or so miles from the Garrett Farm, and the Star Hotel (where Jett was trapped) no longer exists. The time element on our trips is a big factor, and to not see anything there anymore is not worth the extra half-hour down and back. With the by-pass now going around the town, I don't know how much commercial life there is left on the old streets.
Thanks, I guess if I'm passing that way again I would be interested to see the town...so what happened to the piece of crutch? And wasn't there a lock of JWB's hair the young woman got from one of the examining doctors that morning?
(04-17-2016 04:40 AM)RJNorton Wrote: In 2014 Richard and Kellie Gutman sent some wonderful photos of an early Booth Tour.
Please go here.
Excellent! THX for the repost!
It definitely looks like 1979-81ish from that brown ensemble one of the women was wearing on the tennis courts and the other pictures. Haha in pic 3 Mike Kauffman looks like he is in one of those male model calendars!
RE: The 1946 "Boothies"' trip - L Verge - 04-17-2016 11:55 AM
"Thanks, I guess if I'm passing that way again I would be interested to see the town...so what happened to the piece of crutch? And wasn't there a lock of JWB's hair the young woman got from one of the examining doctors that morning?"
I have lost track of what has happened with that poor lock of hair that descendants have been trying to sell for years. As for the crutch, it is in good hands. The very recent author of an excellent biography on John Wilkes Booth finally was able to purchase it from the Motley descendant who had inherited it.
RE: The 1946 "Boothies"' trip - Jim Garrett - 04-22-2016 08:52 AM
As of about three years ago, the lock of hair was in the collection of John Reznicoff, a noted collector/dealer. While he is a high end relic/artifact dealer, my own impression is that this is too prized an item to sell.........he also owns Geronimo's ponytail, among the other numerous hair relics in his collection.