My first post: thoughts on Booth leg fracture

[L Verge]

Heath is quite right about the third rider being the stableman Fletcher. I have often wondered if Fletcher had made up a lie that he was going home to T.B. or some other village in Southern Maryland (and hence would not return that night), he would have been allowed to cross also - just a thought...

As for Atzerodt: After a bit of tippling when he chickened out of the crime, Atzerodt did hop a streetcar for the Navy Yard. That point was the end of the line for that car, but Atzerodt stayed on and rode it back into the city.

Note to Heath: We do take the escape route bus across the Navy Yard Bridge (the newest one that was just completed last year). You might want to drive at least to the gates of the Navy Yard because, again, this is a drive-by, not a stop -- and Davy Herold's house will be on your left within a block of the main gate of the Yard on Eighth Street, SE. Unless it has been repainted, it is a large, white block of a house with a green tin roof and little embellishment. I would not suggest crossing the bridge. It delivers you into old Uniontown (now Anacostia) and one of the highest crime areas in D.C.

You will also cross Soper's Hill on the bus tour. It was where Branch Avenue (which becomes Rt. 5 in Maryland) crosses under the notorious Capital Beltway (I-95). For about a two-mile stretch once you enter Maryland, we have to swerve off Booth's original route because of development. The old route is still there, and we used it when I was a child until dual-lane highways and shopping centers crept into Southern Maryland. There is currently a stop light near the Beltway where I can point over to show you the original road. We pick up the original route shortly after crossing under the Beltway. I know! Too much information for a stranger to town.

Just between you and me - if you are arriving on Friday, I would take a tour of Ford's Theatre, the Petersen House, and the new Education Center that just opened beside Petersen's last year. We are lucky to be able to get into Ford's before it opens to the masses at 9 am. However, that means we have to leave the site before 9 am. So, you don't have time to dally over the exhibits or the Education Center on our tours - especially if we are to get you back before sunset. Ford's is on a timed ticket schedule otherwise, so check to see if you can fit a Friday tour into your plans. P.S. There is a very nice Ford's volunteer on this forum who may just be working that day and who may just agree to meet y'all.

Other than that, you can brave the traffic around 14th and Pennsylvania to see the National Theatre - which is on the site of the old Grover's Theatre, where Tad was watching the play when it was announced that the President had been shot. If you've never been in D.C., the White House and Lafayette Square behind it deserve a look. On the Square is the Stephen Decatur House, which is open to the public (but non-Lincoln), and also the White House Historical Association maintains a gift shop on the Square. I haven't been there in a number of years, so I don't know if it now has exhibits or a tour. All of these things have websites to check beforehand.

Mrs. Surratt is buried in Mt. Olivet Cemetery on the outskirts of the city (Bladensburg Road opposite the National Arboretum). She's in Section F, I think. If interested in going, I'll send you complete details. At the request of the Surratt family, the cemetery will no longer give you directions or historical information on the lady. Anna and her husband and several children as well as Isaac Surratt are buried in the same plot, but only Mrs. Surratt's grave is marked. John Lloyd is buried within that same area, and I believe that poor Henry Wirz is interred not too far away. Rich Smyth (another on this forum) can quote you chapter and verse as to where their graves are located.

That should be enough to keep you in trouble in D.C. on Friday. If you get lost, Surratt House's number is 301-868-1121. We don't send guide dogs, but most of the time there is someone who can help with directions.