Booth's visit to the Surratt Boarding House after the assassination

[BettyO]

I read that the kitchen and dining room occupied the ground floor space.

That is correct, Maddie. The area under the stairs was Mrs. Surratt's kitchen and dining room -

Up the front steps was the front door with the parlor on the left front from the hallway. A back parlor was actually used as Mrs. Surratt's bedroom which she shared with another lady border.

The upstairs bedrooms were for John Surratt who shared a bedroom with Weichmann, and the Holoran family. On the third floor was Anna's room shared with another young lady boarder and a spare room rented out to gentlemen (Lew Powell's bedroom) in the back.

[Linda Anderson]

Betty, or anyone, have you seen a floor plan of the boarding house? I came across it a couple of years ago but now I can't remember where I saw it.

[BettyO]

I believe I have one - let me check -

[Bill Richter]

The closest thing I have seen to a floor plan to the Surratt Townhouse is Harold O Wang, "A Visit to the Surratt Boarding house," In Mike Kauffman (ed), In Pursuit of. . . . ,(Clinton: Surratt Society, 1990), p. 212ff. The floor plan is to the second floor but all the other floors follow roughly the same layout and are described in the text. In Pursuit of. . . . used to be sold at the gift shop and still may be.

[RJNorton]

I dug out Mr. Wang's article that Bill referred to and made a scan of the diagram:

[MaddieM]

I dug out Mr. Wang's article that Bill referred to and made a scan of the diagram:

Surely Mary Surratt's private sitting room would have been E? Why would you have your bedroom next to the public sitting room?

[L Verge]

I believe that Maddie is correct in this, and it's the first time that I have actually realized that this has to be an error. The front parlor was generally the public area in all homes with the double parlor. In many boardinghouses (such as Petersen's), the back parlor was converted to a bedroom in order to get more boarders packed in i.e. money brought in. This was especially true in Civil War Washington where rentals were at a premium.

[Linda Anderson]

Thanks, Bill and Roger. I first saw the floor plan in "In Pursuit of..."

Louis Weichmann describes the house in A True History of the Assassination of Abraham Lincoln and of the Conspiracy of 1865.

"There was a basement on a level with the pavement containing two large rooms, one used as a dining room and the other as a kitchen. In the second story were front and back parlors, the latter being used as a bedroom for Mrs. Surratt."

I think "private sitting room" means the parlor.

[Laurie Verge]

Somehow the bedroom still doesn't ring true with the diagram. "The latter being used as a bedroom for Mrs. Surratt" seems to refer here to the back parlor. Mr. Wang's diagram shows two smaller rooms behind that as bedrooms for Mrs. Surratt and Honora. I always thought that Mrs. Surratt shared a bedroom with Honora. I'm confused - I'll just stick to knowing the layout of Surratt Tavern...

[BettyO]

That is what I was always told, Laurie - that the back parlor was one separate room (no two smaller rooms) and she shared this room with Honora -

[Linda Anderson]

Somehow the bedroom still doesn't ring true with the diagram. "The latter being used as a bedroom for Mrs. Surratt" seems to refer here to the back parlor. Mr. Wang's diagram shows two smaller rooms behind that as bedrooms for Mrs. Surratt and Honora. I always thought that Mrs. Surratt shared a bedroom with Honora. I'm confused - I'll just stick to knowing the layout of Surratt Tavern...

The map is confusing. It reminds me of the diagram that Pelz drew of the Old Club House/Seward Mansion that shows Seward's bedroom in the back of the house.

Weichmann goes on to say:

"In addition to these rooms there were two large rooms and a small one in the attic. One of these was used by Miss Surratt and Miss Fitzpatrick; the second was a spare room; and the small one was occupied by the servant."

[RJNorton]

These diagrams are from Roy Chamlee's book:

[Gene C]

One difference I notice between the two diagrams is the extra fireplace. Was section F & G (of the first diagram) added on in later years?

[Linda Anderson]

So Anna Surratt and Honora Fitzpatrick slept in the attic on the night of the assassination rather than in the bedroom on the first floor (second story) that they shared with Mrs. Surratt?

I have Chamlee's book and I can't find the source of the drawing.

[Bill Richter]

No source, but I believe that Chamblee is pretty accurate in most if not all things.

I did not have this one in my maps and floor plans folder so I lost track of it and I would use it over Wang's. I wonder if Wang used more modern observations as the boarding house was turned into the Wok and Roll? Chamblee is maybe the older floor plan? If I were going to have to choose between the two with no further info I would go with Chamblee. Just a personal gut opinion.