Killing Lincoln - Nat Geo (Reactions)

[Laurie Verge]

First, let me just say that Erik or someone sure got Nat Geo fired up about the Booth story because I got a phone call today from a producer with their Diggers series (archaeology-oriented) wanting permission to dig and film at Surratt House for a segment on Booth. They are already working at the Booth home, Tudor Hall, and at what used to be one of Booth's schools, the Milton Academy.

It will require permission from higher-ups than I, however, to conduct archaeological digs here. The government agency that owns us has its own staff of archaeologists, the site was heavily tested fifty years ago during the restoration process, and has been tested periodically as we increased our land holdings (we proudly own just three of the original 287 1/2 acres of the old Surratt farm). Unfortunately, about two of the remaining acres have been paved over for parking.

I also told the producer that we have no documentation that Booth was ever on the grounds or in the house except for midnight of April 14, when he remained on his horse. We know that he did take the stagecoach from Washington to Bryantown on several occasions, and Surratt Tavern was a stop along the route. There is also mention from a former slave of Booth being inside the house.

We'll see whether or not permission is granted for the project,

My other comment is about spikey-hair Mr. Lincoln. We actually used that photograph several years ago for a fence sign and flyers advertising our annual mid-summer open house at the museum. We added sunglasses and a boom box and entitled our work HISTORY CAN BE COOL... We also added a tag line, "..especially in an air-conditioned museum."