Surratt House Restoration

[Jim Page]

Hi--

I was Googling about the archeology of Lincoln-associated sites and found a document that I guess was in support of restoring the Surratt House into what we know today. It had quite a bit of info; 53 pages worth.

What I found most interesting in this document were a series of black-and-white photos of the house prior to being restored. Seeing these images made me wonder what the history of the building was from, say, 1866 to 1975?

I seem to remember the docent on my tour saying that at one time it had served as a doctor's residence or office. Much earlier, in 1901, Osborn H. Oldroyd's book describes his visiting the Surratt House in his walking tour of the escape route in May, 1901. Oldroyd wrote:
The owner of it, Mr. J. W. Wheatley, was sitting on the front porch, and as I walked up and told him my business, stating that I wanted to stop with him until the next day, he at once made me feel at home. The sign at the corner of the house reads: "Village Hotel." The farm originally contained 168 acres. The Surratts sold it to John Hunter, and at his death it was left to Mrs. Addison, a relative, and she sold 117 acres to Mr. Wheatley ten years ago.
(Roger: I tried to make this above portion from Mr. Oldroyd's book set apart as a quote or in italics but couldn't get it to work!)

We are so lucky that this fine house was preserved and can be visited today. Even apart from its Lincoln associations, it's a fascinating place to visit.

--Jim