Coffee with a Conspirator

[Laurie Verge]

I should warn you that references to Mrs. Surratt's famous chocolate chip cookies may raise my hackles. Years ago, we had a commercial tour company that tried to steal our Booth Escape Route Tours. Several of Mrs. Surratt's descendants signed up for their tour thinking that it was the Surratt Society's.

After taking the tour at Surratt House, the participants got back on the bus and the tour's narrator sarcastically said, "Well, how was your tour? Did they tell you what wonderful chocolate chip cookies Mrs. Surratt used to make?"

Let's just say that the Surratt descendants were none to pleased with that comment. They did not figure out that they were on a non-Surratt tour until they contacted the museum to complain about the narrator. Trust me, the complaint was passed on.

It was especially frustrating because his comments insinuated that the Surratt House Museum declares Mrs. Surratt's innocence -- just a poor widow lady who didn't know what was going on.
That has never been our mission. Our purpose is not to exonerate Mrs. Surratt or even debate her guilt or innocence while on tour. We relate the documentable facts and hope that our visitors will leave with enough interest to do some reading and/or research on their own. PS: This is being written by the museum's director - who understands why Mrs. Surratt was arrested, tried, and convicted.

One other chocolate chip cookie story: For thirty years, we held three nights of Christmas Candlelight Tours at the museum and served punch and cookies at the end. We also had Union and Confederate re-enactors stationed on the grounds who would escort groups from our Visitors' Center to the historic house and "cross them through the lines." They also set up camp and discussed history with the visitors when they exited the museum.

Anyhow, we had one overly-enthusiastic Confederate soldier who certainly enjoyed the cookies. On one occasion, however, he swore that, when the plate of cookies was passed to him to make a choice, a big chocolate chip cookie levitated off the plate and into his hand! He was certain that Mrs. Surratt had caused the levitation and was telling him that it was the best cookie on the plate. My dining room guides did not remember it happening that way, but...

I love a good chocolate chip cookie, but they always bring back memories!

I should mention that this re-enactor lived in Dent's Palace in Charles County, Maryland. The home earlier belonged to the ancestors of Julia Dent Grant - as in Mrs. Ulysses S. Grant.