History!

Anyone who knows my husband knows that we cannot go on vacation without stopping at a historic site or two. Being in Washington D.C. right now, we are surrounded by opportunities for this pastime.

On Friday we ended up at Ford's Theater, the site of President Lincoln's assassination. I say we 'ended up' there because we hadn't planned on going. We were just going to lunch downtown before visiting a Van Gogh exhibit at the Phillips Collection museum, or so Ted claims. I have my suspicions since the Phillips Collection ended up being nowhere near the restaurant where we ate lunch. But wouldn't you know, Ford's Theater was right around the corner. ;)

Anyway, tickets were free and it wasn't crowded, so what the heck. Just look how happy it makes my husband:

We saw the place where Lincoln was sitting when he was shot by John Wilkes Booth and heard about the events of that evening from a volunteer in the theater.

After that we went across the street to Peterson House, the boarding house where Lincoln was taken to be tended to by doctors. We found out they took him there because they worried that a long ride to the hospital over cobblestone streets would do more harm than good to Lincoln, given his head wound.

The room and bed where Lincoln died.
The bed is 6 feet long, and President Lincoln was 6'4". You do the math.

Next door to Peterson House is a fairly new museum devoted to the story of Lincoln's burial and the eventual capture of John Wilkes Booth. Upon exiting the museum, we descended a spiral staircase that wrapped around a giant column of books about Lincoln:

"Books serve to show a man that those original
thoughts of his aren't very new at all."
-Abraham Lincoln

I think the point was that there have been many books written about Abraham Lincoln. Yes. Point taken.

For Ted, it must have been like exiting Disney World.

Overall, this ended up being the highlight of the day - not the Van Gogh exhibit that was our original destination. Huh.

So if you're ever in the DC area, we suggest this small but worthwhile side trip to Ford's Theater to learn about this momentous historical event. It gets the stamp of approval from Ted and Mackenzie.