Ford's Theater

Visiting Ford’s theater was one of the highlights of the trip. I didn’t know too much about this theater, only that it’s an infamous place where Abraham Lincoln was shot and killed by John Wilkes Booth. We got to the place early from the Metro and decided to do a little shopping. The souvenir shops were big time tourist traps. Everything was so overpriced!

After about 1 hour, we started to wait in line to get in. The first experience is the museum. One cool thing was a display of a pillow. The pillow had dried blood, Abraham Lincoln’s blood! I can just imagine his head on that pillow while he was dying from the gunshot wound. The museum also featured the elaborate plan of John Wilkes Booth. I explained to the students that his assassination plan wasn’t a spur of the moment thing. After drawing boredom looks from the students, it was up the stairs to the theater. From the top, we looked down at the stage. The students who took pictures saw what appeared to be ghostly figures on their camera screen. I was skeptical, but they were right, it appeared abnormal.

After we freaked out, we left the building and walked across the street to the Peterson Building where Lincoln died. The tour guide provided us some information and showed a replica of the bed where Abraham Lincoln died. He said it was a replica because the Peterson house was just that, a privately owned home. After the assassination, they sold their furniture because…yeah, who would sleep in blood. To my surprise, the bed was no bigger than a twin size bed for kids. Lincoln was tall, 6’4”, and there was no way he could fit on that bed. Even I couldn’t fit on that bed comfortably and I’m 5’4”.

We left the building to go back in the freezing cold and hopped onto the metro.