Petersen House — Attraction in Washington

Will be included with your ticket for the Ford theater.

Plan ahead! See my review of the theater to understand the nuances of planning your trip.

The park, Rangers are a little little bit more laxed on when you experienced this part of the tour. But please make sure that you check to make sure that the ticket timeslot that you choose includes this option.

The parlor and bed are sparsely decorated. They’re re-created to look like the time. But nothing is original. The bed is in Chicago. And many of the funeral artifacts are on display at the national archives and other locations.

But after the house, you enter a Small museum where you can take about an hour to read everything you missed in the main theater museum.

This part of the tour is...

1865... There is so much history here. It hits you from the moment you see the outside of this well preserved house. The plaque on the outside...this is where Lincoln died. Walking up the front steps you can imagine the men carrying the tall President up these curved stairs. Through the front door all the way down the hallway to the back bedroom. This small dark back room where Lincoln's light fades into the history books. And in the room next to him, the men planning the man hunt for John Wilkes Booth. And down the hall at the front of the house in that room. Mrs Lincoln wondering if her husband was going to survive as she looks out the window across the street towards the Theater her husband was...

Such a sad place to visit knowing this is where President Lincoln took his last breath. It is interesting, though, to learn about other factors such as this boarding house was full making it difficult to determine where to put Lincoln, a room set aside for Lincoln's family, and a room set aside for government personnel. Tours are mostly self- guided - except briefly when upon entering the house - of the first and third floors. Upon descending the third floor is a stack of "books" (over 15,000 solely about Lincoln) that reach all three floors. Compared to Ford's Theater, this is a very brief tour which is also free of charge; however, tickets need to be picked up at the box office in...