President Lincoln's Cottage — Attraction in Washington

I don't know why this place is rated so highly. I wouldn't be surprised if these guys use the $15 entry fee to pay for bots that leave positive reviews. The Lincoln cottage is on the same land as a veteran home, so they require you to have tickets pre-purchased online to gain entry. That needs to be stated clearly somewhere. The house is bare, and most of the rooms are empty. If you want to convince me that Lincoln's study is what you say, you could at least afford to put a desk and a few bookshelves in. next to none of the paint, flooring, or little furniture there is in the home is original. Most of the tour is standing in bare rooms listening to little audio snippets with poor voice acting. I know these guys don't have the government or national park service funding behind them, but neither does mount Vernon or Monticello, and their tours and houses are 1000x better and furnished to match the period. They spend little time discussing the Lincolns or what they did in the home and instead cover people's minor interactions with the Lincolns. As interesting as it was to know about a soldier being excited to finish President Lincoln's breakfast or a British citizen being so eager to meet Lincoln that he stalked him to his home late at night to meet him, that is not what I wanted to know. I was hoping this tour would give me more insight into what the Lincolns did there and more about President Lincoln writing the emancipation proclamation, and I was sorely disappointed. This place is way out of the way, so if you are visiting, skip it and stay in D.C. or do Mount Vernon instead. If you are from here, It is still out of the way, so I...

If you’re in Washington, D.C. and want to explore beyond the usual monuments, President Lincoln’s Cottage is a must-visit. It offers a rare and intimate glimpse into a pivotal chapter of American history, in a space that still carries an unmistakable presence.

While the home may seem sparse compared to a traditional museum mansion, that simplicity is intentional — the Lincolns only moved furniture into the cottage when President Lincoln was in residence each summer. The family was actually scheduled to return there just a week or two before his assassination, which is why the rooms remain unfurnished today.

One of the most moving moments of the visit is learning that from his porch, President Lincoln could see 20 to 30 soldiers’ burials each week. It’s said that, in the quiet hours of 1 or 2 am, he would walk through the nearby Soldiers’ Home Cemetery, reflecting on the immense weight of the war and the human cost surrounding him.

The guided tour is exceptional, deeply informative and thoughtfully presented. Though President Lincoln was not a faultless man, I left with a much richer understanding of his leadership, grief, and humanity during one of the nation’s most...

Very interesting historical slice of the life of Lincoln. Lincoln did not "own" the cottage. The owner allowed presidents to use it, especially during the summers, where it was located on the 4th highest hill in the area and had a better breeze.

Another interesting aspect of this particular historical park is they have very few period furnishings to decorate. Their philosophy is to allow your imagination to fill in details better than force upon you what THEY think it might have looked like. (They do have a few articles that were from the house itself.)

It's a guided tour which is always good in my opinion. They give you little facts that you might not ever know otherwise.

This is definitely just a couple hour excursion, but if you have been to DC as many times as I have, it's one of those "off the beaten path" type places that is really nice to find.

In 2025 the cost was $16/person. Well worth the history lesson.....if you like to learn it's only 4 miles from the White House and Lincoln rode his horse back and forth, talking with people on the way about the war!

The tickets are for a certain tour time, one an hour. Buy tickets the day before...