A Look at Ford’s Theater
“Some think I do wrong to go to the opera and theater but it relieves my heavy burden.”
~President Abraham Lincoln~
We kicked off the holiday season in Washington D.C., by seeing A Christmas Carol, at the Ford Theater, a perennial favorite. The production was joyful, including a great many carol’s, an unexpected surprise. However, the experience was that much more pleasant, because it was at the Ford Theater, which I had not yet toured.
If you have the opportunity to see a play there, go ahead and feel free to buy tickets to the cheap seats – you will be able to see the stage regardless of where you sit. But if your time and perhaps budget is limited, the theater is part of the National Park system, and admission to tour the theater, and the small museum, in the basement, is free, and worth a quick stop.
On April 14, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln was shot at the theater, while he sat with his wife; days after the Civil War had finally ended, watching a production of Our American Cousin. He would succumb to his injuries the next day, at the Petersen House, which you may also tour.
While many of the patrons, including me, posed in front of the “Presidential Box” I think it important to note that the space, occupied by the Ford Theater, has undergone many changes, since the President met his calamitous fate.
The Presidential Box behind me
The museum is modest, but pleasant with items such as pieces of the White House China, purchased by Mary Todd Lincoln
The fan carried by the First Lady that night to the theater
The President’s clothes that evening, the pillow to the right is stained with his blood, and is from his deathbed
The boot and spur worn by the President’s assassin, cut by Dr. Mudd, to tend to wounds
The Derringer, with its single .44 shot which was used to shoot the President
http://www.nps.gov/foth/index.htm
http://www.fords.org/index.php?q=home/explore-lincoln/learn-story
