When President Abraham Lincoln first took office, outgoing President Buchanan made a recommendation to him. The federal government had recently purchased a home with a lot of land about two miles north of the District of Columbia's populated area. It was a nice retreat from the growing city and the very busy life of the president. Lincoln tucked that idea away in the back of his head.
The house was built by the Riggs family, prominent bankers in the District. So even though it is referred to as a "cottage," the house was built to the highest standards and had enough bedrooms to accommodate the nine children in the Riggs family. In the 1850s, they sold it to the Federal Government, which planned to turn it into a soldiers' home for veterans of the
Mexican American War. The first soldiers to arrive lived in the house but moved into a large dormitory constructed nearby on the grounds. The house was used by Buchanan as a summer White House and a place to get away from the heat (literal and metaphorical) of the city. The house is on a hill that overlooks downtown. From the back porch, people could see the Washington Monument and the Capitol Building being finished.
Lincoln brought his family to live there after their son Willy died, to get away from the attention. Mary Todd Lincoln was especially sensitive to the loss. They lived there for three summers (1862, 1863, 1864), hauling a lot of furniture and books from the White House so Lincoln could work and live comfortably there. He still commuted to the White House, about 35 minutes on horseback. Initially, he rode back and forth on his own until one day he came back to the cottage without his hat. When people asked about it, he said it wasn't important. Some soldiers went to investigate the path he took and found the hat with a bullet hole in it. They then insisted that Lincoln have an escort, which he would often try to dodge by leaving early. That commute was his only "alone time" to think and have a break from the pressures of being a war-time president and a grieving father.
Now known as
President Lincoln's Cottage, it was opened to the public in 2008. The buildings nearby still house military veterans (so the rest of the area is not open to visitors). An extensive cemetery, similar to Arlington National Cemetery, is nearby. When we visited on Juneteenth, we were able to park outside on the street. Getting in requires government photo ID since the veterans' part is off-limits. The visitor center and the cottage are not far from the entrance.
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| Fancy entrance |
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| Visitors Center |
Visitors can buy tickets to tour of the cottage at the center, if they haven't bought the tickets online previously. The building also has a gift shop and some exhibits about the Lincolns' life at the cottage. A nice mural is in the foyer.
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| Click to enlarge the mural |
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| Looking at a 3D view from the time |
The exhibit above has a 3D viewer that my children enjoyed. The write-up describes it as a type of
View-Master. We had to explain to our children what a View-Master was.
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| Portrait of the family after the death of Willy |
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| The matriarch |
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| The boys |
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| A Lincoln statue |
Informational signs explained Lincoln's relationship to the military, some of whom were camped at the cottage, partly for Lincoln's safety, partly for the veterans. He interacted with both groups, the young soldiers and the aged veterans.
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| With the troops |
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| Map skills |
When our tour time came, we gathered in a side room where the guide let us know the various rules about the cottage, including two chairs we could not sit in (too fragile). The house has plenty of other benches and furniture that we used. She also said we could not take pictures inside the cottage, so that's a bummer for the blog, more so for you, dear readers.
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| Some Lincoln quotes prepping us for the visit |
The cottage was built in the Gothic Revival Style, with plenty of room for plenty of people. At one point, Secretary of War Stanton came and stayed with his family while the Lincolns were there. The home was a good spot for meetings where fewer prying eyes and spying ears could get information to print in the papers or to sell to the Confederates.
The tour took us to various rooms, ending in the Lincolns' bedroom. That was where Lincoln drafted the
Emancipation Proclamation. The furniture from the room is still in the White House (in the Lincoln bedroom, of course) though they recreated Lincoln's desk to display in the cottage bedroom. I was sorely tempted to take a photo but did not. I have bragged that I was in the Lincoln bedroom, however.
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| Front of the cottage |
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| A door on a side wing |
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| Connecting a wing |
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| The back of the cottage |
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Back around by the front
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Just across from the cottage is a life-size statue of Lincoln. He stood six-foot four-inches, still the tallest president of the United States. His hat was fourteen inches, adding another foot or so to his height. No wonder he's taller than the horse!
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| Lincoln statue |
Nearby is a gazebo that was put in later but I thought it was nice, so I took a picture.
The tour guide said they get a lot of school visits but otherwise the cottage is not as popular as downtown sights. Hopefully they get more attention in the future! It is definitely worth visiting to get a more personal understanding of the Lincolns. And you could say you were in the Lincoln bedroom too!
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