Lincoln's Summer Cottage at Soldiers Home

This statue of Lincoln is life-sized:
6 ft., 4 inches

With another hot and humid day, my Grandma and I decided to take another outing to D.C. We rode the metro to Georgia Avenue-Petworth Station, and then walked almost a mile until we reached the Armed Forces Retirement Home. In the same estate was the cottage where President Lincoln and his family spent one quarter of his presidency to escape the summer heat of downtown Washington. Back then, D.C. would've only extended to halfway up the District, meaning that that whole area would've been woods and farms. Also, the estate lies over two-hundred feet higher than the swampy and humid downtown, meaning that you could look down on the capital city. However, because Lincoln had a job to do, he would regularly commute from the Soldiers Home (which was what they called the retirement home back then) to the White House. At the same time, Confederate sympathizer John Wilkes Booth was seeking to kidnap the president and take him to Richmond. Lincoln didn't believe in secret service, because he thought that if somebody wanted to kill him, then he would kill him. So, one night, Booth and his friends waited by Lincoln's route to jump him while he was heading to the Soldiers Home to clear up some business. Little did they know that the president had sent someone else to cover up the business for him, someone who traveled with an armed cavalry. After this failure, Booth changed his plot to kill, not abduct, Abraham Lincoln.  

The cottage was well-restored and cool
on the inside

After reaching the visitor center, we purchased tickets for a one-hour tour. Our excellent guide showed us through the house, and told us about the "bucktails." They were a Pennsylvania regiment who camped in the backyard, and wore deer tails on their hats, hence the name. It was in his bedroom at this home where Honest Abe drafted the Emancipation Proclamation. Once the tour ended, it was another walk and metro ride to get back to Silver Spring, Maryland.