After a few weeks of just enjoying the end of summer, my friend and I made the journey to Ford’s Theater and the Petersen House! Ford’s Theater has produced some wonderful shows since I moved to DC, and I even had the pleasure of seeing Come From Away on its Broadway preview in DC when I first moved here. If you cannot afford to see a show, the free tour still gives you a way to see the theater.
When you start the tour, you enter into the basement of the theater. The basement of the theater has a museum featuring history about Lincoln’s Presidency, Lincoln’s Assassination, John Wilkes Booth, and the theater. Since there are quite a few Civil War battlefields, you can learn quite a bit of this history around DC at other sites. The specific things to the theater and assassination are things you cannot find anywhere else so be sure to check out the revolvers and other such items!
Once you finish seeing the museum, you can walk up to the theater. The day my friend and I visited, there were so few people seeing the theater that there was no tour but rather just an open walk through with a dressed up tour guide standing in the theater. This was perfect because she was just speaking about the theater, and you could wander in and out as needed. Ford’s Theater is a beautiful old theater, but my favorite part of this was the ability to see the President’s box where Lincoln was shot. You cannot enter the space, you can see it!
Once you finish checking out the theater, you will cross the street and head over to the Petersen House. Lincoln was taken to the Petersen house after he was shot. This is a typical National Parks Service house on the first floor, where you can see a historic re-creation of the house. The upstairs has a continuation of exhibits and is a bit more like the museum in the theater. You can see the bedroom where Lincoln died, which was the main thing to see in my opinion.
Touring this theater without a reservation fee and the opportunity to see all of the parts of the theater involves some planning. I have been trying to get to the theater for the tour since I first moved to DC, but I also wanted to avoid the $3 reservation, which is not covered by the America the Beautiful pass. In the summers, the tours sell out far in advance and you need to pre-pay for an advanced reservation, which costs $3. If you decide to visit from September to March (Before Cherry Blossom season!), keep an eye on the website. The website will tell you if there are limited tickets left, and you can see which parts of the historic site are open. You can likely just walk up this time of year so look for times where the tour is not near sold out. Additionally, while you are checking out the website, be sure to check that you can tour the Museum, Theater Walkthrough, Petersen House, and Aftermath Exhibits. When there are shows in the theater, you cannot tour the theater, and the Petersen House is not always opened either. With these tips, I hope you can get a free and fun trip to Ford’s Theater and the Petersen House too!
Thanks for reading this week’s blog! I hope to have some more adventures around DC soon.
Amanda's Adventures 