Booth Escape Trail Ramble
Follow the winding trail of one of the most famous assassins in world history!
After shooting President Abraham Lincoln at Ford’s Theatre on April 14, 1865, John Wilkes Booth and his accomplice David Herold fled deep into the Maryland and Virginia countryside. They remained in hiding for 12 days, evading thousands of federal troops eager to win the $100,000 bounty on the infamous actor’s head.
We will follow Booth and Herold’s trail on this full day ramble, from the playhouse in Downtown Washington DC to the assassin’s miserable demise at the Garrett Farm, near Port Royal, Virginia. It’s a journey through beautiful countryside that has changed little in the last century and a half, haunted by shady characters who met and sometimes assisted the fugitives.
First, I will pick you up at your hotel or a mutually agreed meeting place. We begin the ramble at Ford’s Theatre, a National Historic Site restored to its 1865 condition, with an extensive display of memorabilia associated with the conspiracy. We continue across the Navy Yard Bridge to visit the Surratt House, a tavern owned by a fellow conspirator Mary Surratt, who would become one of the first women to be executed by the federal government for her role in the plot.
We continue to the Doctor Samuel A. Mudd House, where a sympathetic doctor set Booth’s broken leg. In season, we enjoy a guided tour of the house, full of family antiques and memories of the controversial figure.
Then it’s on to Rich Hill, one of the oldest houses in Southern Maryland, where local planter Samuel Cox hid them in the nearby Piney Thickett. We will track the watchful care of former Confederate spy Thomas Jones, who brought them food and then arranged for what proved to be a chaotic attempt to row across the Potomac River.
On the Virginia side, we will stop at Cleydael, the home of the suspicious Dr. Richard Stuart, who fed the fugitives a hasty meal. When he refused to host them for the night, Booth and Herold occupied the home of a local Black family, the Lucases, before ending up at the Garrett Farm, near the colonial town of Port Royal.
At a site now marked only by a roadside sign, Booth was fatally wounded by the eccentric Corp. Boston Corbett on April 26, 1865, and died shortly afterwards on the porch of the Garrett farmhouse. After a moment’s reflection at this remote spot, we travel back to your hotel or an agreed meeting place in the D.C. area.
This ramble is a full day adventure, and will include lunch at a colorful local spot (at the traveler’s expense), as well as plenty of tales of the fascinating figures associated with this unique chapter in American history.
Includes admission to all museums. Please contact me directly for costs for larger groups.
