Hillary Clinton's old office and workplace.
At long last The Lincoln Memorial before us. I was on countdown as we walked up the stairs...I knew Lincoln would be sitting there in all his glory. A vision I've seen all my life on video and pictures until now. Here's Bill walking up first.
Turning around I snapped a picture of the National Mall looking back towards the Capitol and Washington Monument and across the Reflection Pond. What an amazingly beautiful site.
Another picture down the National Mall. I don't think I'd ever get tired of this view.
This Memorial is huge. What an exciting time.
We walked down the path leading away from the Memorial and came to the beginning of the Vietnam Wall. This Vietnam Veterans Memorial statue is amazingly life like.
The Wall. Thousands and thousands of names...so sad to see so many names, and grateful at the same time I knew no one on the wall. Bill knew one, a classmate from high school.
Below is the Vietnam War Women's Memorial, dedicated to honor the women who served in the U.S. Armed Forces during this war.
Of course someone always has to feed the wildlife. As cute as this is I would never let a wild squirrel this close to me intentionally.
On our return to go to the other side for the Korean War Memorial we found that in our brief absence a couple dozen old classic police vehicles were on display at the base of the walkway leading up to the Lincoln Memorial.
I just have to ask...Car 54 Where Are You?
The Korean War Memorial was eerie...these all looked like ghosts.
The Wall part of the Memorial was amazing. The soldiers are etched on the granite and when you photograph them the reflection of the trees fill in the background.
A Memorial to the Armed Forces.
Across the Mall I spotted an equestrian group. Don't know what they were doing or where they were going but it was interesting to see about 20 of them just strolling down the Mall.
Around the other side of the Memorial we headed to the Memorial to the 56 signers of The Declaration of Independence.
WWI Memorial Second Division.
Today we stumbled upon a front view access to the White House. It wasn't hiding or anything like that but we just didn't notice it during our previous two trips. So here it is...the White House as we really know it.
Department of Treasury, right next door. Gotta keep the purse strings close.
Had a great lunch. This corner bakery was much like the Panera sandwich shops.
Our next destination was to find the Ford Theater where President Lincoln was assassinated. How fortunate we were again able to get "on the spot" tickets to the Theater, the Museum next door and across the street at the house where Lincoln died.
Behind the tree is the green shutter boarding house that President Lincoln was carried to after he was shot. There's another Museum next to this house also. We opted to complete all the activities about President Lincoln and not go to the Spy Museum. Hey, another reason to come back to D.C.
The balcony box seats where President Lincoln and his wife sat watching the play.
Here it is from the center of the theater. It is said that the President and his wife arrived 15 minutes late and as they scooted across the balcony seats, the actors paused to welcome them, he bowed politely and continued to his seats.
This is the parlor that Mary Todd Lincoln sat with the boarding house owner, waiting for the doctor to tend to her husband.
President Lincoln was carried to this room and laid on this bed at approximately 10:30 at night. He never regained consciousness and passed away at 7:22 a.m. the next morning April 15, 1865. Though the parlor above is not exactly as it was in 1865 the room below is exactly as it was on that tragic day.
The original bed is on exhibit at the Chicago Museum. The chair he sat in at the theater we saw at the Ford Museum in Detroit.
We all know it was John Wilkes Booth who shot President Lincoln. What I didn't know until all the history on this trip was there were eight others involved in the conspiracy and the assignation targets included Vice President Johnson and members of Lincoln's cabinet. Only Lincoln was shot.
John Booth was tracked down after 12 days and killed in a gun fight and fire at a barn in Virginia. A total of eight were arrested for participating in the conspiracy. It took two days of deliberations for sentencing. The death sentence was issued for David Herold, George Atzerodt, Lewis Powell, and Mary Surratt. Life sentences for lesser roles went to Samuel Arnold, Michael O'Laughlin and Dr. Samuel Mudd. A stagehand at the theater was given six years.
Below is an old photograph of the hanging of the four given death sentences.
President Lincoln's only son to reach adulthood.
With the death of Abraham Lincoln it was the "end of the line" for his genealogy tree. Lincoln's one surviving son, Robert Todd Lincoln married and had three children. His son Abraham II died at the age of 16. His daughter Mary had one son who died childless in 1971. Robert's third child, a daughter named Jessie, had two children, they both died childless. Today there are no direct living decendants of Abraham Lincoln.
This tower of books contains approximately 1500 books, all on the subject of the life, career, history and assignation of Abraham Lincoln.
This was a full and interesting day. Tomorrow we leave for East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania and Bill and I continue on to Connecticut for some family time with the kids and grand kids before meeting up with the Cederlinds and Larry in Sturbridge, MA.
Thanks for visiting, come back soon.
No comments:
Post a Comment