President Lincoln's summer retreat will open to public

[babylonsister]

President Lincoln's summer retreat will open to public
By Frank Greve | McClatchy Newspapers

* Posted on Tuesday, January 15, 2008


WASHINGTON — Workers rolled out sod amid snow flurries Tuesday, determined that the summer home where President Lincoln and his family spent more than a quarter of his Washington life will look fully restored by Presidents Day.

The sprawling Gothic Revival cottage, likely to be Washington's next niche tourist attraction, lies only three miles north of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. But it's 300 feet higher than the swamp-level White House, hence is breezier and as much as 7 degrees cooler, according to Frank Milligan, the director of the President Lincoln's Cottage Project.

That might have been enough for Lincoln, who, between 1862 and his death in 1865, commuted 45 minutes each way daily by horse or carriage from June well into fall to escape the various forms of pestilence in the Civil War capital and to read, think and relax.

Despite a seven-year restoration by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Lincoln's cottage is like many summer houses: It doesn't look like much.

The exterior is pale brown stucco with green shutters and dark brown trim with modest scrollwork, more grand Ohio farmhouse than mansion. Inside, it has 12-foot ceilings and public rooms with good bones. If it has 34 rooms, as Milligan and National Trust President Richard Moe say, most are closed-off servants' warrens in the eaves.

In Lincoln's day, according to a contemporary account cited by historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, the cottage's view took in the Potomac River "stretching away plainly visible for 12 miles, Alexandria, Arlington, Georgetown and the long line of forts that bristle along the hills." Lincoln also could watch the Capitol dome's construction from his porch.

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http://www.mcclatchydc.com/226/story/24816.html

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. Very interesting read

I think it was known as the "Soldier's Home" in Lincoln's day. An assassin shot off Lincoln's hats during one horseback commute. Mary held seances to contact Willie, and what she was told gave her some comfort.

[hootinholler]

2. K&R for the National Trust n/t

[Virginia Dare]

3. It's interesting to ponder how much Washington has changed in 150 years..

it must have been a stinking rotting mess, especially in the summer. I honestly don't know what possessed people to build a city on top of a swamp.

I wonder what D.C. will look like 100 years from now? I posted this earlier regarding a competition that was recently held for young architects, where they envisioned just that. At some point, quite possibly in the near future it will be under water again no doubt. I wonder if buildings like the White House and Mount Vernon will be able to be saved? Will they be able to move them to higher ground?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=2696197&mesg_id=2696197