The tour starts downstairs at the theater and there are a lot of items on exhibit about Lincoln's presidency, the Civil War, his family and marriage. They have the derringer that John Wilkes Booth used to shoot President Lincoln and lots of info about the manhunt for Booth and his conspirators. There is so much to see that we actually went back in and looked at more things after the ranger talk in the stage area of the theater.
The ranger's talk in the theater was extremely well done. As she described the events around the assassination, the theater was completely still - you could have heard a pin drop. She talked a bit about Booth and his background as an actor which enabled him to easily access the theater, about his anger that the Confederacy had lost the war, about his conspirators who helped him carry out his plan, and also about his hatred for Lincoln. She pointed out the presidential box and explained who was with the President that night and where everyone was sitting. You can imagine the group was ready to enjoy a nice evening together after all the years of war were finally over. Booth waited for a line in the play that always caused loud laughter from the audience, to cover the sound when the single shot rang out. The President slumped in his chair and Major Rathbone, one of the Lincolns' guests, was stabbed trying to subdue Booth who escaped by leaping to the stage and running outside to a horse he had waiting.
The President was mortally wounded and was moved from the theater to the Peterson House across the street where he died the next morning. Your ticket also includes entrance to the Peterson House and you can see the room where the president died as well as more exhibits. Most of the exhibits in the Peterson House are about the President's death, his funeral train returning the President's remains to Illinois and the fate of Booth and his conspirators.
The President's box
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