New Gallery – Surratt House and Tavern

“A short distance beyond, on the same side of the road, I recognized the historic Surratt House. It is nestled in a clump of beautiful trees, and I venture to say that the occupants of the house in war times would not recognize the place. The owner of it, Mr. J. W. Wheatley, was sitting on the front porch, and as I walked up and told him my business, stating that I wanted to stop with him until the next day, he at once made me feel at home. The sign at the corner of the house reads: “Village Hotel.” The farm originally contained 168 acres. The Surratts sold it to John Hunter, and at his death it was left to Mrs. Addison, a relative, and she sold 117 acres to Mr. Wheatley ten years ago. At that time it was a perfect wilderness, grown over with pines and underbrush, but with liberal expenditure of money and time it now has no superior in southern Maryland. Every foot of ground, with the exception of a small piece of timber, is under cultivation. The house faces to the west, and a halt runs through the center. The room at the northwest corner is used as the barroom, and the one adjoining on the east for card-playing, etc. It was through the barroom door, leading out to the north end of the house, that Lloyd, the tenant, handed the carbine and whisky to Booth and Herold. The room in which Lloyd secreted them when John Surratt left them in his care an unfinished one, was upstairs, but has been finished since Mr. Wheatley became possessor of the house. I obtained some good views with my Kodak of the most interesting places around the house — the back door where Lloyd stopped on his return from Marlboro on the afternoon of the assassination, and handed his fish in the kitchen door, and where Mrs. Surratt met him and told him to be sure and be at home that night, for the guns that had been left with him would be called for.”

Surratt House and Tavern

The above was written by assassination author and collector Osborn Oldroyd in his 1901 book, The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln. He visited the Surratt House, met its owner at the time, Mr. Wheatley (pictured), and apparently took several pictures of the building. Following Mr. Oldroyd’s lead, the newest Picture Gallery here on BoothieBarn consists of images relating to Mary Surratt’s former house and tavern. Once a brief stop for the assassin and his accomplice it is now the site of the restored Surratt House Museum.

Visit the Surratt House and Tavern Picture Gallery to see engravings and photographs of the house through the years. Then plan your future visit to see the Surratt House Museum in person.

Click here to visit the Surratt House and Tavern Picture Gallery.