With summer in full swing, now is the time to get out there and take a vacation. Whether it be a lengthy week long trip to a city or shore far distant, or a day’s drive to a “not so nearby” locale, there’s nothing like the thrill of going somewhere new. For the historically minded, vacations often involve adventures such as visiting a museum, rediscovering a National Park, or just taking a selfie with a historical marker off the highway. No matter what form they may take, vacations allow us to make our own marks and memories in places outside our everyday lives.
I’ve long said that the story of Lincoln’s assassination is told all over this nation. I cannot tell you how many times I’ve been in the middle of nowhere when suddenly I find a reference to the assassination staring me right in the face. The impact of Lincoln’s death and the manhunt for John Wilkes Booth reached around the globe. Over the last week, I have been working diligently to update the Maps section of this website in order to demonstrate how far reaching it truly is. The result has been the creation of five new maps, four which cover the entirety of the United States and a fifth map representing the rest of the world. All of these maps provide the locations, a brief description and the exact GPS coordinates of different sites related in some way to the assassination of Abraham Lincoln and his assassin, John Wilkes Booth.
The maps are still in the beginning stages. The 225 locations currently marked are little more than a drop in the bucket of the potential sites worldwide. Everyday, however, new sites pop into my head and I diligently research to determine their exact GPS coordinates. I’ve analyzed Civil War era maps to determine their modern counterparts, struggled with foreign languages in order to find international sites, and I have even spent hours staring at aerial pictures of cemeteries trying to determine the exact locations of specific graves. It is very slow work, but by pinpointing these sites with GPS coordinates, we can ensure that they will never be lost. The buildings and terrain around them may change but, with GPS, where they once stood can always be found.
With this in mind, I encourage you all to check out the newly updated Maps section of BoothieBarn. See if there’s something “not so nearby” that you might want to drive and see. Better yet, if you are already planning a trip somewhere, take a look and see if you’ll be passing by something assassination related. I mean what kid wouldn’t love to make a detour on their way to Disney World in order to visit a cemetery in Geneva, Florida? “Forget Cinderella’s Castle, Mommy. What I really want to see is the grave of Lewis Powell’s skull!”
So check out the Maps section here on BoothieBarn by clicking the image above. Then get out there and have yourself an assassination vacation!
LincolnConspirators.com 
Hi Dave, great idea and endeavor. Unfortunately only the left half of a description appears upon clicking on a mark. Also I have a question – from Mr. Fazio’s new book I just “learned” Surratt’s leap over the balustrade was an embellishment (which would make sense to me). So you think it wasn’t?
Eva,
I’m not sure why only the left half of the description comes up when you click a mark. Are you able to then move the map or highlight the text in order to read the rest of it?
I hope you don’t mind, but I used your comment as a springboard for a post about John Surratt’s infamous leap. You can read my reply here: http://boothiebarn.com/2015/07/02/jumping-john-surratt/
Also, I have to thank you for all the work you did on the Rathbones in Germany. I used what you put up on the Lincoln Discussion Symposium in order to write descriptions and find the GPS coordinates for the Rathbones’ different accommodations. Thank you so much for doing all that work. If you ever feel like taking another long road trip in your native land, I’d love to see what records they might have regarding George Atzerodt in his birthplace of Dorna and childhood home of Seebach. I think there might be Atzerodt ancestors buried in Seebach but I’m not sure.
Dave
Thank you for your kind words, Dave! I’ve already thought about looking “into” Atzerodt’s origins. I would love to read what your map offers to learn about that but there’s no way to read the right half of each “box”. I could send you a screenshot if that helps to solve the mystery.
Eva,
Try this as a workaround. At the top of each map there is an icon of a white pin in front of a red background. Next to that is the name of the map. If you follow that line over to the right you should see three icons and then the words “Sign in”. The icon closest to the words “Sign In” looks like the corners of a frame. If you click on this icon, the map should open up full size on the Google Map webpage. Hopefully this will allow you to see the full descriptions. Let me know.
Thanks Dave, but it’s still the same that way – just the left half is visible.
Rats. Well, I’m sorry Eva. Apparently custom Google Maps aren’t formatted properly for viewing in Germany.
Hello, This is a Mudd descendant and the Mudd’s are going to the Dry Tortugas for the 150th Anniversary of Dr. Mudd’s arrival to Fort Jefferson. That is a historical summer getaway!
I wish I could join you all, Laurie. Visiting Fort Jefferson is definitely on my list. Have fun!
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