Archive for May, 2015

Lincoln Cottage

Thursday, May 21st, 2015

During Lincoln’s presidency, the White House was one big Open House for anyone who wanted to have his ear. There was no peace and certainly no place to think about all that swirled around the chief executive during the Civil War years. So Lincoln did not live in the White House most of the time! Three miles away from the craziness of the city is the “Lincoln Cottage.” (the word cottage in those days IMG_0121referred to a second home, not the size of the dwelling ) Here, Mary and Abraham took solace from the turmoil of the city as well as mourned the death of their dear son, Willie. Every morning Abe got up and rode 3 miles on horseback into the city to conduct business and then back again to the Cottage. It is a beautiful building with lovely grounds that support a veterans home  to this day as well. There is tranquility here and intimacy. It is grand and special in a comforting way. The Lincoln Cottage is another unknown jewel in our Capital and worth the search.

The FIRST Lincoln Memorial

Thursday, May 21st, 2015

April 14th 2015, marked the 150th anniversary of the killing of Lincoln. I was blessed to be in D.C. and see the cherry blossoms, azaleas, and dogwoods and learn more about this great man.
In a neighborhood park on Capital Hill there is a statue of Lincoln with an unfettered slave at his feet. This statue was commissioned immediately after his death and solely funded with freed slave IMG_0108donations. The very first donor was Charlotte Scott, who used the first $5 she earned as a free woman to kick off the fund raising. This first heart-felt memorial was in place ten years after Lincoln’s death but the larger Lincoln Memorial took until 1922 to be in place. There are two copies of this early memorial; one in Boston(1875) and the other in Edinburg, Scotland(1893) There are so many wonderful things to learn on walks through our nation’s capital.