Celebrating the Outrageous

In Ground Zero Tradition ...

Ford's Theatre/Petersen's House (202) 426-6924 511 10th Street, NW (between E and F Streets), Washington, DC Ford's Theatre and museum:  9am-5pm daily; closed December 25 Petersen House: 9am-5pm daily; closed December 25 Timed entry tickets, available at the site, are required to tour the Theatre; tickets can be reserved online.  Admission charged for play performances.   The site of the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln in April of 1865 has been open to the public since 1968.  The building itself has a colorful history, having started as a Baptist church.  After Lincoln’s assassination, the theatre was closed, but served intermittently as a museum, office space and storage facility.  A restoration effort started in 1954 brought the theatre back, and theatrical events still performed on its stage.  At the museum located in the theatre, you will find artifacts related to the assassination, including the gun and knife used by John Wilkes Booth in the attack.   The Petersen House, where the mortally-wounded Lincoln was taken after the attack and later died, is located directly across the street, and now is home to the Daughters of the Confederacy. In a comment, snack eater suggested that "we should help the Branch Davidians build a temple two blocks from the former site of the Alfred P. Murrah Building in Oklahoma City. Or how about helping the Westboro Baptist Church build a new place of worship in downtown San Francisco? The possibilities are endless." Indeed they are. My first thought  was to cede the Petersen House, where Lincoln died, to the  Daughters of the Confederacy.   I can think of scads more, and I bet you can too.  Chip in: