Lincoln Cottage at Soldiers' Home

President Lincoln's Cottage at the Soldiers' Home off North Capitol Street is now open for tours. The president and and his family resided here during the summers of 1862, 1863 and 1864. Lincoln commuted 3 miles to and from the White House and survived at least one assassination attempt enroute.

The house has been restored to its appearance during the Lincoln years but is mostly unfurnished for lack of documentation.

The tour by the National Trust for Historic Preservation is more a movable lecture on the life, times and legacy of Abraham Lincoln. They have a reproduction of Lincoln's desk (below r) in the room where they discuss the Emanicipation Proclamation [the original is in the Lincoln Bedroom at the White House]:

Now the Armed Forces Retirement Home, the Soldier's Home was established in 1851 for old and disabled veterans. The nation's oldest federal cemetery is located on the grounds with the graves of mostly Civil War soldiers.