| President Lincoln and Soldiers' Home National Monument | |
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  President Lincoln's Cottage at the Soldiers' Home (the United States) Show map of the United States | |
| Location | Washington, D.C.,United States |
| Coordinates | 38°56′30″N77°0′42″W / 38.94167°N 77.01167°W /38.94167; -77.01167 |
| Area | 2.3 acres (9,300 m2) |
| Established | July 7, 2000 |
| Governing body | Armed Forces Retirement Home-Washington, President Lincoln's Cottage at the Soldiers' Home (501c3) |
| Website | President Lincoln's Cottage |
President Lincoln's Cottage is a historic home used byAbraham Lincoln on the grounds of the Soldiers' Home, known today as theArmed Forces Retirement Home, near thePetworth neighborhood inWashington, D.C. In 2000 it was designated anational monument calledPresident Lincoln and Soldiers' Home National Monument.
PresidentAbraham Lincoln and his family resided seasonally on the grounds of the Soldiers' Home to escape the heat and political pressure of downtown Washington, as did PresidentJames Buchanan (1857–1861) before him. President Lincoln's Cottage also served as theSummer White House for PresidentsRutherford B. Hayes (1877–1881) andChester A. Arthur (1881–1885).[1]
The historic cottage, built in theGothic Revival style, was constructed from 1842 to 1843 as the home ofGeorge Washington Riggs, who went on to establish theRiggs National Bank in Washington, D.C. Lincoln lived in the cottage June to November 1862 through 1864 and during the first summer living there, Lincoln drafted the preliminary draft of theEmancipation Proclamation.Mary Todd Lincoln fondly recalled the campus; in 1865, she wrote, "How dearly I loved the Soldiers' Home."
PoetWalt Whitman, who was living on Vermont Avenue near the White House in 1863, often saw the president riding to or from Soldiers' Home. He wrote inTheNew York Times, "Mr. LINCOLN generally rides a good-sized easy-going gray horse, is dressed in plain black, somewhat rusty and dusty; wears a black stiff hat, and looks about as ordinary in attire, &c., as the commonest man...I saw very plainly the President's dark brown face, with the deep cut lines, the eyes, &c., always to me with a deep latent sadness in the expression." Whitman quoted this article in his 1876 bookMemoranda During the War, adding the phrase: "We have got so that we always exchange bows, and very cordial ones."[2] In 1889 it was named Anderson Cottage after the late Brevet Major GeneralRobert Anderson, who was one of the founders of Soldiers' Home.
The Soldiers' Home stands on 251 acres (1.02 km2) atop the third highest point in Washington. The Home was designated aNational Historic Landmark on November 7, 1973, and listed on theNational Register of Historic Places on February 11, 1974. In 2000, the cottage was placed on theNational Trust for Historic Preservation's 11Most Endangered list. Then about 2.3 acres (9,300 m2) of the Home was proclaimed aNational Monument by PresidentBill Clinton on July 7, 2000. The National Trust took on the restoration which was completed in 2007. The Cottage exterior was restored to the period of Lincoln's occupancy in the 1860s in a joint venture by the Philadelphia firm J. S. Cornell & Son, and Stephen Ortado, Historic Structures, according to the standards of the National Park Service. Today the property is leased by the National Trust for Historic Preservation through a cooperative agreement with theArmed Forces Retirement Home; and is managed by President Lincoln's Cottage at the Soldiers' Home, an independent 501(c)(3) charity.[3]
President Lincoln's Cottage opened to the public on February 18, 2008. A reproduction of the Lincoln desk on which he wrote the Emancipation Proclamation was commissioned by the Trust for use in the Cottage.[4] The original drop-lid walnut paneled desk is in theLincoln Bedroom of theWhite House. The desk is the only surviving piece of furniture that is known to have been placed in the White House and the Cottage during the Lincoln era.
The adjacent Robert H. Smith Visitor Education Center features exhibits about the Soldiers' Home, wartime Washington, D.C., Lincoln as Commander-in-Chief during the Civil War, and a special exhibit gallery. President Lincoln's Cottage and Visitor Education Center is normally open to the public for tours seven days a week.
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