President Lincoln's Camp David

Because I'm enamoured with President Lincoln, I was pretty excited to find out there was a famous DC site associated with him that I've never visited. And Jenica agreed to come since she drove us to the wrong site when we were trying to find Lincoln's birthplace in KY.

Lincoln's Cottage is where President Lincoln and his family lived for 13 months between 1862-1864.  It's on the grounds of the Armed Forces Retirement Home which was created in 1851.  Other Presidents spent time here as well to get out of the swampy heat around the White House.  It was described to us as the Camp David of the 19th century.

Our first stop was the gift shop to meet with the tour guide and I loved seeing these two items.  It was the unofficial 50th anniversary of the March on Washington and I wasn't really sure how to feel about the MLK bobble head.  The T-shirt though is one of my favorites ever.

The tour of the house is just a tour of a house.  There are no furnishings and it's not made to look like it did when Lincoln lived there.  After the presidents stopped visiting, it turned into a retirement home for soldiers.  It's a nice place but I had high expectations and the tour guide was more interested in our feelings and thoughts about Lincoln as opposed to teaching us about him.  I walked away a little deflated but I still love the T-shirt.