Wow, those two things don't particularly go together, but that's exactly how my day went today! I got home from traveling to North Carolina and decided to venture out on the bike. Although I had no particular destination in mind, I sure didn't anticipate that before my ride was through, I would end up standing on the exact spot where John Wilkes Booth died!!! Again with the Random!!!!!!!!!!
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| Couldn't resist some bike shots with all of the awesome backgrounds I had available! |
After meandering around enjoying the nice weather for awhile, I decided to head over to Port Royal. I had flown over earlier in the day and decided to take a closer look and see what I could find.
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| Port Royal dates back to 1652, and served as a deportation point for tobacco en route to Britain. |
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| Some of the houses in old Port Royal date back to the 1700's! |
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| The Rappahannock River. |
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| An Osprey flies over to her nest. |
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Down near an old waterfront, I found a sign which mentioned John Wilkes Booth had hidden in the area, and in fact been captured and killed just a couple of miles outside of town.
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I decided to go looking...
If I had this map available, maybe it would have been easier to find!!!
I discovered that on April 26th, 1865, Booth was tracked by the Union Army to a place called the Garrett Farm, and that it was pretty close to where I was.
Living in this area, I’ve seen more historical sites than ever before, but none so hidden and off the beaten path as this one ended up being! When I finally tracked down the Garrett Farm, I discovered it’s long gone.
There isn’t much in the way of markers, just one historical marker out on the highway, a directional sign showing the way to the site, a warning not to take anything, and a metal spike in a small clearing showing where the barn was.
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| I finally found what I was looking for, but it looked like this was all there was. |
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As I got ready to go, disappointed that there was nothing left, I saw one more sign, across the highway, with a finger pointing off to the left. I had to check it out!
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| The sign directed me down this friendly looking path! |
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| I got to crawl under logs and cut through vines!! |
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| Finally, I came to this. A small clearing. |
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I took nothing!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The barn Booth was captured in was burnt down by the soldiers, and the house he died in after being shot fell into disrepair in the 1930’s, and was later torn down. The whole site is now between the North and Southbound lanes of US 301, near mile marker 122.
Although the barn and house are long gone, it’s still strange standing on the site where a major historical event took place. I know people do visit the site because of the 'sort-of' trail through the woods, but it was quickly obvious it is not maintained for mass traffic. |
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| All that is left of the barn and farmhouse is this spike in the clearing. |
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| But THIS is what it looked like in 1865!!!!!!!!!!!! |
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