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!!!!!!!!!!
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.
Port Royal dates back to 1652, and served as a deportation point for tobacco en route to Britain. |
Some of the houses in old Port Royal date back to the 1700's! |
The Rappahannock River. |
An Osprey flies over to her nest. |
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. |
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.
I finally found what I was looking for, but it looked like this was all there was. |