For those fascinated by history, the Dr. Samuel A Mudd House Museum is a wonderful site to visit…read more After having read the well researched book "American Brutus" I was already fascinated by the motivation & details regarding the John Wilkes Booth assassination of Abraham Lincoln. But I had no idea that I was staying near the area where he fled for treatment of the broken leg he received when he jumped from the Presidential Box in Ford's Theater to the stage below. In Charles County, MD for wedding showers in La Plata & Port Tobacco, I was staying at a convenient Residence Inn in Waldorf. Imagine my delight when the Mother of the Bride suggested a tour of the nearby Mudd House. The historical events I had read about were all around me. The docent we had at the Mudd House was extremely knowledgeable & interesting. She pointed out that some of the furnishings were original to the house, including the sofa on which John Wilkes Booth lay injured. Her knowledge, beginnings with Booth's history as an actor in Baltimore, validated the research in the fascinating book I read. Although Mudd had been seen in Washington with 3 of Booth's conspirators, no connection to the plot was ever found. Booth had fled Dr, Mudd's house the following day into Virginia. Nonetheless Dr Mudd was found guilty of conspiracy & imprisoned, finally being pardoned by President Andrew Johnson. He died in 1883 & is buried at St. Mary's Church in Charles County, There are many Mudd descendants remaining in the area. Some I met at the wedding festivities. The Mudd house is easily reached via either Alexandria, VA or DC by crossing the Potomac to the National Harbor then on to Waldorf. My path to Charles County has always been taking the backroads from Coastal Virginia, passing many historic buildings & landmarks as a bonus. The Dr. Samuel A Mudd House is open for tours from spring through fall on Wednesdays & Saturdays 11am - 4pm & Sundays from noon - 4pm. The last tour begins at 3:30pm. As an epilogue, one afternoon I was driving home from an event in rural Virginia between Hampton Roads & Northern Virginia. Not familiar with the area, I was enjoying the exploration. On a stretch of road that was heavily treed I spotted a historical marker ahead. I always brake for historical markers. It was the location of the capture, shooting & death of Booth. The Garrett Farm & Tobacco barn where he was hiding has been long lost to time. All that remains is the historical marker. All serious historians should visit the Mudd House. It's a rare piece of the past that still remains intact.

Great tour, pretty reasonably priced, and the tour guide was dressed nicely with a bow tie and was…read morevery knowledgeable on Dr Mudd. It was really round the clock touring, as when we arrived, they had us join the end of a concluding tour, then at the end of our tour, a group joined us, and I was impressed that they had a good amount of people interested in seeing the site John Wilkes Booth set his injuries then continue to flee after Lincoln's assissination. The guide wasn't a Mudd apologist but did provide information what is was guilty and not guilty on with details of his prison stint and his barely escaping the death penalty. It's an interesting historical note in such an important US event for this small-town doctor to be so impactful that we still want to learn and see a primary location. The house is still pretty intact with possessions from the Mudd family and rooms to view upstairs and downstairs. The gift shop is small but has some good souvenirs. It is down a two lane road in some farm lands, but it's worth the drive. There are a couple of other buildings on the site, but the whole thing should only take 1-2 hours. The hours/seasons are a bit limited, so I recommend calling first to double check, and then it's a very enjoyable tour.