President Lincoln’s Cottage

Once known as Anderson Cottage, this Gothic Revival-style residence was the setting where Abraham Lincoln penned the first draft of the Emancipation Proclamation. 

Built between 1842-1843, the cottage first served as home to George Washington Riggs, founder of Riggs National Bank. It was later used as a seasonal getaway for several U.S. Presidents, including James Buchanan (1857-1861), Abraham Lincoln (1862-1864), Rutherford B. Hayes (1877-1881), and Chester Arthur (1881-1885).

The cottage stands on the same 251-acre complex as the Soldier’s Home, which was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974, with the cottage receiving designation as a National Monument in the year 2000.

The cottage was restored in 2007 before being opened to the public in 2008. It is operated by President Lincoln’s Cottage at the Soldiers’ Home, an independent 501(c)(3) charity.

The original desk on which Lincoln drafted the preliminary version of the Emancipation Proclamation resides in the Lincoln Bedroom at the White House, but a reproduction sits in the cottage where the President laid out his first edition of this momentous document.