Surratt House Museum

Constructed in 1852, Surratt House is the oldest building in the town of Clinton, MD. It became notorious in connection with the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln on April 14, 1865.

John H. Surratt and his wife, Mary, raised three children - Isaac, Anna, and John Jr. -  in this house, which also served as a hotel and tavern for travelers passing by the 300-acre plantation on which it once stood. A livery stable, blacksmith’s shop, and post office rounded out the hamlet known as “Surrattsville.”

In 1864, Mary Surratt moved to a house on H St. in northwest D.C., which she opened as a boarding house. The tavern became an underground safehouse for the confederacy, but it was in D.C. where the Surratt family became enmeshed in the plot to kidnap President Lincoln.

Ultimately, Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth, who stopped at Surratt Tavern to retrieve weapons and other supplies during his attempt to flee the area.

Mary Surratt was tired and convicted of conspiracy for her role in abetting the assassination and became the first woman to be executed by the United States government.

The Surratt family were forced to auction off the house in 1868 due to insurmountable debt. Several families lived in the house between 1868 and 1965, at which time the building was acquired by the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission.

Just over a decade later, on May 1, 1976, Surratt Tavern became the first museum open to the public in Prince George’s County, Maryland.