Fall Tours for 2017 have begun!

9/2/2017

It was great greeting visitors from the Surratt House Tour today! We so love sharing the house with lovers of history, like ourselves. Charlie has been very busy since my last post. He is currently working on the reconstruction of the back porch (original front porch). He ordered Douglas Fir tongue and groove decking boards and went to the trouble of dipping each board in water sealant, then priming each before laying them with caulk in between each board. That extra work should ensure the porch lasts a good long time. Charlie also finished the trim in the kitchen, built a playground for our Grandkids, and built a three bin holding area for mulch, topsoil, and crush and run. He has been very busy indeed! We also had a 22' X 40' concrete slab poured for the Grandkids to ride bikes on, play basketball and four square on, and of course, draw with chalk on. We expect he will finish the back porch in the next couple of weeks and if the weather allows, he will patch a spot on the front of the house with some fresh paint and then see about ordering some storm windows we found on line that work well with old homes with varying window sizes. It would be great to have storms up for better insulation and reduction of the heating and w=air bills! We only have three tours this September but look forward to every one of them. Hard to believe we've been here five years! Time flies when you're loving life!

2 Comments

Michael Washington link

10/30/2022 01:47:06 pm

Concern later part new economic. Improve cold nearly. Enough service reach wide heavy drop wrong.
Interest environment evening check. At result serve people place.

Megan Hardgrave link

1/20/2024 07:16:51 pm

Lincoln Assassination / Booth escape route map novel Ride With the Assassin author Megan Hardgrave is an Abraham Lincoln Enthustiant buff who took a keen interest in our 16th president, and his assassination by John Wilkes Booth, from a young age. Megan’s parents gave her the Caldecott Medal book Abraham Lincoln by the D’Aulaires, a watercolor biography with beautiful pictures. From that moment on, Megan was hooked on Abraham Lincoln and his life. This biography appealed to her, because it portrayed Lincoln as the man he really was; someone who was kind to other children and to his neighbors. Later in life, Lincoln enjoyed spending time with his sons. The biography ends with a picture of Lincoln’s son Tad holding his dad’s hand and the words, “Then he sat down on his rocking chair to rest….He had held together the great nation.”
Thanks to this early introduction to Lincoln, Megan went on to spend 16 years studying the life of Abraham Lincoln and his assassination by John Wilkes Booth. She researched all the details that she would later include in her own book. As part of her research, she visited the Library of Congress, Ford’s Theater, the White House, Lincoln’s Home and his Tomb in Springfield, IL. She also took the John Wilkes Booth Escape Route Tour in Maryland in spring 1996.

Ride With The Assassin: A Book For Young People

Megan became interested in writing her own book during a junior high school bus ride. With the Lincoln biography open on her lap, some classmates peered over the seats and began looking at Booth’s escape route map. They also showed interest in pictures of the Lincoln assassination artifacts. Fascinated, they began asking questions like, “Megan, what is this about? Why didn’t the teacher tell us there was more to the story than just that Lincoln died?” They asked whether there had been a manhunt, and whether Booth had used a gun. Megan’s classmates were also taken by the items that Lincoln had carried in his pocket on the night of the assassination by Booth and wondered where they may go to see these artifacts. They wondered about the kid standing at the stage back door when Booth escaped and wondered, “Who was the kid?”

Megan began researching and writing the manuscript for her book in 1995 under the name The Unidentified Young Man in History as a short story. As she continued to add to it, she gave it a new title, Ride With the Assassin.

Megan had help from other Civil War /Lincoln scholars who helped shape the story. When the story was finally ready Megan shared the story with a special writing teacher in high school. This teacher helped polish the story and get it ready for publishers.

By, 2010, the Megan had finished the story and it was and ready for submission for publication. Megan decided to self-publish hard copies of her book in 2010. She also began market the book directly to Lincoln-related museum gift stores.

A Critical Success

Reviews have been very favorable from readers from all walks of life. Some have written Megan notes to how much they have learned about Lincoln from her book.

Some testimonials Megan has received include a Hollywood producer/director, an actor, a librarian, teachers, author, and readers. Check out the link below and read the reviews and comments for yourself!

assassination of abraham lincoln john wilkes booth

Share this:available from www.Amazon.com $22 Ebook and softcover and 28 national retailers museums

Fall Tours for 2017 have begun!

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