Cleydael

Dr. Richard H. Stuart built a T-shaped house just southeast of here in 1859 as a summer residence for his family. John Wilkes Booth and his accomplice David Herold, guided by a local farmer, arrived here on 23 April 1865 while attempting to escape after Booth had assassinated Pres. Abraham Lincoln. The fugitives asked to spend the night and sought medical attention for Booth’s injured leg. Suspicious of his visitors and aware of Lincoln’s assassination, Stuart gave them dinner and then sent them away. He directed them to the nearby house of William Lucas, a free African American farmer, where they evicted the family and slept. Department of Historic Resources, 2017