President Lincoln and Soldier's Home National Monument Highpoint Trip Report
Date: August 9, 2010
Author: Fred Lobdell
President Lincoln and his family spent much of their time in Washington in this house
rather than in the White House. In 2000, President Clinton designated the cottage
and the 2.3 acres it lies on a National Monument. The rest of the much more extensive grounds
of the Soldiers' Home is not part of the NM.
The Presidential Proclamation effecting this was supposed to have an attached map,
but I could not find a copy of it on the Internet. I am assuming that the ground
immediately surrounding the house as well as the ground occupied by the visitor's center
(a separate building) pretty much constitutes the NM.
There is a circular drive in front of the cottage, and in the grassy area in the
middle of that drive is a life-sized statue of President Lincoln and a horse,
erected in 2009. There are two trees in this grassy circle, and I felt that the ground
under the eastern tree appeared to be the highest.
The entrance to this property lies at the intersection of Upshur Street and Rock Creek Church Road.
If you're driving, make your way to Georgia Avenue. NW or 16th Street. NW
and take one or the other to Upshur St. Go east on Upshur, which ends at the entrance
to the NM and the Soldier's Home.
I had to produce a picture ID and was given a parking permit to leave on the car's dashboard.
The permit had to be returned when I left. Wandering the grounds of the Soldiers' Home
is forbidden, but one may walk around the cottage and visitor's center.
Tickets are required for tours of the cottage istelf.