Qualla: Surratt House Museum

Surratt House Museum: Introduction

Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Quintin Soloviev, CC BY 4.0. On the night of April 14, 1865, John Wilkes Booth and David Herold rode hard through the Maryland darkness south of Washington. They stopped briefly at a two-story wood-frame tavern in Surrattsville to pick up two Spencer carbines, ammunition, and a pair of binoculars that had been hidden there weeks earlier. Then they vanished into the night. The tavern belonged to Mary Surratt, and within three months she would hang for her role in the conspiracy to assassinate President Abraham Lincoln. The building still stands at 9110 Brandywine Road in Clinton, Maryland, the town that quietly renamed itself to shed the Surratt association. Inside its restored rooms, the story of an ordinary household pulled into the most consequential crime in American history waits to be told.

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Image: Quintin Soloviev | CC BY 4.0

Surratt House Museum: A Crossroads Built on Ambition

Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Hawkeye58 at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0. John Harrison Surratt was an orphan adopted by a wealthy Washington couple. He married Mary Jenkins in August 1840, and within a year purchased farmland near what is now Clinton, Maryland. By 1853, he had constructed a tavern and inn that became the center of a small community. T...

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Image: Hawkeye58 at English Wikipedia | CC BY-SA 3.0

Surratt House Museum: A Widow in Desperate Straits

Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Paulba. Original uploader was Paulbalegend at en.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0. John Surratt collapsed and died of a stroke in August 1862, leaving Mary alone with a farm, a tavern, and mounting debts. Her son, John Surratt Jr., was frequently away, and she struggled to keep the businesses afloat. By the fall of 1864, she decided to move to her townhouse at ...

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Image: Paulba. Original uploader was Paulbalegend at en.wikipedia | CC BY-SA 3.0

Surratt House Museum: The Night Everything Changed

Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Vpuliva, Public domain. After shooting Lincoln at Ford's Theatre, Booth fled south with Herold. Their route was planned, and the Surratt tavern was their first stop. They retrieved the hidden carbines and binoculars, then continued their flight into southern Maryland. The manhunt that followed was the l...

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Image: Vpuliva | Public domain

Surratt House Museum: From Tavern to Time Capsule

Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Jonathunder, Public domain. The house passed through private hands for a century after the assassination. In 1939, it suffered minor fire damage under the ownership of Mrs. Ella Curtin. On February 24, 1965, Clinton merchant B. K. Miller and his son Thomas donated the property to the Maryland-National Capit...

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Image: Jonathunder | Public domain