//
Photo: McGhiever, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
1865 was perhaps the most consequential year in presidential history, when, on the 14th of April, John Wilkes Booth, a prominent actor at Ford's Theatre and Confederate sympathizer shot President Lincoln in his balcony seat. Attendants carried Lincoln across the street to a small bedroom in the small row-house across the street, but the doctors were unable to save the president. He died early morning the next day. This isn't so much a museum—it's just a small room with a few plaques, recreated to look as it did on that day. The house is operated by the National Park Service, and visited via tours from Ford's Theatre.
The Petersen House is a 19th-century federal style row house in the United States in Washington, D.C., located at 516 10th Street NW, several blocks east of the White House. It is known for being the house where President Abraham Lincoln died on April 15, 1865 after being shot the previous evening at Ford's Theatre located across the street.
© OpenStreetMap contributors
A great museum detailing the life of Abraham Lincoln and the place where he was assassinated.
This is where John Wilkes Booth shot President Abraham Lincoln in 1865, and he was taken across the street to the Petersen House where he died. Ford's Theatre is not only a historic site, but remains a working theater, with regular performances. Theater here is usually the most traditional of the downtown venues, offering dramatic work that is "as eloquent, intelligent and respectful of humanity as Mr. Lincoln." The truly coveted tickets are for the annual Christmas Eve performance of A Christmas Carol. The daily tours take you through the theater and the onsite museum, and also spill across the street to the Petersen House, where Lincoln died.
FBI Headquarters. This brutalist office building is in bad condition and will likely be demolished eventually.
The collection here is a walk through encyclopedia of American Art—Gilbert Stuart's stern presidential portraits through Nam June Paik's house-sized America sculpture of neon and televisions.
Its most popular exhibit is the Hall of Presidents. The enclosed Kogod Courtyard has received several architectural accolades. It has a small cafe and is a peaceful, quiet place to escape for a break. Free WiFi.
D.C. can't get enough Shakespeare, to the extent that the Shakespeare Theatre Company had to open a second, enormous performance venue in 2007 at the Sidney Harman Hall. Both venues are great, the Lansburgh being a long-time favorite and a smaller, intimate space, and the Harman Hall being big, flashy, and state-of-the-art. The performances here of Shakespeare, often set in present times, as well as other classics from Aeschylus to Marlowe, are almost always universally-acclaimed and top-notch. If you want to see theater in D.C., this is a great place to start. If you are in D.C. in the early fall, enter the online lottery for "Free for All" tickets.