Tour of the Garrett House Site

In the median strip of Route 301 in Caroline County, VA, is the former site of the Garrett house. On April 26th, 1865, assassin John Wilkes Booth was cornered and shot in the Garretts' barn and later died on the porch of the house.

[@hovanti]

Thank you very much for this, Dave, I found it fascinating. Some of the other comments here lead me to believe it is no longer possible to visit this site. A shame, as I've wanted to do this for ten years.

[@wondergirl367]

Thank you for memorializing this place on film for those of us who can't make it down there!

[@jennifergarrett3547]

Wow im so amazed to know that Richard Garrett is my ancestor I have done tons of research to find this out and I appreciate your video...

[@charlesgarrett7766]

What they did to him and our family and name was wrong

[@Pro-Deo]

@@charlesgarrett7766 I thought Booth got away before they even set the barn on fire- the guy they said was him wasn't just so they could make it look like 'closure' for the North.

[@megan737]

@@Pro-Deo booth refused to leave the barn that’s why union soldiers set it on fire. Booth was shot as he was walking out of the barn

[@josephgadaleto3211]

the pull off and the sign are NO LONGER there..thanks us gubmint

[@traviss6511]

its too bad that they could not save the house and use it as a museum

[@RoCasOK]

Excellent. Very interesting and explanatory document!!

[@interstategar]

I was back there about 5 years ago and where the pipe is shown was a stone carving plaque saying this was the sight of Booth's death. Somebody stole that and now you can even go back there legally.

[@Bob31415]

You can go back there legally?

[@interstategar]

Typo: can't go back there

[@Mr.56Goldtop]

Wouldn't this be considered a historical site? How could they destroy this?

[@Vaasmios]

To prevent people who agree with what booth did was right to use the site as a place of worship

[@joesmith701]

@@Vaasmios If you look it up it turns out that the Garrett Farm after Booths death declined (tho it's said it was declining before Booths death) and that after Richard Garrett that housed Booth died his sons/Family left shortly after and the house sat abandoned but owned by someone until the 1940's and by the 1930's the house had decayed from no one living in it that it was missing all it's window's and doors and the building was ready to collapse. In the 1940's the part of land that the Garrett Farm sat on was purchased by the US government for a Fort for WW2 and the house by the 1950's seemed to have been mostly gone.

[@onyx7273]

I know that bothers me

[@Mr.56Goldtop]

@@joesmith701 That's a shame. But the government could have stepped in and refurbished it.

[@joesmith701]

@@Mr.56Goldtop problem was it was owned privately until it was really no longer salvageable, basically they would've had to just rebuild a whole new building. Add to that at the time the US government took control of it they weren't worried about saving a possible historical place but instead worried about WW2.

[@onyx7273]

Crazy how much it has changed. It’s like so much time has passed and yet in the grand scheme of things not much time at all. Idk weird to think about.

[@andrewonrecord]

So if I wanted to go visit this site what's the best way to do it and get there?

[@GeorgeVreelandHill]

Very interesting. I will visit this site one day.

[@whatsthedealwithdanny3913]

Thanks for the video

[@RSLindsay]

Hey, Dave. Didn't the Sons of the Confederacy put a stone marker in that clearing where Booth died? Thanks for posting this, by the way. I'll be headed up U.S. 301, towards Port Royal, on a trip this winter. But I'm going there in December. So while I will almost certainly stop at the "John Wilkes Booth" historical marker on the road, I don't think I'll be heading into the woods, because it will be too wet and muddy. But now I know what it looks like.

[@joemilton7552]

There was a stone marker there still around 2012, I stopped again maybe 2015 and it was gone.

[@woof3598]

been researching the Wilkes trail for a couple weeks now, found a lot of new to me info, one thing I have not found is how the detective work was done to find the Suratt's were implicated

[@optimusgotslimed3175]

thanks for sharing this

[@richarddemuth7077]

I thought the farm was on Locust Hill.... which is actually ACROSS the roadway.

[@David-vx4mx]

It would have been interesting to see a reconstruction of what the place looked like, say an artist's impression, although of course, there are photographs.

[@MrThermostatic]

So you're saying the barn was down an embankment and in the area where the road is? That hardly resembles any reenactment on film of seen of the incident. I'm assuming it wasn't a wooded area back then?

[@hovanti]

No doubt the terrain has changed much, as a result of the highway construction.

[@nelsonnoname001]

trees grow fast, faster still when nobody is around, especially over 100 years

[@seerstone8982]

The video is important, because all markers have been removed. The intention is to erase the history of the location.

[@joshua7801]

Thank you for the info!

[@susanchavez4778]

My fathers father and his family were often approached by the federal government because it was their faimilies property and when Booth was found there, they burnt down the barn and then they took the farm from the family as they were suspected of helping Booth.

[@nelsonnoname001]

I pray that nobody desecrates this site, I'd imagine the'd put up a fence or bulldoze it nowadays

[@markchamberlain6554]

According to my research including historical 1900 and 1930 topographical maps, that MAY be near one of the barns, MAYBE. but the house is 100% definitely elsewhere and I can 100% prove it. The real site is much more undisturbed (the house is still gone but no interstate) and you'd need military credentials to get to it.

[@MrThermostatic]

How great would it have been if some guy had a souvenir stand set up there selling T shirts, hats, and magnets? 🤣

[@EasyE865]

You're an idiot

[@jude999]

Didn't Ft. AP Hill shut down access to this trail?

[@joemilton7552]

No sure how they would, it's just part of the median

[@trevorn9381]

@@joemilton7552 The Pentagon has put up a bunch of no parking signs along the road where it passes through Fort A.P. Hill which has recently been renamed. The sign marking the path to the site of the Garrett farmhouse is gone. The state historic marker detailing the "assassin's end" is still there. The Feds clearly do not want people visiting the site because they have put up a bunch of no-parking signs about 20' apart along the road in that vicinity. Last but not least there is a fairly strong evidence that the man shot in Garrett's barn was not Booth. Booth had apparently been tipped off that Federal troops were riding in from Bowling Green and fled Garrett's farm shortly before they arrived. Two Union soldiers who had known Booth before the war arrived at the farm shortly after his demise and saw the body and stated that the man was not Booth but were told in no uncertain terms by their superiors to "shut up". A doctor who had previously performed surgery on Booth and was asked to examine the body by the Army noted several striking differences in the dead man's appearance to that of Booth, but at the end (after apparently being ordered to fall in line with the official story) stated: "but I am confident that this man is Booth." As for Booth he apparently went out west where he ran a saloon and went by the name John St. Helen and died by suicide in Enid, Oklahoma Territory in 1903.

[@tberkoff]

Hi Dave, I remember there being a small stone marker to Booth on the site of the house, about ankle high. It appears it is gone now (and good). Do you know the story behind it?

[@nelsonnoname001]

Why good?

[@optimusgotslimed3175]

how on earth did they find him

[@nelsonnoname001]

It was the biggest man hunt in US history up until that time, thousands of cavalry combing the area

[@tomgreen8390]

thank-you i'm 22 and in my 11th grade history class i have to do a report on aberham Lincoln this help me so i can get an C on my test and pass the class

[@TonyRomearound]

Tom Green Before you do a report on Abraham Lincoln I think you should learn how to spell his first name

[@tomgreen8390]

I dont chew my cud twice, I spelling it right

[@TonyRomearound]

What kind of grade did you get in spelling? Because you spelled Abraham wrong

[@olskool3967]

Tom, you are a hillbilly, you will fail,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

[@Bob31415]

This is a joke, right?

[@interstategar]

Someone stole the stone marking at this site in the back of the path, and now the gov't has closed this, so its forbidden to walk back there and see the exact spot. One person ruined it for all of us. Luckily I went once and saw the stone marking before it was closed off. I think the stone marker I'm talking about was put in after this pipe was installed.

[@Pro-Deo]

People claim Booth got away before the barn was torched and before the soldiers even got there, the dead body they said was him wasn't. We may never know the truth.

[@MsZfactor]

Booths own family, including his mother, and his dentist all confirmed that the body was his.

[@71avalon36]

@Light and Sight In all do respect that doesn't really make sense. By that reasoning someone out of the kindness of their heart took booth's place? And if it was someone else I think he'd be pleading with the soldiers that they had the wrong man.

[@danocable]

Let the dead bury the dead…

[@smug8567]

Why don't we go out there with a metal detector and see if find some of the old ruins from the barn or house. Even square nails or burnt wood would be collectible.

[@propbraker]

Did you not read the sign? It's against federal law, facing possible 5 years in prison.

[@smug8567]

@@propbraker Oh

[@71avalon36]

@Rusty Shackleford I never understood the mentality of why federal and state governments have laws like this. They would rather the crap lay in the ground forever or until it decomposes. Never has made sense to me. smh

[@tinaectx]

Not ftilllo

[@tommroz5539]

Thank U Very Cool!