New D.C. Walking Tour Traces Lincoln's Final Hours

June 20, 2008 — -- For all of you American history lovers and aspiring detectives out there: A new tour of President Abraham Lincoln's assassination site in Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C., may be your cup of tea.

With a 1.4-mile walking tour between the theater, which is currently undergoing a $40-$50 million renovation, and the White House, tourists get a taste of the story behind Lincoln's murder. On the night of April 14, 1865, John Wilkes Booth shot the president in the theater as he sat watching a performance. Lincoln struggled through the night but died the next morning in a nearby boarding house bedroom.

The tours, led by actor Kip Pierson, will begin today and continue through August. A guided trip costs $12 a person, or $10 each for groups of 20 or more. More information can be found at http://www.fordstheatre.org/.

"While giving the tours, I'm going to wear a period costume," Pierson said. "The actual character I am introduced as is Detective James McDevitt, who was there during the investigation after Lincoln's assassination. On the tour, we visit all of the spots that were pertinent on that evening of conspiracy."

McDevitt investigated the assassination with the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington D.C.

In addition to playing the role of detective, Pierson will act out the parts of eight or nine other characters who were on the scene on the night of the assassination and in the days following.

"It's interactive," said Pierson. "While there, the audience gets official documents from the investigators and from the witnesses. And we go to each spot and we ask them for it. So I take on the role of those characters as well. The most gruesome character is Fanny Seward, who described the attack on her dad [Secretary of State William Seward]. It's almost like a horror novel. It's interesting to speak first-hand testimonies."

By playing the roles of multiple characters, Pierson hopes to give the audience a sense of the historical figures and what they saw.

To prepare for his guiding duties, Pierson had to learn a script. Time was short: He had only a stress-filled week and a half to memorize 40 pages of dialogue.