Proposal to Restore Home of John Wilkes Booth Creates Stir

A sign on the road leading to a secluded Gothic Revival cottage points the way to the home of Junius Brutus Booth and his son Edwin, a renowned Shakespearean actor.

Tourists, however, are usually more interested in Edwin’s infamous brother.

Now, a preservation group has drawn up ambitious plans to restore the 163-year-old home of John Wilkes Booth, the presidential assassin.

Still, some prefer that the name of the man who killed Abraham Lincoln in Ford’s Theater in Washington be forgotten.

The local historical society, which originally put up the sign in 1931, didn’t think it proper to call attention to the assassin. It wanted to focus on the theatrical achievements of the Booth family.

“That’s the prejudice that existed then and sometimes exists today,” said David Reuwer, executive director of the nonprofit Preservation Assn. for Tudor Hall, during a recent tour of the 8 1/2-acre property in northeast Maryland.

Although it’s 120 years after the assassination, talk of making a major museum-inn of Tudor Hall--with additional guest rooms and a small Lincoln library--still stirs indignation among some Marylanders.

When the Maryland General Assembly was asked last winter to provide $80,000 for the restoration, one lawmaker said the money would be better spent burning it down.

He compared the restoration idea to building a museum for Lee Harvey Oswald, who assassinated John F. Kennedy.