Nichole
- Apr 23

Family Adventures at Ford's Theater and the Library of Congress

Discover the best family adventures in Washington DC with a visit to Ford's Theater and the Library of Congress! Join our adventure-loving crew as we conquer Washington DC!

Lincoln is Spider Monkey’s favorite president, so visiting Ford's Theater was another top destination for our Washington DC adventure.

What is Ford's Theater?

Ford's Theater is the location where President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. On April 14, 1865, Lincoln and his wife were visiting the theater to see the comedy Our American Cousin, when John Wilkes Booth shot Lincoln. The theater was closed for more than 100 years before being reopened in 1968 as a historic site and live performance theater. Today it is operated through a public-private relationship with the National Park Service.

How to Plan a Visit to Ford's Theater

To visit Ford's Theater, you need a timed-entry. Tickets are available every half hour from 9:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m. Monday – Sunday, and are booked online through the theater. Not all exhibits are included in each ticket. When you click on a calendar date, a variety of different site visit options are displayed.

Blue box that says "Museum" - This includes entry into the museum, but does not include the audio guide (this is added separately).
Orange box that says "Theatre: Ranger Talk" - This includes the visit to the theater while a Park Ranger provides a narrated journey of the events leading to Lincoln's assassination.
Orange box that says "Theatre Walkthrough" - This includes a visit to the theater, but no Ranger talk.
Green box that says "Petersen House" - This includes a visit across the street to the location where Lincoln passed.
Other options sometimes available include a short performance, after hours tours, and the Aftermath Exhibits

Our tour includes the Museum, Ranger Talk, Petersen House and Aftermath Exhibits. We enjoyed each part and highly recommend them!

Location: 511 Tenth Street, NW, Washington, D.C. 20004

Getting There: Ford's Theater was not far from our hotel, so we walked. The closest metro stations are the Metro Center and Gallery Place/Chinatown metro stations.

Cost: $3.50 "convenience fee" for each ticket and $5 for each audio guide.

No food / drinks, weapons, oversized bags / luggage, pets, etc. (a complete list is available on the theater website).

Our Family Adventure at the Ford's Theater

We started our second day in DC by tracing the steps of the Lincoln assassination. We had an early booking at Ford’s Theater. We arrived early for the tour and lined up on the street. I exchanged our online tickets for paper tickets in the box office and checked out our audio guides. The girls had been working on the Junior Ranger materials, so they were ready to dive into the museum as soon as the museum opened. Much to my surprise, they both loved listening to the audio guide (kid version) that details tales from the civil war to the plot to assassinate Lincoln. They even saw the gun used to shoot the fatal bullet.

We could have probably spent another hour in the museum, but we were ushered upstairs for the ranger talk. This was not Spider Monkey’s favorite part (it involved too much sitting and listening), but his storytelling was fantastic! He gave a play-by-play account of plot and events that unfolded.

After the ranger talk at Ford’s Theater, we moved across the street to the boarding house where Lincoln was taken after he was shot and where he eventually died. The girls talked with the ranger and earned the Junior Ranger badge before viewing the various rooms. The boarding house opens into another museum area the details the aftermath of the assassination.

What is the Library of Congress?

Put simply, the Library of Congress is the largest library in the world! It was founded in 1800, making it the oldest federal cultural institution in the nation. The Library is comprised of 3 buildings - the Thomas Jefferson Building (the big main building), the John Adams Building (used primarily for research) and the James Madison Memorial Building (used primarily for research). The Library serves as the research arm of Congress and is open for anyone 16 years or older to use.

Some of the big highlights of a Library of Congress visit include:

The Great Hall of the Thomas Jefferson Building, which includes marble columns, staircases, mosaics and paintings.
The Gutenberg Bible, which is believed the Bible was completed in 1455 by Johann Gutenberg in Germany.
Thomas Jefferson's handwritten draft of the Declaration of Independence
The Emancipation Proclamation
Thomas Jefferson's personal collection of 6,400 books that founded the Library of Congress.
The Reading Room - either by viewing from the overlook or by registering for a Reading Room card and exploring.

How to Plan a Visit to the Library of Congress

Cost: All the Library of Congress’ buildings can be entered free of charge

Timed Entry Tickets: Available online up to 30 days in advance.

Hours: The Thomas Jefferson Building is open from Tuesday – Saturday, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Location: 10 First Street, SE, Washington, DC 20540

Entrance: Timed-entry passes will be scanned underneath the grand staircase at the visitor entrance on First Street SE between Independence Ave and East Capitol Street.

Getting There: The closest Metro stop is Capitol South station on the Orange, Blue and Silver lines

Reading Rooms: There are many reading rooms throughout the Library of Congress, but tourists can only see the Main Reading Room from the overlooks during specified viewing times. You can however, register for a Reading Room card in person or by pre-registering online.

Our Family Adventure at the the Library of Congress

From the Supreme Court building, we hopped next door for our timed-entry pass to the Library of Congress … and wow!!! It is so beautiful!!! The girls completed a scavenger hunt while we soaked in everything! I had heard the building was beautiful, but there are so many amazing details throughout the Great Hall.

We after exploring the Great Hall, we made our way to a corridor off of the Great Hall to see the Gutenberg Bible. We learned that the Bible is stored in a special case maintains a consistent temperature of 50 degrees Fahrenheit with stable humidity.

Then we explored Jefferson’s library. Jefferson's personal collection of 6,400 books are the foundation of the Library after the British burned the Capitol and Library of Congress during the War of 1812.

We opted to register for a Reading Room card to view the Main Reading Room. After pre-registering online, We followed the big orange arrows to the back room where we were photographed and issued our special Library of Congress Reading Room cards. From there, we were free to explore all the Reading Rooms and the Kids Reading Room.

The Library of Congress made Buttercup’s top list of places we visited (she is already asking to go back).

The Family Verdict

There was so much to explore in the Library of Congress, and the girls loved the Kids Reading Room! Ford's Theater was also a big hit. Spider Monkey got antsy during the Ranger Talk, but everyone else was very engaged. While both were amazing experiences, the unexpected winner of the day was the Library of Congress! I am still in awe of its beauty. Registering for a Reading Room card definitely added to the experience!