Eight days before the murder of President Abraham Lincoln, his assassin—John Wilkes Booth—stayed at the Parker House (April 5-6, 1865). Booth was in town visiting his older brother Edwin Booth. The elder Booth, an actor, was in the midst of a three-week engagement at the Boston Theater. Unlike his brother, Edwin supported the Union cause in the Civil War and even voted for Lincoln. He later wrote in a letter, “When I told him [John] I had voted for Lincoln’s re-election he expressed deep regret, and declared his belief that Lincoln would be made king of America”.
During his stay at the Parker House, John ominously frequented Rowland Edwards’ Pistol Gallery on nearby Green Street. But this was not Booth’s only time at the Parker House. In fact, the hotel had served as a meeting place for Booth and Confederate Secret Service agents back in July of 1864. On that occasion it is said that Booth first put forward his plot to kill the president.
And to further cement Booth’s connection to Boston, he was eventually tracked down and killed in Caroline County, Virginia by British-born Boston resident Thomas “Boston” Corbett. So, if you ever happen to pass by the stately Parker House on Park Street in Boston, you’ll know some of the rich history that has taken place behind its walls.