Free Visit to Mary Todd Lincoln House

Have any of you participated in the free museum day today? Bradley and I did! There were several participating museums within driving distance, but we chose the Mary Todd Lincoln House in Lexington.

We weren’t allowed to take pictures inside, but I found this great video that gives you a good idea of what we saw:

We got to hear all about Mrs. Lincoln and the house she grew up in. Unfortunately, there were not a lot of items in the house that belonged to the Todds/Lincolns because they were all sold at an auction after Mr. Todd passed away. (How sad!) But there are a few family items, and the rest of the furniture is from the time period. It is a very elegant house, and I certainly wouldn’t mind living there!

The house was originally built as an Inn, but Mr. Todd bought it from the bank after the original owner couldn’t afford it anymore. He turned the ballroom upstairs into bedrooms–including a cute little nursery for the little ones. We learned that the little kiddos had to sleep sideways in the bed so they could fit all of the kids in one bed. If you watched the video above, you know that’s a lot of kiddos!

I knew I would like Mrs. Lincoln when they told us at the beginning that she bought this Chocolate Pot from Tiffany & Co. because her favorite drink was hot chocolate. I could drink hot chocolate every day of the year! And I want the good stuff. Not those sugar-free packets that are all thin and watery. Give me some CHOCOLATE, y’all.

One of my favorite parts of the tour was seeing the picture of how the house looked before it was restored. Picture someone’s unfinished basement with water damage in complete disrepair, and that’s about what the house looked like. They really did an amazing job restoring it and were able to keep it fairly authentic since they had a list of what was sold at the auction. Apparently, this was the first place anyone restored to honor a First Lady.

At the end, everyone was commenting on how well-behaved Bradley was, and I said, “Yeah, I figured you all cringed when I walked through the door with a two-year-old.” They had no comment! 😉 But he did great, and they said he obviously loves his Mama, because he was giving me lots of kisses and hugs during the tour. 🙂

They have a great gift shop in the Warming Room at the end of the tour that seems very fairly priced. Bradley and I bought this book about Abraham Lincoln.

I LOVE books, movies, etc., based on true stories, and the staff at the Mary Todd Lincoln House packed in a lot of great info. So go see it! Parking is free, and it’s right behind the building. Tickets are free for children under 6, $4 for children 6-12, and $9 for adults. School tours, including homeschoolers, get in for $3/student and $5/chaperone. Or you can go for free on a free museum day! Just remember to print out your admission card before you go. I saw some people at the door who had to pay because they didn’t know you had to print out the card.