We had a very pleasant visit to President Lincoln's Cottage and I highly recommend you visit! We booked a tour for "stories on the lawn" that was led by Cameron who told us all about the history of the cottage, Lincoln's time there and the use of the rest of the 41+ acres in the heart of Washington D.C. which currently houses The Soldiers and Sailors retirement home (for 400+ veterans) and a D.C. Charter School. She was very educational and helped bring the home to life (even though we couldn't visit inside - a bummer!) The cemetery tour was great. Thankfully, for us, it involved a little bit of walking, both on the grounds and outside the gates along a rather busy road in D.C. Our guide, Blake, was excellent in recounting lots of information, facts and figures, but even more, REAL and compelling stories of the people memorialized here. Again, worth a visit!

I wasn't sure what to expect when I visited in November 2022. From DC, I traveled via Metro and Bus to get here. I was surprised that the cottage is bare except for a few pieces. No photography is allowed inside the cottage which surprised me as that's generally a good way to get free advertisement on social media... It is beautiful space in the cottage and can imagine some of the activities during the Lincoln's time here. It's clearly used more as an event space than a place for tours. The campus where it is has great character. Take in the moments when visiting.

My tour guide provided me a fun and educational experience about the history of President Lincoln’s cottage as well as facts about Lincoln and his family’s time in the cottage. I left the tour knowing new facts about Lincoln I hadn’t previously known. Overall, it was a highly enjoyable experience.

Part of this may be my fault, part of it may not be my fault. In the end, we showed up not realizing we had to be part of the tour. We showed up, we were greeted by security and told they had a large school group coming in. To me, that meant nothing, so we hurried inside, went to the registration area, and we were told that we couldn't go inside of the Cottage because school tour was starting in 15-minutes. I asked about doing a self-guided tour, as I would have been out of there and I was told that was not offered, but I could look at a few of the rooms within the Visitor Center. Overall, the grounds are nice, I think communication is horrible. If you are going make sure you can actually be part of a tour before you waste the time going there.

Lots of information on Lincoln and his family. Also some information about the war.

I don't know why this place is rated so highly. I wouldn't be surprised if these guys use the $15 entry fee to pay for bots that leave positive reviews. The Lincoln cottage is on the same land as a veteran home, so they require you to have tickets pre-purchased online to gain entry. That needs to be stated clearly somewhere. The house is bare, and most of the rooms are empty. If you want to convince me that Lincoln's study is what you say, you could at least afford to put a desk and a few bookshelves in. next to none of the paint, flooring, or little furniture there is in the home is original. Most of the tour is standing in bare rooms listening to little audio snippets with poor voice acting. I know these guys don't have the government or national park service funding behind them, but neither does mount Vernon or Monticello, and their tours and houses are 1000x better and furnished to match the period. They spend little time discussing the Lincolns or what they did in the home and instead cover people's minor interactions with the Lincolns. As interesting as it was to know about a soldier being excited to finish President Lincoln's breakfast or a British citizen being so eager to meet Lincoln that he stalked him to his home late at night to meet him, that is not what I wanted to know. I was hoping this tour would give me more insight into what the Lincolns did there and more about President Lincoln writing the emancipation proclamation, and I was sorely disappointed. This place is way out of the way, so if you are visiting, skip it and stay in D.C. or do Mount Vernon instead. If you are from here, It is still out of the way, so I would forget it.

I had not heard of this place before planning our trip to DC. Open to the public since 2008, this home was Lincoln's version of Camp David. He spent over 1/4 of his presidency residing here with his family and commuting daily to the White House. This was where he drafted The Emancipation Proclamation. Noted as a place for ideas and thought, the interior is mostly unfurnished, but the presentations in the Educational Center were sobering and thought provoking. Well worth the time. Located on the Armed Forces Retirement Home property, photo ID is required in addition to a purchased ticket to gain admission. Your visit is restricted to the immediate area of the cottage and the education center. We traveled by metro and could have taken a bus to reach the property. We chose to make the 20 minute walk. It is a gradually climbing walk and sidewalks are a bit rough in places. Bus did run frequently. Also, The Pantry just off Georgia Avenue/Petworth metro station served a yummy Thai meal.

Sara was fantastic host. I had a pleasant visit. She was informative and knowledgeable. Thank you young lady for making my visit memorable and enjoyable. Go Razorbacks ! So happy I stopped .

President Lincoln’s Cottage is a beautiful historic site, a must see! You can feel the soul of Lincoln in this home, its like going back in time and walking in the very private place where Mr.Lincoln often spend some of his most wonderful and difficult times in his life. Beautiful place!

Guided tour through the mansion is slightly disappointing: half of the tour shares stories from Lincoln's stay in the cottage, but the other half was mostly to interact and ask opinions. It would have been interesting to learn more about actual period informational (was of living for instance). Tour on Sunday morning didn't sell out: can buy on site. Worth arriving at least 30 minutes before tour to read through the galleries. No cafe/bistro on site (a pod cafe machine available only, no sitting area) Large parking lot, free, and kids playground onsite.

The building is lovely, but I was a little disappointed because the inside is basically empty. I was looking forward to seeing reproductions of the mobiliary from Lincoln's Time (furniture, books, art, etc...)

A surprise favorite stop during our week in DC. Very interesting history of some of the small moments like Lincoln’s commute from here to the Whitehouse, as well as big moments like the writing of the emancipation proclamation.

We just finished our tour and it was fantastic! Josie was an amazing tour guide. The tour lasts one hour. The cottage is beautiful and Josie provided many historical facts that we had never heard before. Her historical knowledge was extremely impressive. Do not hesitate to do this.

One of many hidden treasures in DC!!! Do yourself a favor and experience President Lincoln's Cottage; the grounds are amazing AND the additional services offered on the campus (school/Soldier's Home) is 🤯🤯🤯

This was an excellent experience. In the midst of our bustling city to explore such a tranquil, historic, and help centered environment was dynamic. Our tour guide, Paul, was extraordinary. My father and I had a wonderful time.

i’ve photographed a few weddings here over the years and always absolutely love it! it’s a very unique wedding venue, and a very professional team. can’t wait to return! @iamthesam

Though the cottage is a little out of the way, the tour guide was informative. The house itself doesn’t have much in terms of decoration but that wasn’t too big of a deal. There are elevators available to get to various levels. However, we did have an issue where the elevator got stuck and a couple people missed out on the end of the tour. They were refunded but it would have been good for the tour guide to have waited on those who needed extra time getting up stairs before starting her upstairs tour and she may have been able to get them help sooner. Other than that, I would recommend visiting. It’s a little out of the way but make sure you have a tour booked in advance and give yourself some time extra time to get there.

A small park with a playground, there is a paid tour with a guide. The entrance is free. There is parking on site.

The cottage is almost completely empty—the tour guides are great, and you do get a decent history lesson if you aren’t familiar with president Lincoln. But there are no old chairs, photographs, lamps, light fixtures.. nothing. They are pretty kid friendly there though since there’s nothing for kids to break

Absolute must see! Our tour guide was extremely profound and the tour was very comprehensive. House is very well upkept. Congrats to the people responsible for restoration and preservation, they did an absolutely tremendous job while preserving essential elements of the house.

This is a worthy DC adventure. The cottage gives you pause to reflect and the tour guide was very informative. The additional museum exhibits at the visitor center were also worth spending time on. It is not a long stop, so if you only have a small window of time to visit, this historic sight is a good one to consider.

Very good guide gave our tour... knowledgeable and open to questions. The place provides an important piece to understanding Lincoln and America's past. So grateful the cottage and the property have been preserved for all of us to experience!

Love photographing weddings here! the staff is amazing, the grounds are really awesome to photograph, and there is so much history to consume when you're here. Hands down an awesome wedding venue!

My fiancé and I had a really great time here today! If you’re looking for a quick stop, this is it. The tour lasted about an hour and was very informative. Our tour guide was excellent. It’s a shame how little recognition this place seems to get, and how much of its history and buildings have been lost due to lack of interest. While not a fully furnished house, the fact that it’s still standing and able to be used for education is a testament to the people who work here. We’d recommend it!

We took the guided tour, and our tour guide, Jacob, did an incredible job of capturing some of Lincoln's mindset and emotions that have been uncovered by historians. He provided a ton of context that a simple walk-through wouldn't have provided. Highly recommend the tour. Jacob was very knowledgeable and extra patient answering all the random questions my kids brought up afterwards, too. They also offer a self-paced audio tour which walks around the grounds of the Armed Forces Retirement Home. Two things to consider: the cottage is on the grounds of the Armed Forces Retirement Home, so you have to go through a gate to get in. Talk to the guard at the guard post. Also, the cottage falls under Department of Defense rules, which means no photography allowed inside the cottage itself.

This cottage and the surrounding grounds were Lincoln's refuge and escape from the tremendous pressures of the war years. I have a much greater appreciation for him as a man and as a president following my visit. There are very informative displays inside the building where you go for tours. The cottage is apparently only 3 miles from the White House, but seems like it's in another world. Highly recommend if you are interested in Lincoln and his spot in the history of our country.

This is an awesome place. Loaded with history. The guides are outstanding. You feel like you are walking in Lincoln's steps. The museum is informative but manageable and super interesting. A must see if you are in the DC area.

Went to a wedding here and it was just lovely. Their staff that served everyone were excellent and really sweet! This is where President Lincoln wrote the Emancipation Proclamation so its serious history. The docent that was inside gave us a private tour and was so knowledgable. I highly recommend coming here and taking a tour!

An avid Lincoln fan, I had never heard of this place and wasn’t sure what to expect. It was great! Tour guide Josie was exceptional. We learned so much. The hour flew by! If you are interested in Lincoln or American history, don’t miss this place!

As was mentioned by some other reviewers, to enter the cottage itself you must be on a guided tour. The security guard let us through the gates and we were able to read information in the visitor center and have a quick walk around the grounds. If a guided tour is your thing, book in advance, but I don't recommend just showing up at the site as we felt a little awkward and uncertain about being there and whether we were "allowed". That said, it is an interesting place and neat to see.

My spouse and I thoroughly enjoyed the guided tour of Lincoln's cottage this past Saturday afternoon. Our tour guide Wesley was phenomenal. He was kind and very knowledgeable! As luck would have it, we had about 45 minutes before our tour began, so we took the time to read the information contained in the visitor's center. Not required, but I felt by having a chance to prior to the tour of Lincoln's Cottage to go through the visitor center's exhibits, helped me have a better context and importance of Lincoln's Cottage to history. The guided tour admission was about $15 per person; we received a small military discount. We purchased our tickets in the visitor center shop. *There is a gatekeeper to the entrance to the grounds of the 'Soldier's Home' and Lincoln's Cottage. Just show them your ID and they will record your license plate info.

While I believe you can just visit the grounds, to get the most out of it you should take the tour. Most unusual for a house museum is there are very few 3d objects to represent a particular period. The tour uses the rooms in the house to reveal different points of Lincoln's presidency. If you are interested in Lincoln you will enjoy it.

My first visit to the Cottage was for a comedy show, so I didn't get to see much. I then returned for the tour. What a beautiful property!! Who knew that this existed? Please take the time to learn about this piece of history.