By George Wellman
Just when we think we have seen or read everything about President Lincoln during his bicentennial birth year, another discovery is made. This time it’s President Lincoln’s likeness on a tree trunk near President Lincoln’s Cottage at the Soldiers’ Home. The tree is located south of the Cottage in an area of the Armed Forces Retirement Home-Washington (AFRH-W, formerly known as the Soldiers’ Home) campus not accessible to Cottage visitors or the general public. Because the tree is not in the area open to Cottage visitors, I am sharing this discovery here so that visitors and other interested people can enjoy Lincolns’ likeness in a tree. According to several residents at AFRH-W, the tree was noticed during the spring of 2009; however, it was not public knowledge.
While the tree is in an area not open to the public, there are several sites of interest near President Lincoln’s Cottage that are accessible to the public. Two nearby sites are historic cemeteries. There’s The Soldiers’ and Airmen’s National Cemetery located on Harewood Road. This cemetery is the predecessor of Arlington National Cemetery and is the burial site of General John A. Logan, the originator of Memorial Day as we know it today. The other cemetery you may see after your visit to the Cottage is the Rock Creek Church Cemetery, the oldest cemetery in Washington, DC. President Lincoln’s personal physician, Dr. Robert King Stone, is buried at the Rock Creek Church Cemetery. These sites are located on an historic hilltop just three miles from downtown Washington, DC, near President Lincoln’s Cottage at the Soldiers’ Home.
I have the unique pleasure to call this place my home; I’m an Army veteran at the Soldiers’ Home.
I like to see a man proud of the place in which he lives.
I like to see a man live so that his place will be proud of him.
– Abraham Lincoln
Mr. Wellman is a Volunteer at President Lincoln’s Cottage.
Categories:Archive, Visitor Tips
Tags:Abraham Lincoln, Armed Forces Retirement Home, D.C., Lincoln's Likeness, National Cemetery, President Lincoln's Cottage, Rock Creek Church Cemetery, Soldiers' Home, Veterans, Washington
