Apart from a few very notable items (famous portraits of Kennedy and Washington, carved wooden eagles as table legs) one could have been in any antebellum mansion. For being the world's most famous residence, further hyped by the throngs of people lined up to enter, it was a bit under whelming.
The exact opposite was the Supreme Court, which, although just East of the Capitol, seemed lonely and begged for visitors. A lecture in the actual Supreme Courtroom thoroughly explained the processes by which the nine most honorable people in the country select and hear cases. The most appreciated nugget of information: the East Pediment features a relief of Confucius, a much needed tribute to Eastern traditions in a building (or even culture) that is otherwise firmly Greco-Roman.
The most visible third of the conspiracy against the Federal government in 1865 was the assassination of Lincoln. The other two were the stabbing of Secretary of State Seward and the planned attack on Vice President Johnson. One has a mixture of emotions upon seeing the location of Lincoln's last consciousness at Ford's Theater, especially for such big Lincoln fans. Railsplitter, Lawyer, Congressman, President, Emancipator, Unifier, Martyr. Could the life of such a legend have ended any other way?
