The original structure was built as a middle-class plantation house in 1852. Mary Jenkins met John Harrison Surratt in 1839, when she was 16 or 19 years of age (the date of her birth is not clear) and he was 26. An orphan, John Surratt was adopted by Richard and Sarah Neale of Washington, D.C., a wealthy couple who owned a farm. Jenkins and Surratt wed in August 1840. The Surratts lived at a mill in
Oxon Hill, Maryland, Within a year, John Surratt purchased of farmland near what is now Clinton, and by 1853 he constructed a tavern and an inn there. Mary initially refused to move herself and the children into the new residence (possibly because of her husband's drinking). She took up residence at the farm again, but John sold both the Neale farm and Foxhall in May 1853 to pay debts and she was forced to move back in with him in December. The area round the tavern was officially named Surrattsville in 1853. Within a short period of time, a
post office was installed inside the tavern. John Surratt was the hamlet's first postmaster. In 1854, John built a hotel as an addition to his tavern, and called it Surratt's Hotel. Over the next few years, Surratt acquired or built a
carriage house,
corn crib,
general store, forge,
granary,
gristmill,
stable,
tobacco curing house, and
wheelwright's shop.
House's role in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln John Surratt collapsed suddenly and died on either August 25 or August 26 in 1862 (sources differ as to the date). The cause of death was a
stroke. Mary Surratt struggled with running the farm, tavern, and other businesses without the help of her son,
John Surratt Jr. In the fall of 1864, she began considering moving to her townhouse at 541 H Street in Washington, D.C. On October 1, 1864, Mary Surratt took possession of the D.C. townhouse. As part of a plot to kidnap President
Abraham Lincoln in March 1865, John Surratt Jr.; his friend,
George Atzerodt; and co-conspirator
David Herold hid two
Spencer carbines, ammunition, and some other supplies at the Surratt tavern in Surrattsville. On April 11, Mary Surratt rented a carriage and drove to her Maryland tavern. She said she made the trip to collect a debt owed her by a former neighbor. On April 14, Mary Surratt said she would once again visit the family tavern in Surrattsville to collect a debt. Shortly before she left the city,
John Wilkes Booth visited the Surratt townhouse and spoke privately with her. He gave her a package (later found to contain
binoculars) to give to Lloyd for pick-up later that evening. Booth and Herold stopped at the Surratt house briefly, picking up the rifles and binoculars, on their flight out of the District of Columbia after assassinating Lincoln. Surratt was sentenced to death on June 30, 1865, for being a co-conspirator in the plot to assassinate Abraham Lincoln. She was hanged on July 7, 1865, at about 1:31 P.M. ==About the house==