Perhaps most famous as the site of national tragedy, today’s Ford’s Theatre stands as not only a historical landmark but as an active venue for performance. Closed for renovations throughout much of the 2000′s, its most recent re-opening, on February 12, 2009, marked the 200^th anniversary of President Abraham Lincoln‘s birth, whose last fateful night was spent attending the production of Our American Cousin. From his seat in the Presidential Box, Lincoln spent his last conscious moments looking out over the stage, before disgruntled South supporter and actor John Wilkes Booth famously shot the president before leaping from the balcony and hurrying across stage.Lincoln was then carried across the street to the Pederson House, a local boarding quarters, where he received medical attention before his passing in the early hours of the next morning. Today, the Pederson House has been preserved to mirror its appearance on the night of Lincoln’s death, a popular tourist destination for those who wish to pay homage to the man recognized as one of the greatest presidents to ever hold office.After Lincoln’s death, the theatre was used primarily by military personnel, with a desire to end the site’s purpose for “public amusement,” considering the dire events having occurred on its grounds. After a partial collapse of the structure in 1893, killing 22 individuals and injuring dozens more.Following the incident, a rumor emerged the facility was cursed, functioning as little more than a warehouse until the mid-60′s when Congress decided the site be refurbished and reopened, too significant to sit unused.Re-opening for the first time as a theatre on January 30, 1968, even high ranking government figures, including Vice President Hubert Humphrey and the wife of President Lyndon B. Johnson braved the ghosts of Ford’s Theatre’s past.Seating a capacity of 661 in its audience, visitors can not only take in a show, but may also spend their time touring both the theatre itself and the Pederson House. Tours are offered even on days with no performance schedule, a true must see stop on the D.C. tourist map.