Follow Booth's Trail

WHERE: Former site of Garrett's Farm, near Port Royal, Va.

WHY: Tracking the escape route of assassin John Wilkes Booth

HOW FAR: About 90 miles, or 2 1/2 hours from Ford's Theatre in the District.

This week marks the 140th anniversary of one of the nation's first great manhunts -- the frantic search for John Wilkes Booth. The assassin shot Abraham Lincoln as the president watched a play at Ford's Theatre on April 14, 1865. Booth, 26 -- a celebrated actor who knew Ford's well -- leaped from the box to the stage, shouted his infamous line, "Sic semper tyrannis!" ("Thus always to tyrants!"), and began his mad 12-day dash out of the city, through Maryland and into Virginia.

The point of tracing the route is not to glorify Booth, of course. It's to marvel at how many landmarks of that searing tragedy survive to this day -- and to enjoy some of the surprising sights and tastes of the countryside along the way.

Begin at the beginning: Ford's Theatre. Look at the presidential box and hear about that night from a National Park Service ranger: Booth pulled the trigger during the laughs for a punch line in Act III, Scene 2 of "Our American Cousin." Then follow his getaway: Booth swung into the saddle of his horse in the alley behind Ford's and headed east on F Street NW. Nearby is the former boarding house of Mary Surratt where the conspirators had plotted -- now it's a Chinese-Japanese restaurant called Wok 'n Roll.

Much of the scenery along the escape route has changed, naturally: The giant chair in Anacostia that marks where the Curtis Bros. furniture store once was certainly was not there. Outside the city, old country roads have been straightened, widened and paved. But in Clinton, the Surratt House and Tavern -- where Booth stopped for supplies -- looks about as it did that night (though now it's across from a gas station, not a livery stable). Today, you can provision at the Ice Cream Factory & Cafe in Brandywine with old-fashioned frozen custard that comes in 24-plus flavors. Then meander along increasingly rural byways to the home of Dr. Samuel Mudd in Waldorf, where Booth sought treatment for his leg, which was presumably broken in his leap to the stage.

Booth rowed across the Potomac River, but modern trackers are lucky to have the Harry Nice Bridge. After passing through historic Port Royal, you reach the wooded site of Garrett's Farm, which no longer exists. (Historic markers by the side of northbound Route 301 show the exact spot of the farm; driving southbound you'll see a marker as you leave Port Royal, about 2.2 miles from the farm site.) When the assassin refused to come out of a tobacco shed, Union soldiers set it on fire and fatally shot him. As he lay dying, the actor muttered his last line: "Useless. Useless." David Montgomery

Maryland offers a free map of the route and related information, called "John Wilkes Booth: Escape of an Assassin." Call 888-248-4597. The National Park Service has information at www.nps.gov/foth/escapjwb.htm .

Road Trip maps are available online at www.washingtonpost.com/roadtrip, as are addresses and hours of operation (be sure to check before you go). Have an idea for a trip? E-mail roadtrip@washpost.com.