Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln visited Albany twice. His first visit was a stop on the train ride to his inauguration in 1861. His second "visit" came after his death when his body laid in state in the Assembly chamber. There's no indication our 16th president ever said: "Go to Albany again? Over my dead body!"

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Legend has it that Lincoln's Ghost Train retraces the route each year. I'll be blogging about this in April, but here's a preview:

http://www.americanfolklore.net/folktales/ny11.html

http://home.att.net/~rjnorton/Lincoln72.html

In 1860 (John Wilkes) Booth's career as an actor took off. Soon he was earning $20,000 a year. He invested some money in the oil business. He was hailed as the "youngest tragedian in the world." He was playing the role of Duke Pescara in The Apostate at the Gayety Theater in Albany, New York, as President-elect Abraham Lincoln passed through on his way to Washington. Over the next several years he starred in Romeo and Juliet, The Apostate, The Marble Heart, The Merchant of Venice, Julius Caesar, Othello, The Taming of the Shrew, Hamlet, and Macbeth among others.

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