Murrells Inlet’s Goldfinch Funeral Home honored President Abraham Lincoln’s 210th birthday on Tuesday, in a way no other South Carolina funeral home has.
Employees at the funeral home dressed in Civil War period clothing and reenacted President Lincoln’s assassination. The house was packed with over 200 guests, much like Ford’s Theatre was the night Lincoln was murdered.
The mock funeral celebrated Lincoln’s life, and also explained the 20 day funeral across the country that the President had, which was the first funeral of its kind.
Funeral Director Josh Campbell says he hopes the community learned things that they may not have known, like the kidnap attempt before Lincoln was assassinated.
“I think everyone is very familiar with the facts that Lincoln was murdered while watching a play at Ford’s Theatre, but not everyone knows about the story of the attempted kidnapping before the assassination and not everyone knows the story of his grand funeral,” said Campbell.
The program is the first of its kind in the state and brought history buffs like Charles Sacavage, a self-proclaimed John Wilkes Booth history buff, to the funeral home to share knowledge.
“This is what killed Abraham Lincoln. This worthless piece of metal with no value. You couldn’t even put a value [on it]. Not even a penny, it was worth at the time,” said Sacavage.
The mock funeral featured a replica of Lincoln’s casket, crafted by Batesville Casket Company. The casket will be retired to a museum in May, which is why Campbell says the funeral home wanted to go ahead and have the program on Lincoln’s birthday instead of his death date.
“We thought that this would be the perfect time to do it on Lincoln’s birthday,” said Campbell.
Campbell says the funeral home plans to have more reenactments like this one in the near future.
