WASHINGTON -- The place where Abraham Lincoln spent almost a quarter of his presidency isn't elaborate. No spectacular gold decorations, no breathtaking architectural feats. Instead, Lincoln's Gothic Revival-style cottage was sparsely furnished, just the bare necessities, as his family lugged their belongings to and from the White House, 2 miles to the south, five months out of every year.

For decades, little was known about Lincoln's historic summer retreat, often referred to as Soldiers' Home and now officially called President Lincoln's Cottage at the Soldiers' Home. Some people remembered it better as a bar, the Lincoln Lounge and then as office space."What's interesting about Soldiers' Home is nobody knew about it," said Matthew Pinsker, who has researched Lincoln since the 1980s and wrote a book about the cottage. "Over time people began to forget about it."

But after an extensive restoration process, Soldiers' Home opened for the first time to the public Feb. 19. "Now we have a new Lincoln site that really helps us see what (he was) like. It's like discovering something brand new," Pinsker said.

The decision to return Soldiers' Home to its original state -- a retreat for four presidents -- was made after President Bill Clinton declared it a national monument site in 2000, sparking a $16 million restoration of the cottage, according to Frank Milligan, director of Soldiers' Home.

Now, its opening, almost eight years later, comes at a time of renewed interest in the nation's 16th president. Rapidly approaching is the sesquicentennial of the Civil War, and 2009 is the bicentennial of Lincoln's birth. Elsewhere in Washington, Ford's Theatre is completing a $40 million renovation that will turn the site where Lincoln was shot into a "campus" with an updated museum and lobby. Even Lincoln's mug on the $5 bill is getting a new look.

"The Lincoln revival just seems to be reviving," Milligan said.

And the Lincoln name certainly sells too. Each year, several million people visit the Lincoln Memorial, and about 500,000 more see the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield. "People are fascinated, in general, with leaders," said Rae Emerson, the site manager of Ford's Theatre. "People are just fascinated with people."

But Soldiers' Home won't have that same draw as other Lincoln tourist sites, Milligan said. "We made the conscious decision not to open to hordes and hordes of visitors," he said.

From Day One, the plan was to create a more intimate tour, almost "a good conversation" between a guide and a small group of 15 visitors, Milligan said. The tour also includes a stop in a visitor's center. If a year's worth of tours were filled to capacity, only about 75,000 people would visit.

Without giant tourist groups -- and the large revenues that could come with them -- the cottage will need additional financial support from private donors to maintain itself. "Admission revenue is limited here," Milligan said, adding that the cottage had a $1.5 million operating budget for 2007.

On the drive to Soldiers' Home, there are countless rows of white grave markers, the same signs of war that Lincoln saw as he traveled from the White House to escape the summer heat. (The home, with exposure to breezes on one of Washington's highest hills, can be 10 degrees cooler than the White House, according to Milligan.)

Only about 200 yards from Lincoln's summer home, men dug cemetery plots for the Civil War dead "at a pretty brisk pace," sometimes 30 to 40 gravesites a day, Milligan said. By the end of the bloody war, nearly 5,000 people were buried at the U.S. Soldiers' and Airmen's National Cemetery.

"There were accounts of Lincoln walking through that cemetery, at night and in the day, in a sense -- trying in his own way -- to come to grips that this was going on," Milligan said.

At Soldiers' Home, there were other reminders of war. From his window, Lincoln could see the towering marble dormitory that housed 110 veteran soldiers, some maimed, some without family. Most were immigrants who served in the War of 1812 or the Mexican War. Lincoln was "literally rubbing shoulders" with veterans, Milligan said.

Close to the Lincoln Cottage, about 100 yards away, a group of 150 still-active soldiers set up camp and lived in tents. Up to 30 calvarymen guarded Lincoln as he traveled 45 minutes back to the White House each day. The president wasn't thrilled by his entourage at Soldiers' Home.

"He delighted in getting ahead of them in the morning because he hated the whole show. Then, they'd show up at the cottage and he'd be gone," Milligan said. "For Lincoln, it became a bit of a game, but it really wasn't very funny because he was stalked out here various times by the Confederate cavalry."

At this point, Lincoln had already survived at least one attempt on his life, and death threats circulated widely. In 1864, John Wilkes Booth, the actor later turned assassin, attempted to kidnap Lincoln at the nearby Campbell Hospital, but the president unexpectedly never showed up.

While the Civil War continued, as did the fear for Lincoln's life, the president often found himself alone at Soldiers' Home. His wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, was like many Washingtonians. She took their son, Tad, and left for 6 to 10 weeks at a time. The first lady traveled to see her oldest son, Robert, at Harvard University, went to the seaside and shopped in Boston.

"The importance of that story isn't so much that she was away shopping," Milligan said. "It's the fact that the president was left alone in this building. That's not something that he really relished."

To fill their absence in his 34-room (some quite small) summer home, Lincoln invited staff, political opponents and his cabinet to spend evenings with him. The president bounced off new ideas and policies, like any good politician does, for feedback.

"Soldiers' Home gave him that setting -- people knew where this place was," Milligan said. "It gave him that contact with people he desperately needed."

"It's also the place where Lincoln was able to find some space that enabled him to restore a little bit of equilibrium in his life," Pinsker said. "Out of the glare of the White House, it became a useful option for him, just like Camp David today."

Many of his after-hours negotiations and dinner parties took place here in the large parlor, the biggest room in the cottage. The parlor looks cheery, painted a "Georgetown pink" that would've been the same shade of mauve when Lincoln lived there. Cream-colored drapes hang from the windows -- again, historians tried to match how it appeared during the mid-1860s. Through a window that overlooks the veranda, you can see an elegant-looking checkerboard, the game that Lincoln played with Tad or soldiers, Milligan said.

Just as it looked during Lincoln's time, the cottage is sparsely furnished. "It was very minimal," Milligan said. But don't get too caught up in the dark maroon sofa in the parlor or the round, white marble table -- Lincoln himself never used any of it. Most of the furniture is period pieces from the 1860s that didn't actually appear in the cottage.

By looking at historical artifacts, such as letters written by Lincoln's visitors, historians have tried to piece together how the cottage looked and match it up with similar furniture.

On the cottage's second floor is a $30,000 replica of the 16th president's walnut desk where he often wrote in private. The original desk now is in the Lincoln Bedroom of the White House. Undoubtedly, Lincoln used that desk as he worked on the Emancipation Proclamation -- the historic document that freed slaves within the rebellious states, Milligan said.

"He definitely wrote parts of it here, but most importantly he met with people and thought it through out here," he said. "For Lincoln, emancipation was a process."

The story of emancipation is something Milligan says he hopes visitors absorb during their tour. That's the reason why the second-floor rooms are painted a stark white, so the walls can project images and historic quotes to teach a lesson.

Each summer, Lincoln stayed at the cottage until the weather turned cold -- or at least until the domestics complained enough about the temperature. "He'd pack up all the furniture, all his books, and trudge them back to the White House in 10 to 14 wagons loads," Milligan said.

Lincoln's last visit to the cottage was in 1865, just two days before the president was assassinated.

"We want people to leave here with a clear understanding of the ideas and ideals that constitute the Lincoln legacy and have a better understanding of how that legacy is important to today's society," Milligan said. "He was a man who stood squarely and consistently for freedom of economic opportunity for all, regardless of race, religion, creed, ethnicity and gender. That's a principle that is still, in many ways, being sought after in this country."

President Lincoln's Cottage at the Soldiers' Home, the 16th president's summer home, is on Rock Creek Church Road at Upshur Street NW. It opened to the public Feb. 19.

Tours ($12, $5 for ages 6-12) will run on the hour, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Monday-Saturday, and noon-3 p.m. Sunday, through March 31; additional 4 p.m. tours daily from April 1 through Oct. 31. Closed on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day. Reservations are highly recommended.

The adjacent Visitor Education Center will feature historic exhibits related to Soldiers' Home, Lincoln and the Civil War. It will be open 9:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Monday-Saturday and 11:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Sunday, through March 31, then 9:30 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Saturday and 11:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Sunday from April 1 through Oct. 31.

Information: 202-829-0436; www.lincolncottage.org

Oak Hill Cemetery, 30th and R Streets NW, is where Willie Lincoln was laid to rest after his death at the White House in 1862. Lincoln often visited his son's tomb. (Willie's body was moved on Lincoln's funeral train to Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield in 1865.) Others buried here: Lincoln's secretary of war, Edwin Stanton, and John Nicolay, the president's secretary and biographer. Office and grounds open 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Monday-Friday; grounds open 1-4 p.m. Sunday (closed Saturdays and national holidays). 202-337-2835; www.oakhillcemeterydc.org

The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, has free tours that can be arranged through members of Congress. The Lincoln Bedroom is not part of the tour. 202-456-7041; www.whitehouse.gov/history/tours

The Petersen House, 516 10th St. NW, is more famously known as "The House Where Lincoln Died." Open 9 a.m.-5 p.m. daily (except Christmas); free. 202-426-6924; www.nps.gov/archive/foth/schedule.htm

Ford's Theatre, 511 10th St. NW, is closed for renovations. It should reopen in February 2009 when visitors can once again see the presidential booth where John Wilkes Booth shot Lincoln.

The National Archives, Constitution Avenue NW between 7th and 9th Streets, has the original copy of Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, the historic 1863 document that freed the slaves in the "rebellious states." Open daily (except Thanksgiving and Christmas) 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. (until 7 p.m. March 15-Labor Day). 202-357-5000; www.archives.gov/national-archives-experience/visit/visit.html

The Lincoln Memorial, on the Mall's west end, was built 1914-1917. Later it would become the site of Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech. Open 24 hours a day. 202-426-6841 (for interpretive cell tours: 202-747-3420); www.nps.gov/linc

Lincoln Park is on the eastern edge of Capitol Hill at the intersections of East Capitol Street SE with 11th and 13th Streets SE. This public square has a statue of Lincoln the Emancipator that former slaves commissioned. www.nps.gov/history/nr/travel/wash/dc87.htm