It was acquired by the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission (M-NCPPC) in 1965, restored, and opened to the public as a museum in 1976.

Mary Jenkins met John Harrison Surratt in 1839, when she was 16 or 19 years of age (the date of her birth is not clear) and he was 26.

[2][3][4] An orphan, John Surratt was adopted by Richard and Sarah Neale of Washington, D.C., a wealthy couple who owned a farm.

[3][4][6] The Surratts lived at a mill in Oxon Hill, Maryland,[4] and later at John's childhood home on a farm in the District of Columbia,[4] In 1851, the farmhouse burned to the ground (an escaped family slave was suspected of setting the blaze).

[7] Within a year, John Surratt purchased 200 acres (81 ha) of farmland near what is now Clinton, and by 1853 he constructed a tavern and an inn there.

[31][36] Shortly before she left the city, John Wilkes Booth visited the Surratt townhouse and spoke privately with her.

[31][32][37][39][40] Booth and Herold stopped at the Surratt house briefly, picking up the rifles and binoculars, on their flight out of the District of Columbia after assassinating Lincoln.

[48] Between 1865 and 1965, previous owners had extended the north porch so that it wrapped completely around the western facade of the house.

[50] On February 24, 1965, the Surratt House was donated to the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission (M-NCPPC) by B. K. Miller, a longtime Clinton merchant, and his son, Thomas V.

In 1968, the M-NCPPC paid roughly $76,000 to purchase a 1 acre (0.40 ha) plot of land beneath the house.

The following year, the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development provided the M-NCPPC a $38,115 grant to help pay for the land purchase.

[59] A modern private home next to the Surratt House was acquired by the M-NCPCC, and serves as a gift shop, research center, and offices.