By CATHY DYSON

If John Stanton hadn't read the fine print, no one might have known that a piece of King George County history was headed for auction.

Stanton, who is 86 and lives in King George, saw an address in a classified ad about a foreclosure sale. He knew that the property, listed simply as 7144 Peppermill Road, King George, is recognized worldwide by scholars of the Lincoln assassination.

It's the address for Cleydael, a manor house where John Wilkes Booth sought medical help as he escaped Washington after shooting President Abraham Lincoln.

The home was built in 1859 as a summer place for wealthy landowner Dr. Richard Stuart and his family. When Booth came calling on April 23, 1865--nine days after Lincoln was shot at Ford's Theatre--Stuart was suspicious.

The doctor refused to help Booth, who suffered a broken leg in his escape from the theater. The next morning Booth went to Port Conway and tried to cross the Rappahannock River, but was captured and killed by Federal forces.

Since then, historians have "recognized the importance of Cleydael because of its ties to the escape" of Booth, said Laurie Verge, director of the Surratt House Museum in Clinton, Md.

More than 75,000 people have taken bus tours through King George and Caroline counties since 1975 as they retraced the steps of the assassin and his accomplices.

"A stop at Cleydael has been one of the highlights of the tour, and we have watched the house go from a downtrodden rental to a restored and charming private home, which has fallen on hard times recently," Verge said in an email.

Now Verge, Stanton and others interested in historic preservation are nervous about what's next for Cleydael.

Its most recent owner, Kathryn Coombs, died in January without leaving a will. She was a noted re-enactor who made her own costumes for events and historical films, Verge said.

Coombs regularly led bus groups on tours of the home. If she was away during a scheduled tour, she left a key with a neighbor, with instructions to let the tour groups inside, Verge recalled.