Monday, August 13
Moravia,
NY - this morning we visited the Log Cabin of Millard Fillmore. Actually,
it wasn't his cabin, just a period replica and it was five miles away from
where his cabin actually stood, but it had a plaque outside commemorating
the former president so what are ya gonna do? We had to get it done early
and there wasn't really a tour or museum so we snapped a picture, drank in
the atmosphere and headed on our way (Think Chevy Chase and family at the
Grand Canyon in the movie "Vacation"). We did learn a little about Fillmore
like that he was made president after the sudden death of Zachary Taylor and
that he did very little about the growing problem of slavery in the country
except postpone the inevitable conflict. Our biggest goal of the day was to
get to Mentor, OH, by noon. As long as we did that, we knew we could be to
Matt and Susan's house by a reasonable time.
With a little struggle and getting up early, we made it just in time. We were very happy about that. In Mentor, we visited the museum for James A. Garfield. It was a small but interesting museum with a short film and display. We learned that although most people think of Garfield as not much of a president because he wasn't in office long, it turns out that he was a really good man and worked to get corruption out of government. Unfortunately, someone holding a grudge about not receiving a job killed Garfield. The museum had white statues of him, one of which was him lying in bed after he was shot but before he died with his wife with him. It is really neat to be able to learn about these men that I have always heard about but never actually understood. I am really enjoying coming to understand them. I also love seeing Vienna learn and enjoy having new knowledge. It's neat to have shared understanding of some things between the three of us.
After Garfield's museum, we headed a little south to Canton, OH, for the McKinley museum. We have already seen this museum back when we lived in OH and drove part of the Lincoln Highway, so we kept to the gift shop and memorial which stands outside. It's a long trek up a bunch of steps for the memorial but it's very nice and helps us to remember McKinley. He was assassinated while in office and left the presidency to Teddy Roosevelt. We spent a little more time at the Warren G. Harding home in Marion, OH. He was known for his front porch campaign so we saw where he spoke to many people at one time who gathered from all over the country to come hear him. People who are still around from that time say it was a zoo and that people who came would take home souvenirs like dirt, bark from trees or anything they could say came from there. Finally, people in the town got smart and started selling souvenirs and refreshments outside Harding's home.
He
had a very nice home with some neat stories. There is a clock in the house
that "Ripley's Believe it or Not" featured once. Apparently, when
Harding died, the clock stopped right at the very moment. Every few years
or so, it will stop again on the anniversary of his death at the same exact
time. Vienna loved that story. We got to Harding's home a little later than
we thought but knew that we wouldn't be able to stay past five because that
is when it closes. The docent said that he could give us a run-through the
house but not a full tour since there was not enough time. We were fine with
that. At least two more families came after us so we all went on the run-through.
I guess the guy just couldn't resist telling all the stories about the house
because the tour went well past five. We really enjoyed the tour, though,
and were very grateful for his extra time. The only problem was that we wanted
to be at our friends' house by 6:30 for dinner and to spend the evening with
them. That wasn't going to happen. When Andy called and said we were in Delaware,
but would arrive in about an hour, he forgot to explain that he meant Delaware,
Ohio. Before long, we cleared up that confusion and let
them know we were going to be late, and they were kind enough to hold dinner
for us. We finally got there by about seven.
Matt and Susan have a lovely new home in Springfield, OH, in which they'd recently moved. It's a beautiful home and we were very grateful that they let us stay with them even though it took some extra work on their part to get the house the way they wanted it on time for our visit. We enjoyed a great evening with them and are looking forward to when they can come visit us. We are getting to bed early so that we can be well rested for our last driving day of the trip. One more day - three more presidents.