**PSA: I will no longer be commenting on blog posts that comment on politics or any 'hot button' issues. Comments alluding to politics will also be deleted on this blog. I follow people from across the political spectrum and I respect each of your opinions/values, whether they are like mine or not. I do not subscribe to the hive mentality of either party. For my own mental health, I've decided to excuse myself from any social media that harps on either side. Thank you for understanding. The following post is without political commentary.**
Before we all became ill, we took a road trip to Marion, Ohio to visit one of Ohio’s eight presidential sites. Warren G. Harding was the 29th president, serving from 1921 until his death from a heart attack in 1923. He had won by the greatest popular vote up until that time, attributed to his good looks and speaking ability. He was also one of the most popular sitting presidents, until scandals (anyone remember Teapot Dome from American History class?) were uncovered after his demise.
Warren G. Harding was the oldest of eight children, born in a small town in rural central Ohio. His father had a medical practice. After graduating from Ohio Central College (which would equal a high school education today), Harding and two friends each put up $100 to buy the struggling Marion Daily Star newspaper. He turned it into a success and it was the starting point for his political career, first as a state senator, then lieutenant governor, before his run for the presidency. Enough background; on to photos!
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| The home of Warren and Florence Harding where he conducted a front porch campaign for president over a period of four months. An estimated 600,000 people traveled to stand in his front yard and hear him speak! |
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We assembled on the front porch for a tour of the home. This tile floor was original. Unfortunately, no photography is allowed inside the home. Some of the tour highlights for me were the tall phonograph player that Mrs. Harding wheeled onto the front porch in the evenings and her 16th century jewelry box.
Behind the house was the Harding Presidential Library & Museum. I was excited because I don't remember ever having visited a presidential library.
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| Podium and suit from Harding's inauguration. |
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Harding's Oval Office chair. Besides items from his presidency, there was an interesting collection from their travels around the world. Though Warren and Florence seemed to have a solid marriage, a woman named Nan Britton wrote a tell-all book after Harding's death, detailing her long affair with the president and naming him the father of her daughter, Elizabeth. The Harding family denied the claim, saying that Harding was sterile due to a bout with mumps as a child (Warren and Florence had no children). In 2015, DNA evidence confirmed that Elizabeth had been Harding's daughter.
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A few miles away is the Harding Memorial.
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Harding's wishes were to be buried under a tree and the stars, so the memorial was designed with that in mind.
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Across the street was Veterans Memorial Park. There is a tribute to every American war. This one honors those who served in the Revolutionary War and has a stone for each of the 13 original colonies.
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| WWI Doughboy |
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After a day of sightseeing, we headed to this outdoor restaurant for a late lunch. Downtown Marion has a collection of cardinals (Ohio's state bird) scattered throughout. There are 17 of these colorful birds, representing Ohio as the 17th state admitted to the Union.
Have you ever visited a Presidential home or library? |
I have never visited a presidential home, but I'd be up for it. I haven't even visited the White House, though the husband went with our oldest when Obama was in office. It was during the time he decided to close it to the public so they didn't get to go in and they were super bummed about that. Jason and I have talked about going there in the spring some day and hopefully we will get to take a tour then.
ReplyDeleteCall me stupid, but I had no idea the state bird of Ohio was the cardinal. It's Indiana's state bird as well.
My parents took us to the White House when I was 11. Back then, you got the grand tour. When we took our kids to DC in 2002, there were no tours due to 9/11. I’ve heard it’s not much of a tour these days. Yes, I think the cardinal is the state bird for many states.
DeleteAmen to your PSA. My feelings exactly!
ReplyDeleteLoved hearing about Harding's background. WOW...$300.00 for a whole newspaper?!? But I know back then that was a lot.
What a beautiful house. I really like the lower and upper porches. You can tell they've taken great care of the house, it looks in mint condition.
What I find so fascinating are objects preserved from people's past (such as Harding's suit and office chair) and realizing that they once embodied those things. That's why I love all-things vintage because they have a history.
Both the Memorials are so beautiful. I totally forgot about "doughboy" from WWI. I looked it up and discovered why they used that term.
Thanks so much for sharing this post, my friend. ENJOYED! And yes, I visited the home where Presidents George Washington and John Adams lived here in Philadelphia. What's also really cool is Independence Hall where The Declaration of Independence was signed. If you ever come to Philly, I'll take you there.
Have a great weekend! X
Isn’t that crazy about buying a newspaper business for so little? And no experience? Yes, the house was beautiful inside and out. The historians researched everything and restored/replaced it all down to the wallpaper. It was very interesting and I loved her the personal stories about Warren and Florence. Her father didn’t want her to marry Warren because he thought Warren wouldn’t ‘amount to much!’ LOL! The Veterans Park was neat to see so many monuments, including ones like War of 1812 and Persian Gulf. I would love to visit those places in Philly! Happy Weekend!
DeleteI've been to a few presidential libraries, but not to Hardings. Interesting that he was shown to have fathered a child. Isn't there some thought that he might have been poisoned?
ReplyDeleteNo, he had a stroke or heart attack, which was not surprising because he smoked like a chimney.
DeleteHarding was president when my dad was born in 1922. And, he is widely counted as the worst, most corrupt president of all of them (and if true, that's saying quite a lot!) (or is that too political? ;) )
ReplyDeleteHe had a very short presidency, so that’s saying a lot. I wonder how corruption can be measured?
DeleteI grew up not too far away! My grandmother's best friend, in fact, was married to a Harding. I've been to Marion several times in my life, so seeing this in your post was exciting.:)
ReplyDeleteThat’s very cool! I’m glad you enjoyed the post.
DeleteI think you're taking a wise approach when it comes to politics. Regardless of your stand on anything, I don't think anyone's mind is going to be changed by a comment war on social media.
ReplyDeleteI'd never heard of President Harding (which isn't terribly surprising considering how negligent my parents were in our homeschooling) so this was very interesting to me. The house looks beautiful. I was a little surprised that his not having a child with his wife was attributed to him being sterile; it seems like back in the old days it was always blamed on the woman being barren. Anyway, I think I'm going to look for a biography on him to add to my reading list.
We've been to the Jimmy Carter museum in Atlanta. We went to Atlanta for a trip about 10 years ago and that was one of the things Nick really wanted to see while we were there. I wasn't very excited, largely because I knew pretty much nothing about Jimmy Carter and had no idea what to expect from a presidential museum. I'm so glad we went, though! It was very interesting. I thought it had a good mix of things about his presidency and his personal life before and after being president. He apparently proposed to Rosalyn on their very first date, which seemed very sweet. We didn't get to spend quite as much time there as we would have liked because we attempted to take public transportation (MARTA, I think) and that turned out to be a four hour disaster that ended in us going back to the motel and take the car. So the museum was really good for me to like it so much since I wasn't terribly interested in the first place and was in a bad mood when we got there.
I don't think we'd ever travel specifically to see a presidential museum or library (I don't think there are any within day trip distance of us), but I think we'd definitely make it a point to go to one if we were in the area for something else.
Nope, nobody’s mind will be changed and it just creates division, so why not talk about more interesting and positive topics! The whole mumps causing a man to be sterile was news to me. My dad almost died from the mumps in 1940, but here I am. I enjoyed hearing about your trip to the Carter museum. I find him to be a very sweet and interesting man and I would love to visit there. We are lucky with having so many presidents come from Ohio that it’s easier to visit their homes and memorials. We’ve been to Garfield’s and McKinley’s monuments, but not their homes. We now want to go check those out, along with a few others.
DeleteAs a Brit, I've never visited a Presidential Library, and we don't have any equivalent in the UK. The custom for former Prime Ministers is to set up some kind of charity or trust. A neat looking house - I like all the balconies and verandas.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your stance on political issues and comments. I also try to avoid politics and all its tedious and adversarial arguments.
I think the presidential sites are all part of the National Park Service. We are lucky to have so many such places nearby or within a day’s drive. The house was very nice, small rooms that were the custom of that day. It is on a main road through the little town.
DeleteI have been to Robert E. Lee's house, the Custis-Lee mansion (Arlington House), when we went to Arlington! It's very beautiful. Also Woodrow Wilson spent some years of his childhood here in Columbia, and the family home is on Hampton Street. I've not been in it but his parents are buried in the First Presbyterian Church graveyard downtown (his father was once pastor of that church) and I have been to their graves several times. I love love love cardinals! They love my yard, too. xoxo
ReplyDeleteThose sound like interesting homes to visit. I have visited Mount Vernon and Monticello, which are both quite wonderful. Cardinals are so pretty and in abundance here as well.
DeleteThat is so cool. I haven't visited anything like this but I love seeing the pictures.
ReplyDeleteI enjoy this kind of thing more than I did when I was a kid!
DeleteI have not visited either a presidential home or library. Sounds so intriguing. Funny about Harding, as author Malcolm Gladwell speaks so poorly of him. But whatever, history is history. Super fun about the 17 cardinals. I'm sure people enjoy hunting them all down! (And I make a point of not engaging in anything remotely political too, so good on you. :) )
ReplyDeleteThere we go! This is Betsy, not Anonymous! I had to sign in. :)
DeleteHey Betsy! Craig (previous commenter) also commented about what a bad president Harding was. Besides Teapot Dome and affairs, not much else seemed negative. The funny thing to me was that everything he worked on during his presidency are the same things every president seems to work on today. The more things change . . .
DeleteLovely house! I know a few facts about most presidents, so I did know about the Teapot Dome scandal. I can't imagine how 600,000 people could fit in that area to hear him speak and did they have microphones or the like back then? Wonder how his voice was amplified. I did also remember a few years back that Elizabeth was eventually confirmed as his daughter. I do remember when we had mumps growing up (I think mumps don't happen these days with the MMR shots kids get??); anyway, I remember there being talk that if a boy got them during puberty he might become sterile. Not sure if it was an old wife's tale though.
ReplyDeleteI've been to the Nixon presidential library as it was located about an hour from where we used to live in Southern California. Very fascinating place to visit. So much history there. Also went to Mount Vernon back in 2005. We visited in twice back to back, lol. First time it was my son and me with my brother/family and we drove to it. Second time a day later (after my husband joined us on the trip) we took a boat over the Potomac to get there. We had the tickets for the boat/tour already but my brother/family were going to be touring it the day before and son/me tagged along . It was worth seeing it twice :)
Totally agree with your PSA. I've stopped following so many blogs for that very reason.
betty
Oh, thanks for sharing all that. We enjoy history, too. The 600,000 people was over the period of the front porch campaign (four months). Still surprising, considering how people had to travel 100 years ago! Harding did not use any type of equipment to amplify his voice. The tour guide said that Harding was a gifted speaker and could really command a crowd. My age group did get the MMR shot to prevent mumps, but my dad had mumps at age 7 and had to repeat second grade because he was out for so long and almost died from it. A terrible disease that people today don’t realize, due to vaccines.
DeleteI remember hearing about the Nixon library when it was built. I bet it’s really interesting to see. I think I went to Mount Vernon twice, too. Once in the 70’s with my parents and once with my kids in 2002. And I’ve been to Monticello once or twice, which is really quite grand. I vaguely remember seeing a Lincoln home in Springfield, Illinois as a child, too. Those childhood vacations are starting to be hard to remember now.
Thank you for the PSA...people can be ridiculous! ;)
ReplyDeleteI've never visited a Presidential Library but I would love to do that. Harding has quite a rich history doesn't he? How interesting about people coming to his porch to listen to his speeches...I suppose that is how you had to do it back in the day. It's crazy about his denying the child and affair.
I love the cardinal art too; how fun to walk around and find all seventeen; like a scavenger hunt.
Oh, people are ridiculous, for sure! I will never understand the need to badmouth other people for their political leanings.
DeleteI’m not sure Harding denied the child. The Britton woman didn’t make it public until he died and I believe she implied that he had been supporting them, which obviously ended when he had the stroke/heart attack. It was his extended family that didn’t believe the woman. It was sad that his granddaughter died 10 years before DNA confirmed it all.
OMG! We could be neighbors? I grew up in Marion, within walking distance to both Hardings Home and the Memorial. I can't count the hours spent in and around there. I once sold potholders (you know those kind you weave) to the caretakers of Harding Home. It was sorta of dare to knock on the door...this was before it was really open to the public...or maybe back when it was closed for rehab. We would run around the grounds of the memorial all the time. Lots of land there and it was a good place to sled when we were kids, directly across from the Park (McKinley Park). I was thinking that in recent years more research had been done and it was decided he wasn't part of TeaPot Dome Scandal? I'm scratching my memory on that. He was quite a good business man and highly regarded in the area due to the newspaper. I've toured the paper...back in the dark ages when I was in school, it was a field trip. Many fond memories came to mind while reading your post. My great grandfather's brother was a band leader and taught Warren G. Harding how to play the Cornet. They played in the same band for a good number of years. Another of my gr-grandfather's brothers was the Mayor of Marion for a period of time and knew Harding well. It's a small small world. I'm sure I have pictures from visiting the Memorial and house from recent years. When we were kids, people didn't take many pictures. There used to be a beautiful large tree by his grave, there is circle portion. He loved nature and trees in particularly. The tree was hit by lightening, as it was tall enough to be above the height of the memorial. The memorial was built from a penny campaign collected by school children.
ReplyDeleteI've been to Arlington, and Monticello. Not sure if I've been to others, have to give that some thought. Sounds like you had a really nice visit, tour etc.
Oh, Mount Vernon, and Springfield, Illinois come to mind as well.
Wow! Thanks so much for the great comment, chock full of history! I love your family’s history with President Harding. Fascinating! That was interesting about the tree, because we noticed how small the current tree is. It’s a beautiful memorial. Did you ever visit McKinley’s Monument in Canton?
DeleteWe live in Cleveland, but I grew up in Akron. It sounds like you and I visited a lot of the same places growing up. My parents took us on a lot of educational vacations, plus caves, which my dad loved! Thanks for stopping by and Happy 4th!
I haven't been to McKinley's Monument, but am making myself a reminder note. That would make a nice day trip. We did Olentangy Caves too, and Blue Hole. Parents tried to find things that we fun and educational and not expensive; as we were a family of 5 and $$ was tight back in those days. If you get back to Marion, tour some of the stuff related to The Shovel, it's fascinating. I'm in Columbus now, so about an hour from Marion.
DeleteGreat Photos, Bijoux! Don't much about Warren Harding, but Teapot Dome rings a bell.
DeleteI went to Teddy Roosevelt's house Sagamore Hill when I was a Cub Scout and I loved it. When I was in Texas, I went to the George Bush presidential library and...no comment.
Hope you guys are feeling better!
Sandy - I can’t even remember all the caves we visited besides Mammoth and Carlsbad Caverns, but lots of smaller ones close to home, too. Ok, now I know where you are! My son just moved from Cbus after living there the past 9 years.
DeleteRob - we are back to normal, except now I have a raging case of poison ivy. The Roosevelt home and Bush library would both be great places to visit!
DeleteSurprisingly it was in Ohio that I got my first sighting of the Cardinal and was very thrilled about it.
ReplyDeleteAwww.....the males are quite stunning!
DeleteThanks for that post. It was interesting. I have never been to a presidential home or library. I have only ever had a mild interest in history and that's mostly Michigan history. I would like to go to Washington DC someday to visit the Smithsonian Museums though!
ReplyDeleteThe Smithsonian is a must! I hope you get there some day soon.
DeleteDitto what Nick said, being in the UK. It looks like a lovely tour. I agree with your PSA. $100 dollars for a newspaper sounds an absolute bargain, but that was a lot of money back then. Happy 4th July Bijoux :-)
ReplyDeleteIt was too bad that photography wasn’t allowed inside. There were lovely gas chandeliers and cute fireplaces. Thank you for the holiday wishes!
DeleteOh nice! I would love to visit too. Even the outside of the house appeals to me. Happy Independence Day!
ReplyDeleteIt was a lovely home and very interesting. Hope your 4th was fabulous!
DeleteAdmittedly, I knew very little about Warren Harding, so appreciated the background information lessons. It's too bad that interior photos were not allowed of what looks like a lovely home from its exterior. We have visited Jefferson's home, Monticello, and Hildene, the home of Robert Lincoln. I also believe we toured the Calvin Coolidge Visitor Center.
ReplyDeleteI applaud you PSA, Bijoux, and agree completely which is why I do the same in blog reading and posting. There is way too much sadness and disagreement in the world already.
I’m glad you enjoyed the post. Monticello is probably the grandest home I’ve ever been. Now I need to look up Hildene and the location of the Coolidge Center. Thank you for understanding my PSA so completely.
DeleteI have never visited a presidential library, but my parents have been to a few and always enjoyed them. I'd totally be down for something like this.
ReplyDeleteFunny how Ohio has painted cardinals on the streets and South Dakota has painted bison. It's fun when a state embraces their local wildlife like that. Also, I am borderline obsessed with cardinals. We don't have them out here, so they seem very exotic to me.
Don't even get me started on fireflies...
We have a photo of our kids by a painted bison, but I think it was in Montana. I really enjoy those sculptures, or whatever they’re called! You don’t have cardinals? Hmmmm, what about blue jays?
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