James Garfield National Historic Site

On Saturday, October 18th, Andrew, Hazel, Isabela, Jackson, Sarah, and I all loaded up their car and took a drive to Mentor, OH, a few miles northeast of the Cleveland, to the James Garfield National Historic Site(http://www.nps.gov/jaga/). It was a nice drive with the fall colors, and the park was easy to find.

The babies on their way to the James Garfield National Historic Site.

James Garfield was elected the 20th president of the United States in 1880, and was the last president to be born in a log cabin which at that time was in the frontier of Ohio's Western Reserve. Born in 1831, he had been many things throughout his life - a canal tow boy, teacher, college principal, minister, state legislator, lawyer, civil War general and hero, congressman, etc. Though he had no prior military experience, when the Civil War broke out in 1861 he was immediately given the rank of lieutenant colonel of the 42 Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and later Brigadier General. He was a hero of the Battle of Shiloh (Tennessee)and the subsequent advance on Corynth, MS.

Garfield had a long career in the U.S. Congress. He was a life-long scholar, and one of his major accomplishments was to help create the Department of Education and served as a regent to the Smithsonian Institution.

Shortly after being elected to the Senate in 1880, he was asked to nominate John Sherman for the Republican candidate for President at the republican National Convention. The convention became deadlocked, though, and Garfield himself becomes nominated, completely unexpectedly. He became famous for having political rallies from his front porch here here in Mentor. Before this time, candidates never talked directly to the people - they had others do that for them. Obviously, it worked, because he won. He as considered by some as "the most qualified man ever to become president."

Early on in his presidential tenure, he became disenchanted with the way political appointments always had been filled. Essentially, anyone with enough money and ambition came to the White House and demanded political appointments, no matter how unqualified they might be. He wanted to change these old, corrupt way of doing things, and refused to play the game.

Charles Guiteau was one of those unqualified people who came to the White House looking for employment. Garfield refused him, and only days later, was shot by Guiteau in a train station in Washington D.C. as a result. At that time, of course, there was no Secret Service, and there really was little to no protection for the president. He was only 40 days into his presidency.

Garfield actually lived another 80 days with a bullet lodged in his back, but all of it in pain lying in bed convalescing, and most of it at the sea-side town of Elberon (Long Branch), New Jersey. Of course, there was little to no knowledge of medical sanitation then, and for much of that time physicians poked dirty instruments and fingers into the hole in his back, and he eventually died of blood poisoning, on September 19, 1881.

The house where we were was very nice. It is fully restored to the way it looked and was furnished during Garfields time. They have done a magnificent job of restoring it and some of the other buildings on the property. The house was pretty modest and the Garfields' were not wealthy. Upon Garfields death, family friends raised money for his widow from all over the country. (Mary Todd Lincoln became destitute after A. Lincoln's assassination only ~16 years before this, and the Garfield's family friends were determined not to let that happen again). With this money, the house was expanded and many amenities added, like flushing toilets and indoor, heated plumbing. They don't allow pictures inside the building, so that's why we don't have many here. Jackso just slept through everything anyway.

Sarah, Hazel, and the babies.

The property is quite nice, though only a small fraction of what it was in their time. My favorite part of the house was the library. It was amazing and he had hundreds of books on nearly every subject you can imagine. In fact, this was the first official presidential library.

After touring the house and grounds, we went into the visitors center and toured the museum. The museum was very nice, but we all thought it had a serious short coming. There was only a cursory mention of his death, and until we watched the video, I had no idea why he was shot. They really should address this - after all, it is likely that the only reason for this monument is that he was assassinated.

Sarah & Jackson in te Museum.

The park is $5/person, and well worth it.

Isabela playing in the grass at the Monument.