The President's Residence - James Garfield's Lawnfield in Mentor, Ohio
Almost three weeks ago, I posted a blog entitled Visiting the Garfield Monument in Cleveland's Lake View Cemetery. In response, Susan asked if I'd ever visited President Garfield's home in Mentor, Ohio (east of Cleveland). I hadn't yet - but was determined to do so in the near future. So about a week later, on April 6th, Geri and I headed out to Lawnfield, the estate of former President James Garfield, which now apparently belongs to the U.S. National Park Service. Here are some of the photos we took there. Unfortunately, photography was not permitted inside the house - although we didn't realize it until we were asked to stop taking pictures halfway through our tour.
President Garfield's home at Lawnfield in Mentor - from the right side
[photo by JC]
President Garfield's home at Lawnfield in Mentor - from the right side
[photo by JC]
Garfield's home from the opposite side - with our tour guide by the door
[photo by JC]
JG stares at JC inside the front door of the house
[photo by Geri]
Just a part of the President's personal library
[photo by Geri]
A wreath given by Queen Victoria upon Garfield's death and dipped in wax for preservation
[photo by Geri]
Geri on the porch steps
[photo by JC]
JC drinks from the trough behind Garfield's stable
[photo by Geri]
The windmill at Lawnfield
[photo by JC]
Near the front of the house
[photo by Geri]
The front left corner of Garfield's home
[photo by JC]
A historical marker on the grounds
[photo by JC]
The end of our tour and time for supper?
[photo by JC]
Wow! This brings back memories for me! I used to live there, well, not in the President's house, but in Mentor, Ohio. *_* LOL
That is on Mentor Ave. It used to be a white house, but they've painted it. Loved the Library in that house!
Very nice. Thanks for sharing and for the memories.
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Thank you, Susan!
According to our tour guide, the new paint job is a restoration of the color scheme of the house when Garfield was President. They're in the process of re-restoring a lot of the inside, too. Glad we were able to at least get a pic of the library before we had to put the camera away... that was my favorite part as well.
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I grew up in Mentor. Hard for me to appreciate presidential history at these kinds of places, tho. I think his death mask is somewhere in that house. That kinda freaked me out when I saw it.
When I was little I went for a special day in the backyard of Garfield's house - it was kinda a "back to the past" day. I churned cream into butter.
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What's a death mask?
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I don't remember seeing the death mask - but Geri does.
And what a neat story from your childhood - adds a human dimension to Garfield's place for me.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Lady!
And thanks to you, too, Terese, for stopping by.
Here's a short piece on death masks you might find interesting:
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20071111171929AAA2P5V
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I am very interested in Garfield's death mask. If you have any further information on it, please let me know as I will post it on my website www.undyingfaces.com
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Thanks for sharing this. You guys always visit the coolest places.
It always makes me wonder how wealthy these people were. Because by past standards that's a very large, comfortable home.
And it doesn't surprise me that the library was your favorite part John... I'm sure if it was an original library (sometimes they're not... in this sort of setting) that you would have been curious to see what he liked to read.
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The house wasn't nearly that big originally. After the President's death, his wife raised a significant amount of money and oversaw the addition (which was bigger than the original house) and remodeling. She also sold probably 80% of the land that was once part of the estate. By the time of her death, however, the house was getting fairly run down. I think her primary source of income was the farm.
An interesting fact: Garfield campaigned for President from the porch. There were no Secret Service at the time - anyone could approach the house. And Garfield would come out and greet all visitors. If you were lucky, you might be invited inside.
Yesterday, we visited President Rutherford B. Hayes' estate (Spiegel Grove) in Fremont, Ohio. And the house and grounds were even more impressive than Garfield's. Eventually, I want to visit all the presidential homes in Ohio.
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Oh... the library doesn't have Garfield's original books - they are in the Library of Congress or Smithsonian Institution (I can't remember which now). But the restorers of Garfield's home have gone to great lengths to find identical volumes. So the titles and (largely) editions are the same as he owned. I tried as well as I could to examine all the titles - though the velvet ropes kept me from getting too close, and the tour eventually had to keep moving.
Thanks for your comment, Chris!
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Ya.. I figured something like that. Usually the originals are long gone. But having the restored copies is still interesting... because it gives you an idea of the sorts of things he was interested in and read.
I hope you post something on the Hayes tour...
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In many ways, the Hayes tour was even cooler than the Garfield tour - part of me would have preferred to post the blog about Hayes instead of this one. But the other part of me wanted to keep them in order. And order won out this time... lol.
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Thanks for sharing that. That's interesting... campaigning from your own front porch. Could you imagine Hillary and Bill doing that today...LOL... Could make for an interesting news story.
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Indeed... talk about strange from our modern vantage point! And Garfield never went farther west than Ohio. That certainly wouldn't add up to a winning strategy in 2008.
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How sweet. Looks like a great place to visit..
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Thanks, Shyloh. It was definitely cool. But the coolest stuff was inside, where we couldn't continue taking pictures. I guess everyone will just have to go there... lol.
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you two are an adorable couple :0) and it looks like it was an interesting tour. So was that Prez from Ohio then?
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Thanks, Kat! Yes, he was from Ohio. You might want to check out the short biography I posted of him when we visited his Monument at Lake View Cemetery. Here's the link: http://crisisblog.crisischronicles.com/2008/03/31/visiting-the-garfield-memorial-in-clevelands-lakeview-cemetery.aspx. And I like the pics from the previous blog better, too... lol.
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....my favorite photos are the library and the photo of the wreath sent by Queen Elizabeth....WOW!! ...time really does stand still.
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The library pic only shows one corner/fraction of that fabulous room - I was in awe.
Interesting that you selected two indoor photos.... All of the coolest stuff was indoors where cameras weren't permitted. Here's a link to another Lawnfield blog with more pictures (but unfortunately only one of them was taken inside) and some history: http://www.american-presidents.org/2007/10/lawnfield-james-garfields-mentor-home.html.
Thanks for your comment, barbie!
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Good pix, even if some of them are illegal
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Thanks, Jens!
I've been an ex-con for a while. Now I'm finally a criminal, too.
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I have been one sorry excuse for a blog reader, lately. Sorry. But, you visit to one of my recent blogs reminded me of that whole joy of blog reading. Looks like it was a very cool outing. I might have to start exploring my own backyard, looking for the interesting landmarks, overlooked by the locals. Thanks for sharing.
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Thank you, Sasha!
I've been a sorry excuse for a blog reader, too, lately. I guess it goes in phases for me. And sometimes it's just a matter of not having enough hours in the day. So no apology is necessary.
I've enjoyed your recent blogs, and I appreciate you stopping by here tonight. It's amazing how much one can find nearby (at least in Ohio, but I suspect it's similar everywhere else). For much of my life, I was so busy dreaming about far away places that I never noticed the treasures in my own neighborhood. Now I'm learning to really appreciate both.
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Back in September, my city had a "be a tourist in your own town" weekend. They offered passports to get into various tourist locations free. It was a very interesting experience. I even got to try out a pottery wheel.
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Wow... that's cool. I don't think I've ever tried a pottery wheel myself, though I hear it's much more difficult than it looks. How'd you do?
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I did okay, for the most part. It IS a lot harder than it looks. Mostly, if you can work out the right speed, it's cake.
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Cool... I would like to try that sometime.
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So looking over the photos and comments I still am curious about one thing, that freaky lighthouse on the property in the middle of nowhere. LOL... Is this estate/property close to the water? Or is the lighthouse a structural oddity? I'm really curious about that....
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Although Mentor is on Lake Erie, the estate really isn't anywhere close to the water. I don't even know if that structure was a lighthouse (though we have some very cool lighthouses around here). I think was just a windmill - but built so tall in order to "catch" the wind above the trees.
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