An Early President's Day with Jeff

This day did not happen on 20 February, the real President's Day, but rather on 4 February.  It wasn't even a planned President's Day but it all worked out exactly as it needed to work out.  And we didn't celebrate the typical Presidents that are celebrated every February but ones that deserve to celebrated nonetheless.

I knew I wanted to go to President Theodore Roosevelt's Birthplace and that Jeff Butler had to come with me.  Jeff loves TR and history and this makes him a joy to be around.

TR's Birthplace is not the actual house he was born and lived in until he was 14 years old.  That house was torn down soon after TR's death.  But TR's wife and sisters wanted to rebuild the house as a remembrance of their husband/brother.  They furnished the house with 60% of the same furnishings that had been there during TR's life.

This is the front room where the Roosevelt's had many social gatherings.  Apparently TR's father, Theodore Roosevelt, Sr., was a great philanthropist and people knew to bring their checkbooks whenever they came over.

I did not know this but the Roosevelt's made their money in plate-glass importing.  TR Sr. sold the business and became a philanthropist. 

There's me and Jeff.

The bed that TR was born in but not the same mattress.

TR's mother, Martha Bulloch, who I think TR looks like.  

Our second stop was right down the street at Beecher's Handmade Cheese.  We watched some cheese being made.

We then boarded the subway and rode to the upper west side to see Grant's Tomb.  Jeff told me to see Napoleon's tomb in Paris in preparation for this visit which I did back in September 2010.  It is very similar but just smaller.

I love that President Ulysses Grant loved his wife so much that he demanded they be buried right next to each other.

Jeff with one of his favorite Civil War Generals - William Tecumseh Sherman.

And then Jeff surprised me by recommending that we also go to Alexander Hamilton's home The Grange.  I had no idea that it was so close and that it had moved three times before it was settled in its present location in 2008.  It finally opened last year for tours.

Portrait of Hamilton in the entry way of the home.

Apparently these portraits of Hamilton and his wife Elizabeth resemble them the most.

Hamilton's story is very sad.  His son was killed in a duel two years previous to Hamilton's own death in the same location.

I recommend going to all of these places if you can and with Jeff.  But also going to see the Royal Tenenbaum House which is not located on Archer Ave but rather at 144th and Convent Ave in Hamilton Heights.