Discovering Ohio’s rich presidential history in 2-day road trip -Cleveland.com
Published by: Cleveland.com
By David Petkiewicz, cleveland.com
Original Article can be found here.
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Having not grown up and attended school in Ohio, I wasn’t quite aware of the Presidential history that exists in Ohio.
Ohio has had an outsized impact on the U.S. Presidency since Ulysses S. Grant became the first president born in Ohio. Six more followed in his footsteps. Following Grant were Rutherford B. Hayes, James A. Garfield, Benjamin Harrison, William McKinley, William H. Taft and Warren G. Harding. Although William H. Harrison grew up in Ohio, he was born in Virginia, and is claimed by both states.
A few years ago, an Ohio Presidential Trail was established to honor those presidents. The birthplaces, family homes and some of their tombs are scattered around Ohio.
With the Presidential election looming Tuesday, I recently spent two days driving around Ohio and photographing the memorials and plaques of the historic men. They are in the photo gallery above.
If you’ve ever wanted to see a true cross-section of Ohio, seeing these locations is the way to do it. From the big cities of Cleveland and Cincinnati, to a historic plaque on a narrow country road, you’ll see most of what Ohio has to offer in demographic and geographic diversity.
The trip started nearly in my backyard with the log cabin where Garfield was born, in what is now Moreland Hills; then east to Niles, and McKinley’s birthplace home (a replica) and museum; and then to the Hayes Museum and Tomb (Fremont) and Hayes’ birthplace in Delaware that is now a BP gas station; through Marion and Warren G. Harding’s home, tomb and museum; to Grant’s childhood home in Georgetown; then to Taft’s Cincinnati home; and finally to North Point, where the Harrisons have history -- and plenty of back roads and highways in between.
If you want to follow the trail I took, just click on the map link below and you’ll see where I spent nearly 14 hours (over two days) driving around Ohio. https://maps.app.goo.gl/K87hidsBx575zSHQ8
Check out the photo gallery above to see just a fraction of what I saw on my adventure.
Susan Glaser contributed to this story.