Eleanor Roosevelt Val Kill home Eleanor Roosevelt used Val-Kill, located in New York, as a retreat, office and “laboratory” for social change.

Courtesy of NPS WD Urbin

Revisiting the First Ladies’ Homes

The oft-overlooked lives of America's first ladies are on display in house museums across the country

  • By Robin T. Reid
  • Smithsonian.com, June 30, 2009

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    Ida Saxton McKinley house

    Revisiting the First Ladies’ Homes

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    Preserving the memory of the nation's first female president is a task that Farron and William Smith take seriously. Last fall, the couple opened a museum in Wyethville, Virginia, dedicated to Edith Bolling Wilson, who some historians claim ran the U.S. government while her husband, Woodrow Wilson, recovered from a massive stroke during his second term. The Smiths own the two-story brick building in this small southwest Virginia city, where Mrs. Wilson was born more than 100 years ago.

    "We decided that once our kids were educated, we'd devote our time to making the museum," Farron Smith says. "We've spent a lot of money on it; we could have re-educated our children again. But we just feel a real responsibility to preserve this for future generations."

    In doing so, the Smiths have joined forces with a clutch of other torchbearers for former first ladies. Their birthplaces, childhood homes and post-White House residences have been turned into museums and memorials across the country. The National Park Service operates some of them, while others are community efforts.

    The Mamie Doud Eisenhower birthplace in Boone, Iowa, is a fine example of the latter. The wooden cottage had a succession of owners after Mrs. Eisenhower's birth in 1896 and decades later faced demolition. A group formed to save the house, and a neighbor then offered to tear down a house on a lot across the street to make way for the Doud residence. In 1975, the birthplace was moved to its new location and the museum opened five years later.

    "We have a struggle," explains Charles Irwin, executive director of the Boone County Historical Society, which oversees the museum. "We've had declining attendance over the years, because we're getting further away from the Eisenhower era."

    Two other factors affect the plight of first ladies museums: money and status.

    "For so long, there was a certain devaluation of women in general, and wives in particular," said Carl Sferrazza Anthony, historian for the National First Ladies' Library – housed in the family home of 25th first lady Ida Saxton McKinley – in Canton, Ohio. "Sometimes it is merely practicality; the family may have needed money and sold the house or torn it down to sell for the property value. In the cases of those who came from politically powerful, socially prominent or wealthy families into which presidents married, some of these sites have been preserved…[T]he importance of the Todd family [Abraham Lincoln's in-laws] in Kentucky and Republican history [meant] that house was preserved."

    Sometimes neither money nor prestige is enough. Take the case of Hammersmith Farm in Newport, R.I., where Jacqueline Bouvier spent her childhood summers and held the reception for her wedding to John F. Kennedy. In 1977, the family sold the estate to a private group called Camelot Gardens, which opened it as a museum. "It felt as if the family had just stepped outside," Anthony recalls. "Unfortunately, the state government didn't decide to buy it and it became too expensive to maintain. It was sold to a private owner and all the furnishings auctioned off."

    The existing museums are cautiously optimistic that the keen interest in new first lady, Michelle Obama, drums up business for them. Anthony says the library has been flooded with queries from the media since Mrs. Obama spoke at the Democratic National Convention last summer.

    And about 200 miles southwest of the library, the number of visitors to the Lucy Hayes Heritage Center in Chillicothe, Ohio, was up to 149 for the month of April; the small frame house where the 19th president's wife was born typically never gets more than 500 visitors throughout the year.

    "People often crack that had these women not been married to these men, we'd never know of them," Anthony said. "But the other side of that truth is that had many of these men not married the women they did, we'd never have heard of these men."

    First Ladies' homes – and sites of homes - open to the public:

    • Abigail Adams' birthplace, 180 Norton St., Weymouth, Mass., 781-335-4205 (open seasonally)
      http://abigailadamsbirthplace.org/
    • Dolley Madison – Dolley Todd House (shared with first husband, John), Fourth and Walnut streets, Philadelphia, Pa., 215-965-2305 (scheduled tours only)
      www.nps.gov/inde/todd-house.htm
    • Emily Donelson, Andrew Jackson's niece and de facto first lady, Tulip Grove, Lebanon Pike, Nashville, Tenn., 615-889-2941 (special tours only)
      www.thehermitage.com/
    • Mary Todd Lincoln childhood home – 578 W. Main St., Lexington, Ky., 859-233-9999
      www.mtlhouse.org/
    • Julia Dent Grant childhood home – White Haven Plantation, 7400 Grant Road, St. Louis, Mo., 314-842-3298
      www.nps.gov/ulsg/index.htm
    • Lucy Webb Hayes birthplace – 90 W. Sixth St., Chillicothe, Ohio, 740-775-5829
      www.lucyhayes.org
    • Ida Saxton McKinley family home – 331 S. Market St., Canton, Ohio, 330-452-0876 (also part of the National First Ladies' Library)
      www.firstladies.org/SaxtonMcKinleyHouse.aspx
    • Edith Bolling Wilson birthplace – 145 E. Main St., Wytheville, Va., 276-223-3484
      www.edithbollingwilson.org
    • Eleanor Roosevelt home – Val-Kill Cottage, Hyde Park, N.Y., 800-FDR-VISIT
      www.nps.gov/elro/index.htm
    • Bess Truman home – 219 N. Delaware St., Independence, Mo., 816-254-9929 (closed for renovations until spring 2010)
      www.nps.gov/hstr/index.htm
    • Mamie Doud Eisenhower birthplace – 709 Carroll St., Boone, Iowa, 515-432-1907
      http://mamiesbirthplace.homestead.com
    • Pat Ryan Nixon – Pat Nixon Park, South Street and Ely Avenue, Cerritos, Calif.

    Editor's Note: The location of the Edith Bolling Wilson was misspelled in a photo caption. The correct spelling is Wytheville, Va.

    Preserving the memory of the nation's first female president is a task that Farron and William Smith take seriously. Last fall, the couple opened a museum in Wyethville, Virginia, dedicated to Edith Bolling Wilson, who some historians claim ran the U.S. government while her husband, Woodrow Wilson, recovered from a massive stroke during his second term. The Smiths own the two-story brick building in this small southwest Virginia city, where Mrs. Wilson was born more than 100 years ago.

    "We decided that once our kids were educated, we'd devote our time to making the museum," Farron Smith says. "We've spent a lot of money on it; we could have re-educated our children again. But we just feel a real responsibility to preserve this for future generations."

    In doing so, the Smiths have joined forces with a clutch of other torchbearers for former first ladies. Their birthplaces, childhood homes and post-White House residences have been turned into museums and memorials across the country. The National Park Service operates some of them, while others are community efforts.

    The Mamie Doud Eisenhower birthplace in Boone, Iowa, is a fine example of the latter. The wooden cottage had a succession of owners after Mrs. Eisenhower's birth in 1896 and decades later faced demolition. A group formed to save the house, and a neighbor then offered to tear down a house on a lot across the street to make way for the Doud residence. In 1975, the birthplace was moved to its new location and the museum opened five years later.

    "We have a struggle," explains Charles Irwin, executive director of the Boone County Historical Society, which oversees the museum. "We've had declining attendance over the years, because we're getting further away from the Eisenhower era."

    Two other factors affect the plight of first ladies museums: money and status.

    "For so long, there was a certain devaluation of women in general, and wives in particular," said Carl Sferrazza Anthony, historian for the National First Ladies' Library – housed in the family home of 25th first lady Ida Saxton McKinley – in Canton, Ohio. "Sometimes it is merely practicality; the family may have needed money and sold the house or torn it down to sell for the property value. In the cases of those who came from politically powerful, socially prominent or wealthy families into which presidents married, some of these sites have been preserved…[T]he importance of the Todd family [Abraham Lincoln's in-laws] in Kentucky and Republican history [meant] that house was preserved."

    Sometimes neither money nor prestige is enough. Take the case of Hammersmith Farm in Newport, R.I., where Jacqueline Bouvier spent her childhood summers and held the reception for her wedding to John F. Kennedy. In 1977, the family sold the estate to a private group called Camelot Gardens, which opened it as a museum. "It felt as if the family had just stepped outside," Anthony recalls. "Unfortunately, the state government didn't decide to buy it and it became too expensive to maintain. It was sold to a private owner and all the furnishings auctioned off."

    The existing museums are cautiously optimistic that the keen interest in new first lady, Michelle Obama, drums up business for them. Anthony says the library has been flooded with queries from the media since Mrs. Obama spoke at the Democratic National Convention last summer.

    And about 200 miles southwest of the library, the number of visitors to the Lucy Hayes Heritage Center in Chillicothe, Ohio, was up to 149 for the month of April; the small frame house where the 19th president's wife was born typically never gets more than 500 visitors throughout the year.

    "People often crack that had these women not been married to these men, we'd never know of them," Anthony said. "But the other side of that truth is that had many of these men not married the women they did, we'd never have heard of these men."

    First Ladies' homes – and sites of homes - open to the public:

    • Abigail Adams' birthplace, 180 Norton St., Weymouth, Mass., 781-335-4205 (open seasonally)
      http://abigailadamsbirthplace.org/
    • Dolley Madison – Dolley Todd House (shared with first husband, John), Fourth and Walnut streets, Philadelphia, Pa., 215-965-2305 (scheduled tours only)
      www.nps.gov/inde/todd-house.htm
    • Emily Donelson, Andrew Jackson's niece and de facto first lady, Tulip Grove, Lebanon Pike, Nashville, Tenn., 615-889-2941 (special tours only)
      www.thehermitage.com/
    • Mary Todd Lincoln childhood home – 578 W. Main St., Lexington, Ky., 859-233-9999
      www.mtlhouse.org/
    • Julia Dent Grant childhood home – White Haven Plantation, 7400 Grant Road, St. Louis, Mo., 314-842-3298
      www.nps.gov/ulsg/index.htm
    • Lucy Webb Hayes birthplace – 90 W. Sixth St., Chillicothe, Ohio, 740-775-5829
      www.lucyhayes.org
    • Ida Saxton McKinley family home – 331 S. Market St., Canton, Ohio, 330-452-0876 (also part of the National First Ladies' Library)
      www.firstladies.org/SaxtonMcKinleyHouse.aspx
    • Edith Bolling Wilson birthplace – 145 E. Main St., Wytheville, Va., 276-223-3484
      www.edithbollingwilson.org
    • Eleanor Roosevelt home – Val-Kill Cottage, Hyde Park, N.Y., 800-FDR-VISIT
      www.nps.gov/elro/index.htm
    • Bess Truman home – 219 N. Delaware St., Independence, Mo., 816-254-9929 (closed for renovations until spring 2010)
      www.nps.gov/hstr/index.htm
    • Mamie Doud Eisenhower birthplace – 709 Carroll St., Boone, Iowa, 515-432-1907
      http://mamiesbirthplace.homestead.com
    • Pat Ryan Nixon – Pat Nixon Park, South Street and Ely Avenue, Cerritos, Calif.

    Editor's Note: The location of the Edith Bolling Wilson was misspelled in a photo caption. The correct spelling is Wytheville, Va.


     
    Comments

    GREAT closing quote! What an interesting piece!

    Posted by Jolan on July 1,2009 | 11:37 AM

    Great piece. Is there a good guide book to all these homes? Seems like Smithsonian ought to publish one that features this sort of material.

    Posted by Alan Mairson on July 1,2009 | 03:05 PM

    Wonderful piece, you've got me wanting to visit those homes (possible road trip theme?). It's about time the first ladies got their due. I bet Michelle Obama will do a lot for the position (and already has). Loved that last quote, too! Behind every great man...indeed.

    Posted by CW on July 3,2009 | 01:46 PM

    Yes a book would be great! Is there one on the Presidents' homes and libraries also? CW -wish I could do that road trip with you!

    Posted by Robin Webb on July 8,2009 | 10:27 PM

    That is an interesting article and helpful list. In response to Robin Webb's question, the presidential libraries/museums sell a variety of books about their President's homes, biographies, families, et al. (They are administered by the US National Archives, after being built with private funds.) Following are websites for the homes/museums that I support:
    1. The beautiful Reagan Ranch near Santa Barbara, CA was preserved and a museum/student center was created in downtown SB.(http://yaf.org/reaganranch/ranch/index.cfm)
    2. The Reagan Presidential Library, Museum, & Foundation are very impressive, in Simi Valley, CA. (http://www.reaganfoundation.org/)
    3. The George H.W. Bush Library & Museum is in College Station, TX. (http://bushlibrary.tamu.edu/)
    4. The George W. Bush Institute will be in Dallas, TX. (http://www.georgewbush.org/)
    5. The Lincoln Museum & Library are new in Springfield, IL. (http://www.alplm.org/) Lincoln's Home, Neighborhood, et al are located near the Museum & State Capitols (old & new).
    6. George Washington's Home is in Mount Vernon, VA. It is wonderful for children & adults to learn & view US history. (http://www.mountvernon.org/)
    7. Thomas Jefferson's Home, Monticello, is in Charlottesville, VA. (http://www.monticello.org/) Historic Colonial Williamsburg is near Monticello, (http://colonialwilliamsburg.com/)
    All of the above museums should be visited by all Americans & people interested in US history, architecture, art, gardens, etc. They are excellent institutions worthy of our support. All sell books and memorabilia on site and on their websites.
    There are many more presidential homes & museums that I have not recommended, but can be found online.

    Posted by Lisa Buestrin on July 9,2009 | 05:35 PM

    I do not think all the presidential homes and museums that Lisa mentioned are part of the National Archives system. C-Span did a wonderful series on the Presidential Libraries administered by them. It was in the fall of 2008, I believe.
    I have visited the Eisenhower, Truman, Nixon and Reagan in Simi Valley and have the remainder on my bucket list. I hope I live long enough to visit many of the presidential wives homes also. This is a wonderful article and I agree with several others, the last paragraph is wonderfu.

    Posted by Mary Lou Warren on July 12,2009 | 07:17 PM

    What a wonderful piece. What a blessed lot we Americans are to have the opportunity to live in the greatest nation in the world, but to be able to celebrate the homes of those who made a huge contribution to making it so.

    Posted by Patricia Powers on July 23,2009 | 06:44 PM

    I feel that to neglect the wives we would be missing out on a great part of who our presidents were. At Julia Dent's home is a beautiful cabin that President U. S Grant built for his loving wife. I cannot wait to visit other homes on this list.

    Posted by Rosalia Whiteman on July 23,2009 | 08:01 PM

    This is a very interesting article, and it is wonderful to hear of the measures being taken to preserve these historic homes so they may be enjoyed by Americans for generations to come. However, there is some incorrect information in the photo gallery for this article. The caption next to Edith Bolling Wilson's birthplace reads, "Edith Bolling Wilson’s two-story brick house is located in Wyethville, Va. Wilson lived here with her husband, former President Woodrow Wilson." The correct spelling of the town's name is Wytheville, and Edith and Woodrow never lived in this house together. The Bolling family left the house several years before Edith met Woodrow.

    Posted by Betsy Reed on July 24,2009 | 12:41 PM

    My, what a wonderful informative article. Makes one want to travel and see some of our history. We miss out on so much of our history that is vitally important.

    Thanks,
    Adeline

    Posted by Adeline Smith on July 25,2009 | 08:20 AM

    I like the piece ending as well!

    Posted by D'Andre on July 31,2009 | 05:50 PM

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