Thursday, May 8, 2025. Been out on the road 8 days. Doing well.
Couple of thoughts before I tell about my day.
Many entities own or control these presidential sites, from John Tyler's family still owns the plantation (his grandson is still alive!) to cities and states. Several are private residences and are not open to the public. The National Archives only controls the 13 from Hoover to Bush (43). Benjamin Harrison's home is actually owned by a local university but is leased to the foundation for $1.00 a year. William Henry Harrison's home is owned by the DAR, who kept it from ruin and keep it in beautiful shape! Many are run by the National Park Service.
OK, I told myself to call these places before driving there, so that I don't go "Oops!" which I did today. The USS LST 325 is closed for repairs but will reopen this weekend. Didn't fit, but I was able to see it from shore and buy my fridge magnet!
William Henry Harrison's house from when he was Indiana's territorial governor is Vincennes, along with a national historic site to George Rogers Clark, older brother of the guy from Lewis and Clark. Apparently there was significant action there during the Revolutionary War. There is a large domed monument.
Vincennes hosts the first college in Indiana, as well as the Red Skelton Museum of Humor. It sits along the Wabash River.
President Harrison only lasted about 30 days as president, so the house tour focuses on his time as territorial governor. Very interesting. The house is well restored, although the wallpaper probably bears little resemblance to the original.
Portrait of the President. Not the original wallpaper, but I liked it!
I joined the house tour to find the others were a home-school group, from 10 years old all the way to preschoolers. Several asked some pretty good questions. They were well behaved but did not understand the admonition to do the stairs in single file.
I had a very good grilled white fish for lunch and headed for Evansville where I discovered I could not tour the 310 foot WWII amphibious ship that participated in the D-Day landings. So, I headed for Kentucky, close to Lincoln's birthplace.
In Kentucky, I discovered the time zones are not in a straight line! I drove in and out of Central and Eastern Time. I got to the hotel not really knowing what time it really was! But I added Kentucky to the list of states I have visited. I now only lack four and hope to fix that in the next few years.
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