Visit to two Grant Homes in St. Louis Mo.
I visited the two Grant homes in St. Louis Mo. on June 25, 2004. We were visiting my brother and his family and decided to spend the day at Grant's Farm, a 281 acre wildlife preserve owned by the Anheuser - Busch Company. It is on land once owned by Ulysses Grant.
At Grant's Farm is his cabin, Hardscrabble. Built by the President in the 1850s. We had to ride in a shuttle along a the route and it didn't stop at the cabin, they just pointed it out..
Down the street from Grant's Farm (walking distance) is the Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site. The home is known as White Haven and the Grant's lived there off and on in the 1850s.
We got to White Haven at about 4:45, fifteen minutes before closing. We went into the Visitors Center, and the gentleman told me they were closed. I started to get a little mad, and said, "but the sign says you close at 5:00!" Sure, it does, but the last tour leaves at 4:15. At this point he told me, I couldn't see the house.. I told him what I was doing with my website and everything and how far I came. He started to give me this song and dance about how he couldn't leave his post in the gift shop, and it was too far for me to walk up there without a park ranger, and the other ranger was up at the house locking up.
Finally I said, "Tell the other ranger all I want to do is run up there, get a couple of pictures, and come back down. I'll be less then 5 minutes." I used all my lines like, "Look, I work in a Museum too, and I know you want to get out of here, but I'll just be a minute.
The other ranger agreed to watch us while we were at the house, and Peggy and I took off running up the hill to the house. (After we made a donation of course.)
The house is up a small hill about 100 yards from the Visitors Center. We took a couple of pictures, and by the time we got done with the pictures, the other ranger was with us, and we all walked back to the visitors center together, and I had another Presidential Site under my belt. |
