The Victorian-era home of 19th U.S. President Rutherford B. Hayes in Fremont.
Thomas Ondrey, The Plain Dealer
Ohio’s presidential sites are both modest and elaborate, ranging from Ulysses S. Grant’s one-room schoolhouse east of Cincinnati to Rutherford B. Hayes’ Victorian-era mansion in Fremont.
To see them all would take several days, traveling from Mentor to Canton, Marion to Cincinnati and beyond.
Interested? Check out our slideshow of Ohio’s presidents and their special places in the state. Then hit the road – on your own campaign to learn more about Ohio’s presidential past.
William Henry Harrison
Library of Congress
William Henry Harrison, 9th President
Served: 1841
Harrison was born in 1773 in Virginia – Virginia claims him as one of their eight presidents, too – and he settled in the Northwest Territory after fighting alongside Anthony Wayne in the Battle of Fallen Timbers. He served as secretary of the Northwest Territory, governor of the Indiana Territory and congressman from Ohio before being elected President. He lived in North Bend, west of Cincinnati.
Harrison Tomb in North Bend, Ohio
Ohio History Connection
To see: Following his death in 1841 – he was president for just 32 days – Harrison's body was brought back in a river procession of black-draped barges. The Harrison family tomb in North Bend contains the bodies of Harrison, his wife, and their son, John Scott, the father of President Benjamin Harrison.
Open: The tomb is closed during winter months, though the grounds are open. Information: hsmfmuseum.org
Also: The Harrison Symmes Museum in nearby Cleves, offers exhibits on both Harrison presidencies.
Ulysses S. Grant
AP
Ulysses S. Grant, 18th President
Served: 1869-1877
Grant, born in 1822, lived for just one year in the Ohio River town of Point Pleasant. His family moved to nearby Georgetown in 1823. The son of a tanner, Grant enrolled at West Point at age 17 in part to get away from the family business. A wildly popular war hero, he was the first President elected after the end of the Civil War.
U.S. Grant boyhood home in Georgetown, Ohio.
Ohio History Connection
To see: The U.S. Grant Birthplace in Point Pleasant is open Wednesday through Sunday, April through October. Cost is $3.
The U.S. Grant Boyhood Home and Schoolhouse are about 20 miles away, in Georgetown, and are open Wednesday through Sunday, May through October. Cost is $5.
Rutherford B. Hayes
Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center
Rutherford B. Hayes, 19th President
Served: 1877-1881
Hayes, born in Delaware, Ohio in 1822, was a lawyer, Army general, congressman and governor of Ohio before getting elected to the presidency in 1876 – in one of the most controversial elections in U.S. history. He vowed to serve only one term, and kept that promise. After the presidency, he returned to Spiegel Grove, his estate in Fremont.
Hanging in the Rutherford B. Hayes home in Fremont: a portrait of the President with his daughter, Franny.
Thomas Ondrey, The Plain Dealer
To see: The Hayes Home, recently restored to its Victorian-era appearance, is open Tuesday through Sunday, with Monday hours resuming in April. The house also is open Presidents Day, Feb. 15. Cost is $7.50.
The adjacent museum is closed for renovation and will reopen in late May.
James A. Garfield
The Plain Dealer
James A. Garfield, 20th President
Served: 1881
The last of the log-cabin presidents, Garfield was born in Orange Township (modern-day Moreland Hills), just east of Cleveland in 1831. He rose from humble beginnings to serve as president of Hiram College, a nine-term congressman and military general before being elected President.
James A. Garfield National Historic Site in Mentor.
Thomas Ondrey, The Plain Dealer
To see: The James A. Garfield National Historic Site in Mentor features the Victorian-era home purchased by Garfield in 1876 and expanded several years later. About 80 percent of the home's furnishings are original to the Garfield family.
The house is open year-round, daily May through October and Friday, Saturday and Sunday, November through April. Cost is $7.
Also: Don't miss the James A. Garfield Monument in Cleveland's Lake View Cemetery. The 180-foot-tall monument, a work of art, was dedicated in 1890. Open April through November.
Benjamin Harrison
Library of Congress
Benjamin Harrison, 23rd President
Served: 1889 to 1893
Born in 1833 on a farm near Cincinnati, Harrison studied at Miami University, practiced law in Cincinnati and moved to Indianapolis in 1854.
Ohio History Connection
What's to see: The Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site is in Indianapolis. His birthplace home, in North Bend, Ohio, was destroyed by fire in 1858. An Ohio Historical Marker marks its location, at the corner of Symmes and Washington streets, two blocks from the Ohio River.
William McKinley
Associated Press
William McKinley, 25th President
Served: 1897-1901
William McKinley was born in Niles in 1843, but spent most of his professional life in Canton. He served in the U.S. Army under fellow Ohioan (and future president) Rutherford B. Hayes, spent 14 years in Congress representing Ohio and was a two-term governor of the state.
A McKinley rocking chair on display at the McKinley Museum in Canton.
John Petkovic, The Plain Dealer
What to see: There are several Northeast Ohio sites that pay tribute to McKinley, though his boyhood home in Niles and famous "front porch" residence in Canton are no longer standing. In Canton, the McKinley Presidential Library and Museum offers a gallery filled with McKinley exhibits and artifacts, childhood to presidency. Open daily. Admission is $9.
Nearby, the McKinley National Memorial, a 96-foot-high domed mausoleum, was dedicated in 1907. It is the final resting place for McKinley and his wife, Ida Saxton McKinley. Open: April 1 through Nov. 1.
In Niles, the McKinley Birthplace Museum also features a gallery of McKinley memorabilia from his years in office and before. Open: Monday through Thursday. Free.
William Howard Taft, at the McKinley Memorial in Canton.
Andrew L. Kraffert
William Howard Taft, 27th President
Served: 1909-1913
Born in 1857 in Cincinnati, Taft – from a prominent family in Ohio -- was a judge before and after his four years in the White House, and he much preferred law to politics. He is the only President to have also served as chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.
William Howard Taft National Historic Site in Cincinnati.
William Howard Taft National Historic Site
What to see: The William Howard Taft National Historic Site includes the home where Taft was born and spent his first 18 years. It's in the wealthy Mount Auburn neighborhood of Cincinnati. It became a National Park Service site in 1970. Open: 8 a.m.-4 p.m. daily. Free.
Warren Harding
Margaret Carlson | Bloomberg News
Warren G. Harding, 29th President
Served: 1921-1923
Harding, born outside Marion in 1865, worked as a newspaper publisher, state senator and U.S. senator before getting elected to the presidency in 1920. He served less than three years of his term; he died in 1923 of a heart attack.
The Harding Home in Marion.
Ohio History Connection
What to see: The Harding Home in Marion was inhabited by Warren and Florence Harding from 1891 through 1921, when they moved to the White House. It's been open to the public since 1926 and includes thousands of original family artifacts. Open: Wednesday through Sunday, May 7 through Nov. 6 (and by appointment). Admission: $7.
Also: The Harding Memorial, dedicated in 1931, is nearby, the burial site of the president and first lady. It's located about a mile south of the Harding Home, and is open year round.
First Ladies National Historic Site in Canton.
Lisa DeJong, The Plain Dealer
First Ladies National Historic Site, Canton
To learn more about the women behind the men in the White House, take a trip to Canton, home of the First Ladies National Historic Site, which opened in 1998. Visitors can tour the childhood home of Ida Saxton McKinley, the wife of 25th President William McKinley. This was also the primary home of Ida and William McKinley during McKinley’s years in Congress.
The First Ladies site also includes the Education and Research Center in a nearby building, which hosts rotating exhibits. Currently on display: "A Gift to Cherish." The site is open Tuesday through Saturday. Admission: $7. Information: firstladies.org, nps.gov/fila.
When will an Ohioan next occupy the Oval Office?
Susan Walsh
More on Ohioans in the Oval Office
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