From Nashville (The Hermitage) to Kinderhook, New York – President Martin Van Buren is from the Hudson Valley.

Ken and I didn’t know much about Van Buren before we visited, but as we were waiting for the guide to start the tour (we were the only ones there), we talked to him about our interest in presidential history. I joked with him that we had a book at home of President houses and that we rated all our tour guides. We ended up with the best tour ever – he was doing his doctorate dissertation on Van Buren and was glad to tell us everything he knew. Which was a lot. And we came away feeling like we had gotten our money’s worth. The guide was great.

President Van Buren thought this would be the place he could live out the rest of is life after his term in office.  The house had been built by Peter Van Ness, and was inherited by his son – but his son got into financial trouble and lost the house.  Fifteen years and a lot of damage later, Van Buren bought the house for $14,000. Immediately he made improvements and turned the house and 220 acres into a working farm. The home also had running water, a furnace and a stove.

Van Buren, a man of exquisite taste, knocked out the original staircase to make larger rooms and imported 51 wallpaper panels from France.  He also hung portraits of friends such as Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson.  When his son Smith and his family moved in with him, Van Buren agreed to let him make even more changes.

Martin Van Buren reigned at Lindenwald until his death.   He lived on a busy road and when people (many of them famous politicians) – stopped by – he was in his glory. He loved debating the issues of the day.

But what about Hannah Van Buren?

Martin and Hannah were childhood sweethearts in Kinderhook (Dutch word for children’s corner) and married in their early 20s. Kinderhook was a Dutch town and Hannah only spoke Dutch – so it was very difficult for her when after their marriage, they moved twelve miles away.  Within a few years, the Van Buren’s had five sons – four of whom lived to adulthood. But Hannah was always weak and having five children close together didn’t help. Besides, her husband was often away involved in his politics and Hannah was left at home to care for her boys. She died of tuberculosis at age 35. Martin had been a widower for 18 years before he became president and was one of only a few presidents who was a bachelor during his term. His daughter -in-law, Angelica Van Buren, served as hostess.

Backtracking … back to Washington.

During the Revolutionary War, Martha Washington often joined her husband on the road – especially in the winter when the army stayed in one location. The major goals? To reevaluate their tactics and for the army to simply survive.

Two of those winters were spent in Morristown, New Jersey.

One soldier wrote: On the 14th of December we reached the wilderness, about three miles from Morristown, where we are to build log huts for winter quarters. Our baggage is left in the rear for wagons to transport it. The snow on the ground is about two feet deep, and the weather extremely cold.

During that winter, 1,000 14 x 16 huts were built – each housing 12 soldiers. Little food was available and loose straw was gathered in piles to make their beds. Some soldiers didn’t take off their down jackets until April. (Can you imagine the smell? Though maybe their noses were so frozen, they couldn’t smell.) A thousand men deserted the army that winter, but most didn’t. It is said that if the army hadn’t stuck together through those long, cold months – the war would’ve been lost to the British.

Meanwhile, a widow with four young children offered her home – the finest in Morristown to General and Mrs. Washington. Here Washington had daily meetings with his officers to plan strategy and solve problems.

This was not a successful visit. Again this was on our October 2001 trip and GPS systems weren’t common. We arrived in Morristown early in the morning, wanting to visit Washington’s HQ and then go on to other places. But the first five people we asked had no idea where the house was located, indeed, none of them even spoke English. We finally found a policeman who steered us sort of in the right direction.

We finally found it, looked at some exhibits, watched a video and then had a tour by a guide who absolutely told us nothing. Seriously, you can usually pick up something from a tour – but not this one. One other family took the tour with us and they had a ten-year-old boy. For some reason this guy totally focused on the kid as if the rest of us weren’t even in the room. I’ve been on a lot of tours with schoolkids and have really enjoyed them because the guides often bring out interesting stories, etc. But nothing here. Ken, knowing quite a bit about history, asked some great questions, but didn’t get any real answers.

We gave up.

But this was Washington’s house – at least for a winter. Here Ken and Kelli at least try to get something out of the exhibits.

From the 2008 visit.

Pictures from the 2008 visit.

View from the back.

Another view from the back.

Some of Andrew Jackson’s cotton. Visitors are allowed to pick.

We were quite a distance from the house, looking at a slave cabin when a torrent of rain came down. But then we thought – how many people could say they were stuck in Andrew Jackson’s slave cabin in a rain storm?

Andrew and Rachel’s graves in the garden.

I’ve always been intrigued by Rachel Jackson – and excited about visiting The Heritage.

I have read many of Irving Stone’s books, including The President’s Lady, his book about Rachel.

Rachel, the daughter of a prominent family (her father was a member of The House of Burgesses) married Colonel Lewis Robards – a man with a fierce temper and fits of jealousy. His treatment of her was so cruel,  she went home to live with her parents. But when Lewis came to the house and promised he had changed, she listened and went back to Kentucky with her husband.

But he hadn’t changed and once again the abuse was unbearable. Andrew Jackson (a boarder at her parents’ home) went to rescue her.

Finally, Robards told Rachel he had filed for divorce and that the divorce was final. Rachel married Andrew Jackson – only to learn that her first husband had not legally divorced her. The proper paperwork was finalized and Rachel and Andrew married again – but the situation haunted them for the rest of their lives. Andrew Jackson fought 13 duels for his wife’s honor – even killing one man.

The Jackson’s couldn’t have children but adopted one of Rachel’s nephews and raised him as their own. He became  Andrew Jackson’s private secretary. Jackson won a close election and once again Rachel’s sordid past was the topic of gossip. The attacks were above cruel. Andrew tried to keep them from Rachel, but of course, she knew.

Two weeks after her husband won the presidential election, but before his actual inauguration, she died. No one is exactly sure why – but many scholars think it was because of a broken heart, a result of being the center of so much nasty gossip.

Ken and I visited The Hermitage in 1998. A tornado had gone through the property in April, destroying many of the trees that Andrew had planted – and also hitting the nephew’s nearby home,  Tulip Grove,  to such an extent that you couldn’t go near it.

I went back to The Hermitage in 2008 with my friend, Sue – that’s when I took these pictures. The day was thunderstorm rainy.

When I was there with Ken, they gave us headphones. You need to punch in  a number and a recording would tell you what you were seeing. They did that this time, too, but not for the house itself. This time they had tour guides in the house so you could actually ask questions and get more information.

Alas, I don’t think I’m supposed to see Tulip Grove. This time, we could drive to the house, but it was only open on weekdays (we were there on a Sunday).  That’s Tulip Grove below. There is also a church by Tulip Grove. Andrew built it for Rachel and the community, but would not join. He told her that, as a politician, he shouldn’t belong to a church and promised her he would join when he got out of office. Which he did.

September 17, 2008 | Permalink

The tourguide at the Monroe house was nervous (maybe new) but with lots of interesting stories that make touring a house fun.

One story I remember is this …

Smallpox was a common disease back in the 1700s and often left huge scars or pockmarks on the faces of its victims.

Women would spread melted wax on their faces to cover the marks (how painful is THAT!), wait for the wax to cool and then cover it with makeup for a smooth “finish.”

Of course, many homes were heated by fireplaces and for women with the wax-preparation, getting too close to the fire might mean a melted face.

Hence the saying – “Mind your beeswax.”

———————

#John Adams was the sixth president and I have not been to his house, so I will continue with Andrew Jackson,  a house I have been to twice – in the rain.

James Monroe did not live on a huge estate like Washington or Jefferson, but Monroe’s house definitely had its own uniqueness.

Monroe, being a good friend to Jefferson, wanted to move near Monticello so he bought some property about two and a half miles away from Jefferson’s estate. He had no sooner purchased it, however, than Washington appointed him minister to France. Happily, Monroe and his family left Virginia – but not wanting the land to just sit there, he asked Jefferson to find a good spot for the house and to make plans for its construction.  Jefferson did so. He chose a spot high on a hill so that Monroe could see Monticello in the distance.

Then Jefferson planned the doorway of the house, but instead of it being a normal door, he built it too small for a normal person to walk through – in other words, you need to bend over to go through the door – literally causing anyone coming out of Monroe’s house to “bow” before Monticello.

Monroe called the house Highlands. Later it was called Ashlawn and is now usually called a combination of the two.

Meanwhile, there were problems over in France – not that Monroe didn’t get along with the French, but that he was getting along with them too well. In fact, Washington called him home because of his friendliness, but sent him back again at which time he made the Louisiana Purchase. Monroe considered this his biggest achievement.

Monroe’s wife, the former  Elizabeth Kortwright, and his two daughters Eliza and Maria also became very Frencified. Eliza attended a school run by a former lady-in-waiting to Marie Antoinette and became good friends with Napoleon’s daughter. One thing the school taught her was to be a snob. Elizabeth herself was honored for adapting French culture instead of remaining a “stubborn American.”

When the Monroes came back to America – mom and daughters brought the rules of snobbishness with them. Elizabeth was soon nicknamed “Queen Elizabeth” because she refused to pay or return calls from anyone and wouldn’t visit the wives of the diplomatic corps as other First Ladies had done.  Often Eliza served as hostess because her mother was “ill.”  Some accounts think she had epilepsy. Others that she was just being snobbish. Eliza was also disliked because of her “airs.”

Naturally, furniture in the White House and at Highand/Ashlawn was also French.  The American people loved elegant, but down-home Dolley Madison and Elizabeth Monroe’s above-it-all attitude simply did not sit well. They didn’t like that she replaced Dolley’s White House furnishings.

When you tour Ashlawn, you see a rather small farmhouse decorated as a French chateau. (Only the white part in the picture above was the original house – the two story addition did not come to long after Monroes sold the house.) Objects on display include gifts from Napoleon’s daughter.

Unfortunately, by the time Monroe left the White House, he was $75,000 in debt and had to sell his beloved house. For the next several years, the house had several owners, but in 1863 was purchased by a Baptist minister named John Massey. (Hmmm … I’ll have to check into that.) He is the one who built the two story addition for the purpose of educating newly-freed slaves. Then in 1930, the Massey family sold it to a businessman, Jay Winston Johns who began restoring it and collecting Monroe furnishings. The home is now owned by the College of of William and Mary. One of the pieces of original furniture is a desk given them by James Madison, who was best man at their wedding.

We visited Ashlawn the same day we visited Monticello.

Authentic faith is a phrase that has found its way into sermons and seminars. Generally defined – it’s faith that’s part of your life 24/7, faith where you take what you believe out of the church doors and into your cubicle, your school and street.

I would say this about few people, but today I went to the funeral of one who exemplified authentic faith.

I went to the funeral of Craig Phillips.

Craig didn’t need sermons or seminars to know what it means to have authentic faith – Craig just lived out – as one person described it today – a Bible-based life.

Raised in a wealthy home on the North Shore of Chicago (complete with butlers and maids), Craig went on to land a successful job in a Fortune 500 company.  But he came to realize that money was not the answer to life’s problems. Christ is.

From that time on, Craig’s life became one of helping others -

And one of the areas were Craig helped the most was at the Wayside Cross Mission – something he did until just recently. This wasn’t a once a month trip downtown, or even once a week trip downtown – Craig was at the mission every morning, six days a week, being a friend to men who had hit rock bottom. Even in recent  years – in his late eighties – Craig made that daily trip to teach a Bible study called the Master’s Touch to the men at the mission.

Today’s funeral was filled with those men, some who read Scripture, some who gave their testimonies. They all said the same thing, “Craig was always willing to pray with me. Craig was the father I never had. Craig was a friend who really cared.” The funeral home was packed with guys, huge, muscular guys – who were crying at the loss of their friend.

———–

But Craig was more than someone we knew about. On the seventh day of the week, when Craig didn’t do his class at the mission, he came to church.

Often at the close of Ken’s sermons, Craig would stand up, “Pastor, could I just say one thing?” he would ask and then continue to share a verse  that went along with Ken’s message. Ken didn’t mind. He loved Craig. Every Thursday he would meet with Craig and some other men for breakfast.

And always, always when Ken came home from church and emptied out his pockets – there with the kleenex and the coins and all the other stuff – would be a crumbled note of encouragement that Craig would’ve written during the service and handed to Ken on the way out.

That was just who Craig was.

———

Craig planned his own funeral and one of the things he wanted was it to be at a place close enough to the mission so that his beloved men could get there.

They did.

We’ll miss you, Craig!

To read more about Craig Phillips – here’s an article that Joe Stowell wrote about him.

If you had the opportunity to visit just one presidential home – this isn’t it.

Though you might think it would be.  Like Mt. Vernon and Monticello, Montpelier is a beautiful estate. And Dolley Madison was certainly one of our more colorful first ladies so you’d  think the house she lived in would give you a feel for that personality.

James Madison inherited the home from his parents in 1809 – but he and Dolley had actually lived in it earlier. His father built it in 1760.  Dolley, of course, was a great entertainer and Montpelier was the site of the first icebox in Virginia. (Dolley was also the first to serve ice cream at the White House.)

Madison, in fact, thought that someday his home might be a tourist attraction and actually built on to it with future tourists in mind. However (and this is where the problem arises) after he died, Dolley sold Montepelier and the furniture was also sold or given away. For the next fifty years, the estate was owned by six different owners until 1901 when William du Pont Sr. bought it. He added a second floor, more than doubling the square footage. Besides the structure looking different from the original, the brick was covered with yellow stucco. The house stayed in the du Pont family until 1983 when the National Trust for Historic Preservation purchased it.

And as the National Trust for Historic Preservation is historically preserving it,  they’re paying as much attention to the du Pont history as they are to the Madisons’. Therefore, there just isn’t a lot of original Madison furniture (though there are replicas of furniture from the time period). So, it’s not the same color, it’s not the same size and there isn’t very much inside that James and Dolley sat on, slept on or ate on. I did not come out of there feeling as if I better knew the Madisons.

One part that is an original is the garden temple – although the temple is a piece of Roman civic architecture in the midst of a beautiful garden – it is actually covering the two story-deep ice well which allowed the Madisons to have ice cream and cool drinks all summer. A rarity in the 1800s.

We visited Montpelier a month after 9/11. Ken and I, Kelli and her oldest (and at that time only) munchkin and my mom took a roundabout route to a conference I was doing in Lynchburg. Indeed, the pictures in my scrapbook on the page before these photos are of the damaged Pentagon.

James and Dolley lived at Montpelier until 1836. He was the last living survivor of the Continental Congress an honor which inspired him to say …

Having outlived so many of my contemporaries, I shouldn’t forget that I may be thought to have outlived myself.

The munchkin and her great-grandma talk it over on James and Dolley’s porch

The munchkin visits Montpelier

Me and the munchkin at the Garden Temple

We continue on our not-a-very-good-start track here.

President #2 was John Adams and I haven’t been to Adam’s house.

President #3 was Thomas Jefferson who lived in Monticello.

We went to Monticello on our last just-the-four-of-us vacation.  Both kids came home from their summer jobs and we headed East. This was back before my good before-digital  35mm camera and most of the pictures on this trip I KNOW for sure were taken with our video camera – I know because the video were taken by Jeff in Jeff’s own unique style.Monticello is one of the most well-known Presidential homes, not only because it is considered an architectual masterpiece, but also because it is full of Jefferson’s inventions.  Monticello is on a mountaintop in Albermarle County, Virginia.

You walk into a dome-shaped entrance hall that’s actually a mini-museum planned by Jefferson himself. The hall has bones and a buffalo head and a 7-day clock which keeps track of the days and the hours.  He also built revolving service doors between the kitchen and dining room so the servants wouldn’t have to see the guests and had fourteen skylights built into the roof.

Other inventions include a revolving book stand where Jefferson could have five books open at once to help while he was doing research, a copying machine,  a concave mirror so he could see hidden corners and a solar microscope.

The grounds of Monticello are also magnificent. The plantation stretches for 5000 acres and includes gardens with 170 varieties of fruit and 333 varities of vegetables. The property also has many different varieties of trees.

Perhaps Jefferson himself summed it up the best when in n 1809 he wrote to  friend …

Within a few days I shall bury myself in the groves of Monticello and become a mere spectator to passing events.

Easy to see how he could do that.