July 16, 2018

Mississauga Ontario to Sagamore Hills Ohio

We loaded the car, enjoyed the hugs and kisses goodbye and headed down the road. We hope to see one another soon.

We drove to the international border crossing near Niagara Falls. No time to stop to see the falls this time, but we've been there a couple of times in the recent in past. It was a surprisingly easy cross into the US, and back in our country again. We drove from Ontario through New York a little bit.  We made an interesting detour to Westfield, NY to find a statue of Abraham Lincoln and a little girl.  Before the election in 1860, she had written to him to say he would be more successful if he grew a beard.  He followed her advice, won the election and stopped on his way to Washington to thank her.  The statue in the center of town commemorated that event. 

Back on the Interstate, we drove through the northeast section of Pennsylvania and then we arrived in Ohio.

We wanted to stop at one of the presidential sites in Ohio. This was the site run by the National Park Service dedicated to James a Garfield. We knew very little about Garfield before arriving except that he was one of the Ohio born presidents, and was shot and killed after only a few months as president.

As it turns out he was actually a very interesting man. Someone said he was the person who was the most prepared to be president over anyone else who would ever been elected. He was rather a Renaissance man had many talents was a college professor taught Latin and Greek loved. Turned out to be a whiz in economics, and use that talent in the US House of Representatives. He was also a general in the Civil War and was quite an abolitionist and really fought for civil rights. He surprised us with being a pretty great guy. And then was shot by a person was who was disgruntled that Garfield didn't give him a job in his administration.

The Garfield site was in the house where he had lived with his wife and children in northeast Ohio. It started as rather a small house and then had a couple of really large additions put onto it. It was on this house site that he did his front porch campaign for president. In those days rather than political candidates zipping around the country making speeches, they were supposed to remain quietly at home.  But, he was considered the best orator in the party and gave many impromptu speeches in which he responded to the concerns of his audience. The word went out and people came to the house.  There was a railroad stop on the edge of his property. It is said that Garfield spoke to more than 17,000 people off of his front step in a couple of months while he was running for president.

We had the chance to take a tour led by a park ranger of the house. It was gorgeous! With lots of beautiful woodwork, much of the original furniture and copies of the original wallpaper. We were so surprised at the extensive nature of what was available in this house. And also really glad we had another chance to enjoy a beautiful part of American history.

When he was shot, and lingered for nearly three months.  Someone set up a bank account in New York where people could send donations to him and his wife and children. Really a lot like a go-fund-me account of  his day. When he finally died, there was the equivalent of today's money $9 million in that account. His wife decided she wanted to make sure he was not forgotten so she had built quite a castle for him in which he was buried in a cemetery in Cleveland. We also had a chance to drive and see the outside of it. She also created what really was the first presidential library collecting her husband's books and papers which are now in the Library of Congress.

We were pleased to return to an Airbnb just south of Cleveland. This is the home of Tom and Lori, the delightful Airbnb owners that we have stayed with before. Both of them are very interesting people and avid bike rider's. We were so glad to arrive, settle in and cooking a beautiful dinner for ourselves, and then spend later time of the evening chatting with the two of them. It'll be a nice little break staying with them for three nights.