316: IN MORELAND HILLS, I FOUND PEACE WITH REESE AT THE START OF OUR ‘LIFE OF GARFIELD TOUR’

After I had returned from a trip to Kansas City, Missouri on August 5th, I was placed alongside my bobble head friends where we endured the agony of watching and listening to an endless number of political advertisements on television. As a matter of fact, the misery of those ads continued for exactly three months, and I heard the words immigrants, transgenders, border czar, and Bidenomics so many times I felt like I wanted to scarf-down a Springfield dog or cat myself.

But in the midst of all the mudslinging, name calling, and down-right lies on television, my photographer decided we needed to take one final trip in 2024 to quench our Presidential thirst. Tom also felt there was no better way to end our twelfth year of traveling together than to try and gain access to a home that’s been on our bucket list since we first saw the exterior on August 17, 2015. Yes, I’m talking about the two-and-one-half story home in Hiram, Ohio which was owned by James and Lucretia Garfield from 1863 to 1874.

While half of me had hoped Tom could get permission for us to visit the interior of what’s known today as the Garfield-Robbins-Zimmerman House in Hiram, the other half of me was more apprehensive because of the building’s alleged paranormal activity over the years. I love standing in the footsteps of our Presidents. But in that house, there was a chance I might meet one of them, whether I was ready or not.

On October 28, 2024, my photographer set the trip’s wheels in motion when he sent an email to a group known as Garfield Trail Ohio. That non-profit organization preserves and promotes the legacy of James A. Garfield and his family at four historic sites in Northeast Ohio – the Garfield birth site in Moreland Hills; Hiram College, where James attended school, preached, married, taught, and began his political career; Lawnfield, which was Garfield’s historic farm in Mentor; and of course, the President’s final resting place in Cleveland’s Lake View Cemetery.

Before that sunny, but cool, Monday afternoon in Michigan was over, my photographer had received a response to his request, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen him giddier. He looked like a guy who just found a Coupe de Ville hiding in the bottom of a Cracker Jack box. Not only did it look like we might get inside the Hiram home, but the email came from President Garfield’s great-great grandson Tim Garfield, who’s also the Executive Director of the Garfield Trail. I was as stunned as my camera guy because it appeared we were going to meet a direct descendant of the Preacher President, who happens to be one of our favorites.

Election Day 2024 turned out to be a day that will live in infamy, and not because of Donald J. Trump. That afternoon, roughly seven hours after my photographer and his wife exercised their right to vote, Tim Garfield sent my cameraman the itinerary and official confirmation for our visit, which was scheduled to kick-off at eleven o’clock on the morning of November 15th. Mr. Garfield had arranged for us to visit four places associated with Hiram College – Buckingham Place, the Garfield-Robbins-Zimmerman House, Koritansky Hall (Mecca Church), and last but not least, the Garfield Archives inside the Hiram College Library. Garfield also arranged for some very prestigious folks from the college to serve as our hosts during our visit as well. And for the icing on the cake, Tim also mentioned we’d be visited by Lucretia Garfield herself at some point during our visit.

Tom’s alarm rang at 4:00am on Friday November 15, 2024, which meant we were less than two hours from heading out on our final trip of the year. One change to the original plans; Bob Moldenhauer was unable to make the trip. Taking Bob’s place on that two-day adventure, however, was my photographer’s wife Vicki and their ten-year-old granddaughter Reese Fiscelli, who has recently found a passion for American history after she portrayed Betsy Ross for a third-grade school project in 2023. As a matter of fact, Reese donned a black 1860s-style dress and portrayed Mary Todd Lincoln for Halloween this year.

After Tom carefully placed me inside the padded camera case, he set the case alongside Reese in the backseat of our Jeep Grand Cherokee moments before Vicki backed out of our driveway at precisely 5:41am. Even though it was still over an hour before sunrise, it was easy to tell the sky was overcast and there was a threat of rain in the air. And by the time my photographer’s wife was exceeding the speed limit on the Ohio Turnpike, the threat of rain became a reality. All we could do was hope the drizzle would stop by the time we made it to our first site – which was the James A. Garfield Birth Site Park in Moreland Hills, Ohio.

It was a minute before nine-thirty when Vicki navigated the Jeep into a parking place across the lot from the office of the Moreland Hills mayor. After Tom handed Reese his secondary camera for her to use, the ten-year-old danced along the brick pathway that led visitors towards the replica log cabin. I laughed to myself because I thought Reese looked like Dorothy on her way to see the wizard. And in a sense, she WAS Dorothy – this was Reese’s first-ever visit to a Presidential site, and she was on her way to the Emerald City with Vicki the lioness, Tom the brainless straw guy, and me, the stainless-steel and resin-hearted bobble head.

In my eyes, this was hallowed ground we were walking on. This land was not only where James Abram Garfield was born on November 19, 1831, but it was also where his legend took shape – even though it began with tragedy. In May 1833, a fire engulfed the woods near their cabin and the future President’s father, Abram Garfield, managed to extinguish the blaze before it destroyed their farm. Days later, the elder Garfield fell ill with a fever and died – leaving James fatherless before his second birthday.

We had spent about ten minutes admiring the replica cabin when Tom pointed the way to the trail which led to the actual birth site. The first thing I noticed was how much the entire park had changed. During my last visit on May 19, 2019, my photographer and Bob Moldenhauer took me along a rugged path into the woods where the three of us went on a “wild goose chase” in search of the boulder which marked the precise birth site.

Since our visit over five years ago, the Garfield Trail organization spearheaded a project and had a wooden walkway constructed that led to the birth site marker. As Tom carried me along the wooden walkway, which was still damp from the morning rain, the incredible silence was broken only by an occasional automobile speeding past on the nearby highway.

When we reached the end of the wooden path, I saw the same boulder I had stood on in 2019. Now, everything looked different. Gone were the brush and a few trees which nearly obscured the marker five year ago; plus, some of the wild foliage was replaced with a well-defined outline of the 20′ by 30′ cabin where James Garfield was born. The organization also added a handful of informational signs which told the story of the Garfield’s time in Moreland Hills.

Even though archeologists never unearthed any artifacts from the site, they were confident the ground where my photographer set me in the damp grass and leaves was in fact where the Abram Garfield had built his cabin in 1829. Even after Abram died in the cabin in 1833, the family lived at that farm for another 13 years before the Garfield’s moved away.

When Tom placed me in the leaf-filled vegetation within the outline of the cabin site, I was immediately overcome by where I was standing. For it was here where young James first learned to walk at nine months of age; and a month later, the boy was climbing ladders. Garfield was intelligently advanced; so much so, in fact, the lad was reading as a three-year-old. In comparison, President Andrew Johnson was married before he could read.

Fatherless before the age of two, James Garfield grew up in poverty and his early childhood on the farm was anything but easy – even though his mother, Eliza, did her best to coddle her son. Off the farm, however, it was a completely different story. Garfield once recalled, “I was made the ridicule and sport of boys that had father and enjoyed the luxuries of life.”

I looked at the land surrounding me and it was easy to see the accident-prone youngster cutting himself with an axe as he chopped-down a tree or falling on his face while doing his chores. And when the teenager’s dreams of becoming a sailor were dashed when the boy fell overboard fourteen times while working on the canal, that might have a been a blessing in disguise. One day, Garfield became ill with a fever and returned home to get better – all with the goal of someday making it to the sea. That was when Eliza stepped in, and with the help of a local teacher, convinced James to resume his education instead.

While James A. Garfield never had a chance to excel in the White House and was, quite frankly, most famous for being the first President after Abraham Lincoln to be assassinated, it was his rags-to-riches story that intrigued me the most. Unlike JFK, the two Roosevelts, and Donald Trump, who were all born with silver spoons in their mouths, Garfield used his gifted mind, unwavering integrity, and impeccable work ethic to rise up from the ashes of poverty and climb the political ladder to the White House after a heroic stint in the Civil War.

Although it had been an incredible experience for Tom and me to revisit the birth site of President Garfield, the moment was made even more special when we saw the enthusiasm, excitement, and passion on Reece’s face. Although Tom celebrated his August 19th birthday by taking his ten-year-old granddaughter to Henry Ford Museum where the ten-year-old got a close-up look at Lincoln’s rocking chair from Ford’s Theater, JFK’s limo from Dallas, and Rosa Parks bus, the Garfield Birth Site Park was her first-ever actual Presidential site. During our entire visit, I thought Reese would need plastic surgery to remove the huge ear-to-ear grin from her face.

I laughed to myself when I heard Reese say to her grandfather as we made our way back to the Jeep, “Papa, this place was really cool.” Tom replied, “Reecie, you ain’t seen nothing yet. The birth site was good, but all you really saw was a huge boulder and a replica log cabin. Of the four places you’re going to visit in the next day or so, this will be the least impressive of them all. Everything else will blow you away!”

Once we had returned to the Jeep, the four us were ready to make the 24-mile journey to Hiram, Ohio where we had an eleven o’clock appointment with history. Hiram College was where James Garfield had once lived, learned, loved, lectured and left his legacy. I couldn’t wait to stand in his footsteps, and I was definitely antsy to meet the President’s flesh-and-blood legacy as well. That’s right, Tom, Vicki, Reese, and I were about to shake hands with the President’s great-great grandson. And to think, I never imagined anything could top the moment when Congresswoman Lisa McClain kissed me on the nose inside the Capitol Building. But now, I was about to meet a Garfield. Tim Garfield, that is!