After four months of standing on the Presidential bobble head shelf at home, I was anxious to hit the road again. But 2019 began on a sour note when my photographer’s mother passed away on January 4th. I figured with that on his mind, along with the suddenness of our first trip of the year, it gave good reason as to why Tom didn’t perform surgery to fix my damaged left leg. The large crack on my ankle that had broken open during our California trip was still evident; and quite frankly, I tend to get a little self-conscious of it. I like to look good in front of the camera and when my body appears to be falling apart, it’s embarrassing.
My photographer and I got word that a family trip to Great Wolf Lodge in Sandusky, Ohio was scheduled for the weekend of March 16, 2019. As soon as Tom was told about the plans in late February, I heard him say: “Great, that will give me a good opportunity to go back to Fremont and visit Spiegel Grove. There shouldn’t be any chance of a tornado in mid-March and I need to go inside Rutherford B. Hayes’ house.”
Roughly one week before the big day, Tom contacted Spiegel Grove in an attempt to obtain permission to photograph me inside the house. He had learned from their website that photography was prohibited inside the house, but after my photographer explained our Presidential quest to the caretakers, the access that we needed was granted – we were good to go. My camera guy was informed that Spiegel Grove’s own professional photographer Gilbert Gonzalez would guide us into the house for a private tour to several of the significant rooms, including the President’s bedroom where he died.
Saturday March 16, 2019 was chilly and there was a potential snow system brewing between our home and the Ohio border. Our plan was clear; my photographer would take me in his four-wheel drive Dodge Ram, while his wife had planned on riding down to Sandusky with their daughter and her family because none of them wanted to visit ol’ Rutherford’s home. This marked only the second trip where my photographer and I went on a solo Presidential adventure; the first being in 2015 when we traveled alone to West Branch, Iowa to visit Hoover’s birthplace and grave. For this trip, we had a 9:00am scheduled rendezvous with Gil at Spiegel Grove. We left home at 6:00am because Tom didn’t want to be late, and he wasn’t sure how the weather was going to affect the roads. His theory has always been: It’s better to be an hour early than five minutes late. And sure enough, our day was nearly over before it began; the expressway was extremely slippery from the blowing snow and icy surface. Our truck fish-tailed several times and nearly went off the road – and that was in the first ten miles of the journey. Since the roads were unsafe, thoughts of turning back flashed though Tom’s mind, but my photographer pushed on. Luckily for us, by the time we were on the south side of Detroit, the roadway condition had improved – but only slightly.
There seemed to be a lot of snow on the ground when we crossed the Ohio border, but by the time we got within five miles of Fremont, the snow had magically disappeared. We pulled into the parking lot at Spiegel Grove at 8:20am, which gave my photographer over a half hour to capture some exterior shots of Hayes’ mansion before our appointment to meet Gil Gonzalez in the Presidential Museum. After the short hike to the house, Tom placed me in several areas on the massive porch of Spiegel Grove; and in some instances, I stood in the exact place where the President had been photographed many years ago. It was great because there was no one else there to get in our way. We had the place to ourselves and I liked it! An unlike our first visit in 2013, we didn’t hear tornado sirens blaring in the distance.
At a few minutes before nine, we had finished our photos of the exterior, and it was time to meet Gil Gonzalez – and I was excited. Tom carried me into the museum where we were introduced to the professional photographer. After Gil went over the “ground rules” for our visit, we headed to the house. Gonzalez mentioned that we would be allowed to capture images inside only two rooms of the home: the President and Lucy Hayes’ bedroom where both had died; and the library, which was Rutherford’s favorite room in the house.
During our short walk from the museum to the mansion, Tom explained our Presidential mission to Gil and the he seemed very interested. Right out of the gate it was obvious that Gonzalez not only knew a lot about Spiegel Grove, he was also very passionate about its history and preservation – and the two of us could appreciate that. Once Gil had unlocked the back door, he led us straight into the large bedroom of Lucy and Rutherford B. Hayes. The beautifully decorated room was filled with authentic furniture, including their bed. It was in that bed where President Hayes died at the age of 70 on January 17, 1893. While he passed away due to complications of a heart attack, it may have been complications from a broken heart. When his wife Lucy died suddenly from a stroke in that same bed at the age of 57 on June 25, 1889, the depressed President said: “The soul had left Spiegel Grove.” During the entire photo-shoot in the bedroom, Gil was very cool as he allowed me to stand on different pieces of furniture – including the Presidential death bed. As a matter of fact, Gonzalez snapped a few images of his own.
The twenty minutes that the three of us spent in the Hayes’ bedroom was an experience that I will never forget. I was thankful that Gil allowed me to stand on some of the furniture, but most importantly to stand on that bed. But I know he gets it – Gil understands the importance of projects that try to bring history to life. Too many people just read pieces of historical facts from books, but my quest is to help bring each President back to life by standing in their footsteps and telling their story. While I looked around the bedroom for signs of any paranormal activity, I was quickly whisked away and carried to our final stop inside Spiegel Grove – the library. That narrow room featured hundreds of books from Rutherford’s collection, not to mention some furniture that Hayes used when he needed to pen a letter or write a speech. The library served as his sanctuary where he could hide away from the grandkids when he needed some quiet time; it was no doubt his favorite room in the house.
We were finished inside the house with our photo-op with Gil, but we weren’t done at Spiegel Grove. Since we had only been inside two of the more than 30 rooms that the mansion offered, my photographer decided to take an official public tour – even though he knew we wouldn’t be able to get any additional photos. Our tour guide was cool as we took our time going through the mansion; but then again, there were only five of us on the tour – including me. All together, we were inside the house for a little over an hour, mainly because Tom had a handful of questions about the place – including one that was directed at potential paranormal activity. The woman mentioned that Lucy’s Siamese cat had been seen walking the hallways; even though there had been no animals in the house for decades. The guide mentioned that in 1878 the President and First Lady had been presented with “Siam”, the first documented Siamese cat to reach the United States. Numerous tourists and guides have seen a Siamese cat roaming the hallways of Spiegel Grove, only to disappear moments later.
I had visited their home, looked for their cat, and even stood on their death bed; now it was time to visit them. I was carried a couple of hundred yards south of the mansion where we walked through the gates of the burial ground and along the pathway where the remains of Rutherford and Lucy Hayes rested. I had been there before, in 2013, but at that time we were rushed due to the potential tornado that was bearing down on Fremont. But on that day in 2019, my photographer and I had plenty of time to capture our images. As I stood on the large granite memorial for the first photo, a squirrel came out of nowhere and ran across the base below me. At first I thought it was a Siamese cat, but I’ve been known to have a wild imagination. After the President died in 1893, he was laid to rest alongside Lucy in nearby Oakwood Cemetery. Their bodies remained at Oakwood until 1915 when their second son, Webb, had them re-interred atop their favorite knoll on the Spiegel Grove property. After I paid my respects to the President and First Lady, Tom carried me to a downhill area just outside of the fence where Hayes’ favorite war horse, “Old Whitey”, had been buried.
It was a shade past 11:00am when we finished our photos at the tomb of President Hayes and his wife. Tom placed me back into the camera case for our hike back to the Hayes Presidential Museum; a walk that once again took us in front of Spiegel Grove. As we stood there for a moment in our solitude, I posed for one last picture with the magnificent house. During that time, it was as though I could see Rutherford and Lucy sitting on the huge veranda as they watched us do our thing. Once we were inside the museum, Tom focused on artifacts that were owned or used by President Hayes; he even found some relics that Abraham Lincoln once owned. During our time in the museum, I saw a carriage used by Hayes; as well as dress clothes worn by the President and his wife in the White House. There were two Hayes artifacts that I had wanted to pose near – the Bible that he used for his Presidential inauguration on March 5, 1877 and the chair that he used during the inaugural ceremony. Since Rutherford was a fan of President Lincoln, there were a few items connected with our 16th President as well. I posed near Lincoln’s slippers that he wore on the morning of April 14, 1865, as well as the gloves he had worn that same night when he was assassinated. Near that same display case was an original playbill for ‘Our American Cousin’, which was the performance that Lincoln was watching at Ford’s Theater when he was shot. Overall, we spent about forty minutes inside the museum before I was carried out to the parking lot where our Dodge Ram was parked. Our time that we had spent at the home of Rutherford B. Hayes was memorable and the people who worked there treated us like celebrities. And best of all: the bond that my photographer and I had with Gil Gonzalez was one that we’ll treasure for many years to come.
My photographer had one final Presidential stop planned for the day – it was a visit to the original tomb of President and Lucy Hayes at Oakwood Cemetery in Fremont. The burial ground was located less than two miles southwest of Spiegel Grove. When we arrived, the Hayes’ plot was easy to find – it was at the end of the main roadway that guided visitors into the cemetery from Oakwood Street. Upon first look at the large monument with the name “Hayes” sculpted into its side, the granite stone resembled the one that I had just seen at Spiegel Grove. The only difference was this monument was situated in the center of a circular group of smaller gravestones that belonged to the President’s children and some grandchildren.
Our fun was over for this trip; it was time to make our trek to the Great Wolf Lodge in Sandusky, Ohio where we planned to rendezvous with my photographer’s wife, daughter, son-in-law and their two kids. As we made the 31-mile drive to the indoor water park, I thought a lot about Rutherford and Lucy Hayes as I stood in my camera case. Tom and I spent over three hours getting to know the “Dark Horse President” and “Lemonade Lucy” by walking in their footsteps; standing in their bed; and looking at his books. To most folks, Hayes was simply the 19th President whose beard made him look as though he belonged on a package of cough drops. But to me, he was much more than that. He was the first President to visit the West Coast; he brought the Easter egg roll to the White House lawn; and he was the first to have both a telephone and typewriter in the White House. But more importantly, Rutherford B. Hayes was a family man who loved to spend time with his eight children and their kids.
For the remainder of that Saturday afternoon and into Sunday morning, I got to spend time with my photographer’s grandkids – which meant that I just hung out inside my camera case while everyone else watched the little rug rats splash around with hundreds of other kids. We arrived home in the late afternoon on Sunday March 17, 2019 and I was placed in my usual spot on the Presidential bobble head display shelf where I waited for the next adventure. But before I could go anywhere, I had surgery on my problemsome left leg in the first week of April. Once my leg was caulked and the damaged area re-painted, I was as good as new; which was perfect timing for my next Presidential escapade: My photographer had tickets to meet Bill and Hillary Clinton in Detroit; and I couldn’t wait. President Clinton’s middle name is Jefferson, and I knew in my resin-filled heart that Bill will love to meet me! But then again, who wouldn’t?
