256: CELEBRATING MY BIG ONE-OH AT SPIEGEL GROVE WITH TOM, BOB, RUD, AND LUCY

Flashback to 2013 when I spent my first moments at a Presidential site as my photographer, his wife Vicki, and I embarked on an eight-day trip that began at Spiegel Grove in Fremont, Ohio. While our visit to the home of Rutherford and Lucy Hayes on July 10th was memorable, it was also cut short by a tornado warning and a possible touchdown in the vicinity of the Presidential home. What a way to start my quest of visiting every Presidential site in the country! Here are a handful of images from that chaotic day – July 10, 2013.

During the next decade, I had the opportunity to visit all 39 Presidential gravesites; I spent time in all of the Presidential Libraries and Museums; I saw the Oval Office inside the White House with my own eyes; I met Jimmy Carter in person; and I’ve travelled nearly 64,000 miles that took me into 41 of our 50 states. Although I’ve suffered a plethora of injuries and endured a countless number of surgical procedures during those ten years, it’s been a great ride and I have no intentions of slowing down. As a matter of fact, there was no better way to celebrate my 10th anniversary than to replicate my visit to Spiegel Grove – minus the tornado, of course. Oh, and my favorite travel partner Bob Moldenhauer, affectionately known as Mongo, had replaced my photographer’s wife for the reunion trip as well.

Flashforward to Monday July 10, 2023 as my photographer, Mongo, and I departed St. Clair, Michigan at 6:00am in Tom’s Jeep Grand Cherokee. But before headed through Detroit on the 142-mile trek to Fremont, my companions wanted to make a quick stop in Mount Clemens, Michigan to see the site where Senator John F. Kennedy delivered a campaign speech on October 26, 1960 – just two weeks prior to Election Day. Their original plan was to complete the 30-mile journey to the Macomb County Building where a bust of JFK marked the site, then continue on to Fremont where we’d have plenty of time to walk the grounds of Spiegel Grove before the place opened for tours at ten o’clock.

But halfway through our drive to Mount Clemens, however, we got caught in a snarl along I-94 that had traffic slowed to a crawl with no end in sight. On a normal day, we would’ve made the short journey to the County Building in less than 40 minutes. But on that day, even after Tom took an alternative route when he was able to exit I-94, it took us one hour and 45 minutes to complete the 30-mile trip. Finally, at 7:45am, Tom parked the Jeep along North Main Street in Mount Clemens where he and Bob escorted me to the site where Kennedy delivered his speech.

On the north side of the Macomb County Building, which was the site of the speech, we found a large bronze bust of John F. Kennedy which was affixed to a polished red granite base. And when I say large, the head of JFK was four times larger than real life. As a matter of fact, Kennedy’s neck looked chiseled; as though he played linebacker in the NFL. The sculpture was created by artist Marshall Fredericks and was dedicated on November 20, 1970, which surprised the three of us because we never knew it had existed until just recently. When Tom placed me next to JFK’s enormous head where I posed for a couple of photos, it was though I could hear some of his words he spoke nearly 63 years earlier: “We are now going into the last 13 days of this important Presidential campaign. Two weeks from today the people of Michigan and the people of the United States will make their judgment as to what they want their country to be. I want to make it very clear that there are sharp differences between Mr. Nixon and myself. They go to the future of this state, they go to the future of the country, and they go to the future of freedom all around the world.”

Our visit to the so-called “Giant Muscled Head of JFK”, which marked the site where Senator Kennedy delivered his campaign speech in 1960, lasted roughly 15 minutes. Ironically, that was 90 minutes less than the time it took the three of us to get to the site. But once Tom, Bob, and I were back in the Jeep, it was clear sailing through Detroit and into northern Ohio.

As we got close to our final destination of Fremont, Ohio, I noticed the sky was bright blue in every direction, which was a stark contrast to the ominous cloud-filled, greenish-black sky I saw in 2013. Listening to Tom and Bob talk during the ride, I knew my photographer thought it would’ve been cool to have replicated the chaotic tornado scenario we endured ten years earlier. I, on the other hand, was happy there was zero chance for bad weather on my anniversary.

When my photographer drove the Grand Cherokee onto the Spiegel Grove grounds at 9:45am, he pointed out the spot where Vicki had parked their Avenger in 2013 when the car was nearly crushed by a huge tree that was blown over by the storm. With no time for outdoor photos before the ten o’clock tour of the home, the three of us headed directly for the Presidential Museum where we nabbed our tickets to get inside Spiegel Grove – the beloved home of our 19th President Rutherford B. Hayes.

Our day on the grounds of Spiegel Grove was broken into four major parts – a tour of the interior of the mansion; exploring the exterior of the mansion; a visit to the gravesite of Rutherford and Lucy Hayes; and finally, an extensive visit inside the Presidential Library and Museum. My photographer also brought a bagful of peanuts from Michigan that he planned on feeding to the ever-present squirrels of Spiegel Grove.

At precisely ten o’clock, we met our tour guide Todd Warner on the large veranda. I was very excited to see the entire interior of the mansion. During my three previous visits to Spiegel Grove in 2013, 2019, and 2021, I had the opportunity to go inside once – and that was because of their ‘No Photography’ rule that was previously set in place. On March 16, 2019, however, my photographer had made special arrangements with the site, and he was allowed to photograph me in two of the rooms – Hayes’ Master Bedroom and the Library. But with the absurd rule no longer in place, Tom planned on me posing in most of the rooms inside the home – and I couldn’t wait to get started. After we were forced to wait for a couple of last-minute stragglers, my two companions and I, along with a handful of other people, were led inside the 31-room Victorian mansion that was constructed in 1860 by Sardis Birchard and inherited by his nephew, Rutherford B. Hayes, in 1873.

At this time, I’m honored to invite you to look through the lens of Tom’s camera and see some of the rooms we visited. Welcome to the world of Rutherford B. Hayes, at least for the last twenty years of his life.

When our tour of the mansion’s interior had concluded, I stood silently in the camera case and thought about the rooms I had just visited. While I would never say Spiegel Grove could be compared with Mount Vernon, Monticello, or Sagamore Hill in a historical context, Rutherford B. Hayes’ mansion was splendid in its own way. Around each corner and through every doorway I was carried, it was easy to feel the presence of Rutherford and Lucy Hayes inside the home. They were there; especially in the Master Bedroom where they not only spent a lot of time with their children, but also where both of them had died.

Back outside, my companions photographed the exterior of Spiegel Grove from a handful of different vantagepoints. Several times, Tom carefully placed me in strategic spots where President Hayes was once photographed with his wife and family. The best part of all, at least for me, was the weather was still perfect; not a cloud in the sky and no tornado sirens blaring in the neighborhood.

At roughly 12 noon, the three of us made our way to the fence-enclosed wooden knoll area of the grounds where Rutherford and Lucy Hayes were buried. Following their deaths, the President and First Lady were originally laid to rest in nearby Oakwood Cemetery. But during the construction of the Hayes Library and Museum in 1915, the President’s son, Webb C. Hayes, insisted his parents’ remains be reinterred atop the beautiful, wooded knoll south of the mansion – which was their favorite area of the estate. Following some controversy and debate amongst the family, Rutherford and Lucy Hayes were finally laid to rest at Spiegel Grove on April 3, 1915. When Webb died on July 26, 1934, the President’s second son was buried near his parents. Mary Otis Miller Hayes, Webb’s wife, was buried alongside her husband following her death on March 3, 1935.

As Tom carried me through the iron gates of the burial ground and towards the tombstone, I had a flashback to 2013. As I stood on the tombstone ten years earlier, I heard loud tornado warning sirens warning everyone to take cover. But now, the only sound I heard was the chirping of songbirds in the nearby trees. It was easy to see why that knoll was the President and First Lady’s favorite spot on the grounds – it was such a beautiful and peaceful location.

When we finished paying our respects at the tomb of Rutherford and Lucy Hayes, we had one area of Spiegel Grove left to explore – the Presidential Library and Museum. But first, since it was roughly 12:30pm, my companions wanted to find a place to have lunch. My photographer suggested they drive to a nearby Jersey Mike’s Sub shop and bring the food back to the grounds to eat, but the nearest establishment was nearly 25 miles away. Instead of Jersey Mike’s, my two companions settled for sandwiches from the nearby Subway, which was less than five miles away. Since they couldn’t be a sub above, they wanted to eat fresh – even though Subway isn’t close to being as fresh as Jersey Mike’s.

With their Subway subs in hand, the three of us found a shaded bench just southeast of the mansion. For the next half hour, I watched in amazement as Tom and Bob gobbled-down their sandwiches. In between bites, my photographer fed peanuts to the squirrels; and at one point, nearly a dozen of the brown, bushy-tailed rodents gathered around us when they discovered Tom had brought peanuts from Michigan.

As soon as the subs and peanuts were gone, my companions and I headed for the Presidential Museum where we spent the remainder of our time at Spiegel Grove. Not only was the museum a treasure trove of Hayes artifacts, but it had some significant relics from other Presidents as well – including Abraham Lincoln.

But then it happened – I saw it. Okay, I saw its head. When Tom carried me into the basement section of the museum, I saw a giant, life-sized head of a Sasquatch, and it scared the daylights out of me. If that head was an accurate depiction of what a real Bigfoot looks like, then I’m glad I didn’t see the Squatch during our close encounter at the Andrew Jackson birthplace near the Waxhaw Region on July 27, 2020.

During our entire 45-minute visit inside the museum, I thought for sure Tom and Bob would get in trouble for setting off the alarms when they got too close to the artifacts on display. But even though I heard the pre-recorded words “You’re too close to the exhibit – please step back” a handful of times, not one staff member said anything to us.

When the three of us walked out of the museum, I thought for sure we were headed back to the Jeep for the ride home. But instead, Tom and Bob decided to walk back to the burial ground to visit with Rutherford and Lucy one last time. Then out of nowhere, my photographer suddenly became very sentimental and nostalgic. In the past decade, Tom has taken a countless number of images of me in the hands of people we had met. However, he had never posed with me – until that moment. I admit, I was touched – it felt as though a small, resin tear was running down my cheek as Tom proudly held me while we posed in front of the Hayes tombstone.

Finished with our final salute, the three of us said our goodbyes to Rutherford and Lucy, along with their son Webb, before we walked across the grounds to the mansion where my companions took a final stroll along the President’s beloved porch. Back in the Jeep, we began what turned out to be an uneventful ride through Toledo, then Detroit, and on to our home in St. Clair, Michigan. Even though we drove through the Motor City during the start of rush hour, traffic was a non-factor and we arrived home safe and sound at 5:40pm.

It’s hard for me to believe ten years have passed; and that time has gone by in a flash. And even though there have been moments I’ve felt like Humpty Dumpty because I’ve been put back together so many times, I have no intention of slowing down – unless Tom runs out of medical tape, plumber’s puddy, and Gorilla Glue. As a matter of fact, my photographer and his wife have finalized their trip agenda where the three of us will be headed West on a 16-day adventure starting on September 7th.

Now it’s on to the next ten years of visiting Presidential sites and I’m excited to take you along on my adventures. I just hope Tom and Bob can keep up with me!