Travels to Presidential Places Part II

The next Presidential site I'm going to talk about is Spigel Grove, the home of Rutherford B. Hayes, 19th President of the United States. Hayes is probably most famous for two things. His election in 1880 was disputed. Samuel Tilden, his Democratic opponent, got more popular votes than Hayes and Hayes won after a special commission awarded him the deciding electoral votes. This came up alot in 2000 when Al Gore won the popular vote, but George W. Bush became president because he won the electoral votes of Florida by 537 ballots cast.  The second thing you might know is Hayes' wife Lucy, got the nickname 'Lemonade Lucy' for not allowing intoxicating beverages to be consumed in The White House.

I've visited here on two occasions, both having to do with picking my sister up from college in Indiana. The first visit I didn't have enough money for the admission to the house or museum, so I just walked around the grounds. I had read about the hobby of visiting presidential graves, and I was determened to have my picture taken at Hayes' grave. Luckily for me, the fence that usually surrounded it was being repaired, so I got to stand alot closer to it than you normally get to. I look horrible in this picture so please forgive me.

I visited the museum on another trip. It was nice and even had the carriage Hayes had used.  For some reason though the exhibit I found most impressive was the one of Presidential letters, even though a few of them were obvious autopens.

I almost forgot to mention that near Hayes' tomb is the grave of his horse Old Whitey. I found that kind of cool.