The Grave Hunter, Grant, and a gorgeous view
For the second time this week, I got to meet (in person!) an author I “know” from Instagram and hear them talk about their book. This time it was Kurt Deion, Presidential Grave Hunter and author of Presidential Grave Hunter: One Kid’s Quest to Visit the Toms of Every President and Vice President. He shared his story at Grant Cottage, the final home of Ulysses S. Grant.
If you’re interested in purchasing Kurt’s book, it’s available at Grant Cottage, on Kurt’s website, and more. Find details here.
Here’s a quick collection thoughts, photos, and tangents from my visit (in no particular order).
Ebenezer Rockwood Hoar
… was listed on one of Kurt’s slides, which gives me the opportunity to share this newish doodle. Besides the “notoriously inept” Benjamin Butler having some beef with him, Ebenezer Rockwood Hoar was United States Attorney General under President Grant.
His middle name is the same as my maiden name, which makes me naturally curious about him.
Lincoln, by David Herbert Donald
Henry Wilson!
Kurt also mentioned Grant’s second vice president Henry Wilson, who is buried in Natick, Massachusetts. I was just in Natick a couple of month ago filling up my gas tank. If only I realized, I would have dragged my family to his grave to pay our respects.
Coincidentally, both Grant and his VP went by names they weren’t born with:
Grant’s birth name was Hiram Ulysses Grant
Wilson’s was Jeremiah Jones Colbath (he changed his name after serving time as an indentured servant)
In any case, Wilson died in office and the post remained empty. (Side note: included Henry Wilson in my recent History Camp presentation. Afterward, a couple came up and thanked me for including him.)
Schuyler Colfax was Grant’s first VP.
“Keep the ball rolling”
I only just learned that Abe Lincoln bowled (and that bowling dated back to ancient Egypt!) so I was delighted that bowling came up twice during my visit:
A political cartoon (“Keep the ball rolling”) featuring Grant bowling.
Hotel Balmoral, the hotel onsite when Grant lived on Mt. McGregor, had a bowling alley.
(The hotel burned down “mysteriously” at the end of 1897.)
“One of the most attractive health resorts in the world.”
William J. “W.J” Arkell helped promote the resort, but it fell on hard times. He wanted to turn it into a home for tubercular veterans (at the time, known as consumptive). I recently wrote a post about tuberculosis and guess what? It features a doodle about First Lady Caroline Harrison inspired by Kurt Deion’s book. Guess who visited the resort? Caroline’s husband Benjamin Harrison.
The typography
Can we just take a minute to appreciate the typography?
[swoon]
“The grandest scenery that I know of”
Samuel Clemens (AKA Mark Twain) declared “the view from that lookout… in connection with its historic associations, I consider that it presents the grandest scenery that I know of in America.”
Yeah.
My photos don’t do it justice, but it’s spectacular.
The view overlooks sites of many battles, including one Grant’s great-grandfather (Noah Grant Jr.) fought in as part of Rogers Rangers. I assume he followed Robert Rogers’ 28 Rules of Ranging.
Noah Grant Jr.’s son, Noah Grant III, fought in the Battles of Saratoga…. the location of which is also visible form the overlook.
FOR MORE
For more on Kurt, his book, or any of the 2,800+ “famous” graves he’s visited, check out Kurt’s Historic Sites.
To plan a visit to Grant Cottage, check out their website.
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