#12 — Zachary Taylor (Feb. 1, 2025)

Zachary Taylor National Cemetery - 02/01/2025

What did I already know?

I saw a photo of him in a uniform once, so he was probably a big war guy. Ate cherries and milk, and died. That’s it!

What did I plan to see?

Saint Louis - Louisville, Kentucky: around 4 hours.

Zachary Taylor National Cemetery — on The List. If my research is right, Taylor’s the only president with no library or house or gift shop. (I know, right?) All he has is the cemetery he’s buried in.

The Trip There

I planned to stop at the cemetery on the way to a couple other sites (stay tuned!) I decided to drag my mother along - she enjoys these weird little road trips, and was probably relieved to not have to plan one. All told, Taylor was the first of three sites in two days.

Zachary Taylor: The Shimmy

Born in 1784 and raised in the Kentucky wilderness, he joined the U.S. army in 1806. He had a successful early career in the War of 1812, and alternated fighting southern Indigenous tribes with raising a family. He returned to a successful later career in the Mexican-American War - he was there at the start, and at its culmination at the Battle of Buena Vista, where he disobeyed the president and won a battle against a Mexican force four times as big as his.

He was elected president as a Whig in 1848, and evidently wasn’t wild about it, choosing to delegate responsibility to department officials. He did oppose slavery, tried to stop it in newly-acquired territories (Manifest Destiny, baby!), and supported making California, where slavery was illegal, a state.

Also, a decade before, he’d opposed his daughter marrying future U.S. villain Jefferson Davis?? (She did it anyway, and incidentally died pretty soon after.)

Anyway, he did get cholera and died less than a year and a half into his term. Possibly from the cherries and milk. But there’s a conspiracy claiming that he was poisoned by pro-slavery politicians, which is fascinating and a rabbit hole for another time.

Oh! They coined the term “Old Rough and Ready” about him, if you’re looking for a nickname.

Notes from the Trip

We pulled into the cemetery around 11:00 a.m. on a cold Saturday. Being a military cemetery, we drove down a loooong driveway of neat white gravestones, to the cul-de-sac at the end. We were stared down by a fifty-foot-tall monument of Taylor with a statue of the freaking man himself at the top. To our right, a limestone mausoleum housed his and his wife’s bodies. We stayed twenty minutes and took photos. I tried to find the graves of his six kids. But it was cold, and we had another president to get to.

Themes of Taylor’s Life

Anti-climax. A forty-year military career rocked with success? A Southerner running a pre-Civil War presidency against slavery? With al due respect to the man, doesn’t it seem like it should have all added to something more?

Maybe it did and I’m just not seeing it. I dunno - I’m not even thirty. And speaking of which…

Where was he at my age?

Man was 28 in 1812. He was married with a kid. They’d just finished renovating a house in Baton Rouge, and he was on the frontlines of the starting-up War of 1812 in Indiana.

Favorite Food?

He liked beignets. That’s all I got. I can’t apologize enough for having let you down here.

Where else to go:

We were Louisville for a full hour. We only went to the cemetery. I feel unqualified to say anything else.

#16 — Abraham Lincoln (Jan. 18, 2025)

Can you tell Kyle, Brett, and myself apart from Lincoln’s family? I bet you can’t. Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum, Springfield, IL — 01/18/2025

What did I already know?

Who doesn’t know something about Lincoln? Stovepipe hat, lawyer-turned-politician-turned politician, freed slaves with the one-two punch of the Emancipation Proclamation/13th Amendment, shot and killed in Ford’s Theater. Has one of the greatest biopics of all time about him. (Not the one with Daniel Day-Lewis. You know which one.)

I won’t say much more - Lincoln might have the strongest mythology in American history.

What did I plan to see?

Saint Louis - Springfield, Illinois: around an hour and a half. In order of importance for my trip:

• Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum and Library - on The List

• Lincoln Home National Historic Site - several blocks of recreated 1800s homes, where the Lincolns lived before D.C.

• The Old State Capitol Historic Site - Lincoln made his announcement to run for president here in 1858 (so did Obama, in 2007)

These are within a few blocks of each other, but I also wanted to stop by:

• Oak Ridge Cemetery - Lincoln’s burial place; a few miles north

• Lincoln’s New Salem State Historic Site - Lincoln’s original residence as a gawky kid in his twenties, before moving to Springfield; half an hour north

The Trip There

I knew I’d enjoy myself even if I went alone. Fortunately, many of my friends share an interest in presidential history as well. On this frigid Saturday morning, Kyle and Brett - two good friends and modern-day philosophers - hopped in my gold Toyota Camry and shot off into the Illinois sunrise.

Kyle has read more presidential bios in the last few years than I’ve read books, and Brett keeps his thumb on the pulse of politics better than anyone I know. I didn’t realize it, but the conversation on the way over - Donald Trump’s second inauguration was the day after tomorrow - set a tone that carried over into the trip. A tone of creeping urgency.

(Not due to Kyle or Brett, mind you. Those guys can throw down.)

Armed with high spirits and a combined knowledge of Lincoln’s life, we pulled into an empty underground parking lot and rose to the streets of Springfield. The fifteen-degree wind hit us like, I dunno, a speeding truck with knives made of ice or something. It was cold, is what I’m getting at. So we high-tailed it a few blocks north to the museum, a sleek, warm-stone-and-glass building that stretches away from you, over the street to your right, and out into the next block as a library.

Abraham Lincoln: The Shimmy

I separated Lincoln’s life into three stages:

• Indiana — his early log-cabin years, reading by the fireplace, mourning his mom’s death, not getting along with his dad

• Illinois — New Salem to Springfield; meeting Ann Rutledge (maybe falling in love?) and eventually Mary Todd; finding freedom and service in the law he practiced; founding the Republican Party as the Democrats split over how pro-slavery to be; spurring abolition in speeches against Stephen Douglas; winning the presidency so hard that South Carolina secedes before his inauguration (and the others follow to create the Confederate States of America)

• D.C. — taking center stage as a strategic war commander as the Civil War gets real bloody real quick; butts heads with George McClellan (head of the U.S. Army) and replaces him with Ulysses S. Grant; passes the Emancipation Proclamation - executive order stating the freedom of slaves in the U.S. (and C.S.A.) - confirms it with the 13th Amendment. Wins the Civil War. Sees peace for nine days.

deep breath -

Notes from the Museum

It should be tacky. Its diorama scenes and mannequin replicas should be almost to the point of exploitation. But somehow, they put you into the moment in a way nothing else really could. I don’t know how they do it so well. You walk into the lobby and see two buildings. To the left, a replica log cabin that starts the walk through Lincoln’s early life. To the right, the facade of the White House that goes through the presidential years all the way through the funeral procession. Not only does it all portray Lincoln’s moral reactions to the increasingly hostile world around him - it portrays the escalation of red, seething racism in America to a terrifying magnitude. Had it not been for my two compatriots, I’d have been a hell of a lot more nervous.

I’m a museum guy. Lincoln’s is one of the best I’ve ever been to.

What Happened to the Other Stuff?

We ran back to the parking garage to grab hats and gloves, to find that it was locked. All the doors and gates closed. (Remember the creeping urgency? It wasn’t just about the Confederates.) Finally, we spotted a tiny sign at the side of the entrance that read “No Parking Saturdays or Sundays.” Oh, now you tell me.

We went back to the museum and called every public office in Springfield. No luck. Kyle and Brett - both fathers, I might add - graciously provided suggestions for how to get back and get me a car until the garage opened. (Honest to god, I’d have gnashed my teeth and torn my shirt in the middle of the museum lobby if it weren’t for those two.) Eventually, we decided to call the fourth character in this little drama, our friend Garrett, to come pick us up.

He arrived two hours later, and we piled into his car. “Wanna just swing the lot again?” I suggested. “I dunno, maybe the doors are open.”

And they were!

I sprinted down the entrance ramp and hopped into the Camry. If any law enforcement is reading, I did not speed the wrong way up the entrance ramp because I had no other option. That’d be just stupid.

Garrett and Brett were already careening back to STL. Kyle was waiting for me a block away. I swung the car door open, he jumped in, and we sped off into the sunset. I’d only crossed the museum off my list, but I call it a win! And a successful start to the tour.

(And I’m scheming to get those guys back in the car and visit the other stuff later.)

Themes of Lincoln’s Life

• Disease — both literal (the deaths of his mother, Ann Rutledge, and two sons) and metaphorical (slavery and racism, which took over a million lives - ending with his own.)

• Individualism vs Obligation — Kyle, who the day before had listened to an audiobook about Lincoln, pointed out that young Lincoln’s creativity and depression - regarding his possible lovers, for example - may have both spurred and stifled his desire to settle down, live and love quietly, and avoid the confrontation that he was obligated to spearhead.

Where Was He At My Age?

Man was 28 in 1837. He’d started a few failed businesses, moved to Springfield a year ago to practice law, and had been a member of the Illinois House of Representatives for a few years. (Thankfully for my own love life, he also hadn’t seemed to have much luck yet.)

Favorite Food?

Chicken Fricassee. (I don’t know what what it is, either.) Evidently, apple pie.

Where Else To Go:

• Joe Gallina’s Pizza — somehow, these guys have the best slice of pizza in the Midwest. No clue how they do it.

• Obed and Isaac’s Microbrewery — a fantastic blend of cool drinks, hot food, and an old-home vibe in an occasionally-Arctic-cold city.

Seriously. Go to Joe Gallina’s. Do it for Lincoln.

The Presidents’ Tour, explained

The Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum, Grand Rapids, MI. July 14, 2023.

When I was eight years old, my father bet me fifty dollars that I couldn’t memorize all (then) forty-three presidents in order. He held up a fifty-dollar bill to show he meant business.

“That’s Ulysses S. Grant. He has a beard,” I pointed out, indicating that I did, too.

I can still name the presidents. But by my late twenties, I realized I knew almost nothing about them, except their names and order. Sure, I can pick them out of a lineup, but the accomplishments of some of the most important people in history were never a priority in my mind. And then one day, I woke up and they were. I’m still not quite sure what caused the switch to flip.

—

On June 30th, 2024, I wrote down what I wanted to know about the presidents. Main events and achievements. Stages of life. Favorite foods. I’ve always been a big fan of storytelling, and this was forming in my mind as a way to tell theirs - and one of my own, as well.

Then another thought popped into my head. They’ve all got to have some place memorializing them, right? What would it look like to visit at least one place for every president?

Over the next few months, I created The Spreadsheet. An exhaustive list of road trips that would cover 67 locations around the U.S. - at least one for each of the first 43 presidents. (I stopped at Obama. At the time of this writing, his library hasn’t opened yet.) When I was done with The Spreadsheet, I leaned back and looked at the list.

Weird? Yes. Obsessive? Massively. But dammit, what if I could do this? What if I could do it all in a year? 

(Alright, maybe two years. I don’t have time or money just lying around.)

—

As I prepared to start my journey in January 2025, my students were starting to write their senior research papers. The intent of these papers is to show that they’re capable of critical thinking and individual research, but they can write about whatever they want. Norse pagan rituals? Sure. Ways that social media tracks your data and what they do with it? Absolutely. The exploitation of the military-industrial complex by superhero movies? Why not?

In a way, this is my interest-based research project.

—

THE GOAL: Visit at least one historical site for every U.S. president by December 31st, 2026.

THE SITES: A presidential library, if possible. These get spotty before Herbert Hoover (#31), so my rule is: If they don’t have a library or museum of some sort, a house and/or somewhere their papers are kept. If not, somewhere with a gift shop. At least one of these guys only has a mausoleum, so I’m going there as well.

THE REPORT: A couple paragraphs about my journey, and a couple paragraphs about the president. Things like:

• Major stages of life

• What his presidency is known for

• Where were they at my age? (As of the start of my journey - 1/18/2025 - that’s age 28.)

• What was their favorite food?

Alright, let’s hit the road.