Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site

Goodbye, Paducah, Kentucky...Hello, Franklin County, Missouri!

We got up early and had to hang out for a little bit before we could leave Paducah. I wanted to go to Paper Pieces - just 4 blocks from where we boon docked at the Farmers Market.  They were closed yesterday due to the eclipse and so we had to wait until they opened at 9 a.m. We got there, RV in tow at 8:55 a.m. and I was ready to shop! An employee came to the door just as I did and lo and behold, she was one of the gals who worked at the National Quilt Museum!  She recognized me from my visit on Sunday.  She let me in the shop a few minutes later and I was determined to get the La Passacaglia complete set along with the acrylic templates and the Millifiore book.  And, I got a really cool appliqué book by Quiltmania called Focus on Appliqué, too.  I'd say it was a successful shopping trip!

Paper Pieces is located in a quaint brick building in downtown Paducah.

Their sign among stately columns and funky colored rockers.

502 - 5th Street

Cute Neighborhood

Sample of Paper Piecing

How to do pointed designs

The awesome house across the street appealed to me.

Love the rounded door!

And these arch bricks on the porch that are on many houses in Paducah.

Soon, we got on the way, traveling through the bottom tip of Illinois and arrived in Franklin County, Missouri.  While I really wanted to go to Jefferson National Expansion Memorial (aka the Gateway Arch) in St. Louis and get that marked off my national parks book, there is absolutely NO RV parking anywhere in downtown St. Louis.

Scott took this while crossing the Mississippi River.
Not bad for taking this in a moving car.

Instead, we went to the Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site in St. Louis, 11 miles west of the Gateway Arch.  I was very disappointed not to go and see the arch - it's been on my bucket list for many years - but the next time we head east or west, we'll just have to stay at an RV park close-by and drive in.

At the Ulysses S. Grant Site, again there was are only 3 RV sites in the parking lot but not large enough for our RV.  If you have a Class C or a smaller RV, you would be O.K. However, there was a huge parking lot for RV overflow. What I didn't know was that it was parking for Grant's Farm.  Gran't farm is a popular St. Louis destination since 1954 and is the 281-acre ancestral home of the Busch family (Anheuser-Busch), named for Ulysses S. Grant who originally worked a portion of the land.  Basically, it's an amusement park of sorts.  But, the staff there allowed me to park for free - normally, it's $12.  That was very kind of them.

Scott didn't come with me to the historical site - he was in a meeting with work on the computer - so I went alone.  The Visitor's Center was small but very nice that included restrooms, a small store, media area, junior ranger program and desk.

National Marker

Visitor's Center

Visitor's Center Desk

The Store

Today for some weird reason, there was a HUGE line of patrons waiting to purchase the $10 National Parks Senior Passes.  I stamped by book and wanted to purchase the site sticker for my book, but had to wait in this horribly LONG line with only one employee ringing up customers.  In the meantime, the park ranger announced that he was going to start a tour of the home and to come to the house.  I impatiently waited in line, paid for my $2.95 sticker and rushed outside and walked over to the house.

Huge line around to the books!

Fortunately, a young man was giving the presentation (his first time) and they had not entered the home yet.  Whew!  I dodged a bullet because you can only go into the house with a host/hostess or ranger.  As they host had finished is explanations of the home, I did turn to the park ranger and asked why the house was green!  The home back then would have been white with black trim. He said at that time, the brighter the color, the more affluent you were and it told society you were wealthy.  They painted the home in "Paris Green" - a very green color with arsenic in it that Parisians used to put in their rivers to kill rats.

Paris Green Home

Front View

The home, called "White Haven", was sparely filled with artifacts and I enjoyed it all the same.  The home was owned by Julia Dent Grant's father, "Colonel" Frederick Fayette Dent.  When Ulysses was assigned to St. Louis after military school, he introduced to Dent at White Haven.  This home is where Ulysses S. Grant and Julia Boggs Dent courted.  Interestingly, Ulysses S. Grant was an Ohio northern boy and Julia Dent was a southern girl.  The Grant family was apposed to slavery while the Dent's thrived on their 30 enslaved African Americans to give them all the comforts the time period could provide. Colonel Dent and Ulysses S. Grant had many-a-talk about slavery and their opposing viewpoints on the subject.  It's a wonder Ulysses and Julia ever got married at all!  After their marriage, Ulysses and Julia had one slave, William Jones for a time.  As the Civil War started to brew, relations were strained between the Dents and the Grants.  Jesse Root Grant, Ulysses's father, a strong political activist taught Ulysses that slavery was morally wrong. Julia, born in the slave state of Missouri was taught from her father that slavery was the proper relationship between blacks and whites.  As time went on, Union authorities in St. Louis began requiring loyalty oaths and Dent refused to sign.  Ulysses did.  Poor Julia is caught between her husband and her father.  Lincoln's 1863 Emancipation Proclamation exempted Missouri but by 1864 all of Dents' slaves had fled.

Here are photos of this amazing house and out houses. The first set of photos is of the main house, White Haven.  These are of the front room:

View from the porch of a lovely property

View from the front door.

Front room fireplace

Front Room sofa

Julia Dent Grant's Dress

A photo of her in this dress!

These photos are of the dining room:

Cabinet

Buffet

Table and chairs in the dining room

These next photos are of the back room:

Wood Stove

I loved the floors

Original wall how the house was made.

View from the home to the backyard and porch including Ulysses S. Grant's Office:

View on the back porch

Facing the home on the back porch.

Ulysses Office on the left.

Office Door

Desk and Chairs

Writing Desk

Paraphernalia

Writing Papers

Pipe

Farmers Books

The next building is the outdoor kitchen and laundry area. There are two door; the first is the kitchen and the farther was the laundry. This is the stone building.

Laundry - Left Door and Kitchen - Right

Kitchen Area

Kitchen Area

Laundry Room

After that is the small red building was the ice house.

Ice House Exterior - Ice could keep up to a year in there!

Inside the Ice House

The next building is the chicken coop and small animal barn.

Chicken Coop

Grain Room for Animals

Loft Stairs

Loft Stairs

Chicken Doors - there were two on opposite sides of the room.

Where the hens would lay eggs

Where hens layed their eggs.

This is the view from the backyard.  It's a lovely property.

Back yard

Visitor's Center Left and Horse Stables Right

Finally, the last standing building is the barn.  In Grant's later years he wanted to have a horse farm and raise thoroughbred horses. Now, it's is part barn and the remainder is a museum.

Horse Items

Stale

Tack Room

Carriage Room

Museum off the barn.

Hat and Bonnet belonging to the Dents.

Julia and Ulysses's children

Ulysses's Parents

Shoulder Strap

Shoulder Straps

Congressional Medal

Finally, there is very nice walking trail that does through the property.  It's just lovely.  This site really gave me a greater appreciation for a man I had already admired.  It makes me want to read a biography about him as soon as I'm done with my next novel. I highly recommend this site. It's fabulous!

Grant's Trail

A beautiful walk in a lovely setting.

Placard

Ulysses and Julia Grant kept this home until 1 year before Ulysses died. The house really had a special meaning to them. It's a lovely, peaceful location and the weather is nice here due primarily to the trees.