McKinley Presidential and First Ladies Libraries (6/18/2015)

The first agenda item this morning was to go up to the office and pay to stay another night because we knew we weren't going to be finished here today.  So the guys did that, then we were on our way to the first stop which was the McKinley Presidential Library.  Unlike other presidential libraries, this one was more about the time period and the area than what President McKinley accomplished.  When you turn into the parking lot, you are met with a "WOW" view of his memorial.

The library is off to the side, and there is a statue, or bust, of him just outside.

First we watched a video, then we took a guided tour. We had a wonderful tour guide, very interesting and enthusiastic.  We saw replicas of many of the rooms and furniture of his presidency.

 Our tour guide talked about the two-person desk, and he took pictures with each person's camera of the far side of the desk, since we were not allowed to be in that area.

In another room were life-like statues of the President and First Lady, and buttons to push which made them move and talk.  That was pretty cool.

President McKinley was assassinated in 1901 (for some reason, they call it "martryed").  He was hit twice, once in the shoulder and once in the stomach.  They were unable to locate the bullet in his stomach, and he died a few days later of gangrene.  He actually died on my birthday, so I should be able to remember that!

This is a replica of the pistol that shot him.

Finishing up the "rooms," we then walked through the museum of items from that time period, and a village of shops.  Joe and Mazie took a spin in a "tea cup" type ride made by Timken Bearing Co.

There were lots and lots of items on display.

The life-size indoor village were also very interesting.  You could just wander in and out of the shops, along the brick street.

DENTIST, UGH!!

Next was a train room, with a moving train.

An interesting bed with rope "springs" was on display, with some kind of feather bed or mattress ticking on top.  It was suggested that this type of bed is where the saying "sleep tight" originated, because you had to tighten the ropes from time to time to make it more comfortable (there was a special tool for that).

The tour guide told us that President McKinley's "lucky" flower was the scarlet carnation, and that became Ohio's state flower.  He always wore one in his lapel because he thought it kept him safe.  On the day he was shot, he had given the flower to a little girl who had gotten lost from her parents.  Just a few minutes after he gave the flower away, he was hit with two bullets from point-blank range.

We went outside and Joe decided we should "WALK" up the steps to the Memorial.  I wasn't going to do it, but Marilyn said she would, then Mazie said she would, so what could I do.  So we walked up the 108 steps, while Dave and Collins DROVE the cars around to the back side of the Memorial.

Remember, I'm already at the top as the photographer!

 Nice view from the top of the Memorial.

 The President and his family (wife and 2 daughters) are entombed here.

From there, we found a lunch place and had a bit of a rest.  We were planning on going to the Football Hall of Fame next, but Joe googled it and learned that tickets (seniors) were $20 each, plus $10 for parking, and none of us were THAT interested, so we took a pass on that.  Instead, we drove over to the First Ladies National Historic Site and toured that, which turned out to be very interesting.  The first part of the tour (video again) was conducted at the Education & Research Center, which used to be a bank owned by First Lady Ida Saxton McKinley's father.  This area featured five "forgotten first ladies," and are changing exhibits which eventually feature all of the First Ladies.  We then were led over to the Saxton McKinley House, the restored Victorian home that First Lady McKinley grew up in, and later lived in with President McKinley between 1878-1891 during the period he served in the U.S. House of Representatives.  Again, we had a good docent, dressed in period clothing this time, and she gave us a very interesting tour.

The first floor had been gutted and redone, but the upper floors still had some of the original materials.

The last room was filled with pictures of every First Lady.  Many of the photos had more than one photo in the frame, one a younger version, and the other one during her time as First Lady.

 We all enjoyed this tour and were glad we decided to make this stop.   By now, it was about 4:30, so we headed back to camp.  I had plans to get the laundry caught up again, and the Johnsons wanted to do that as well, so I hot-footed it up to the laundry room to get started.  Which was good, because I finished and got back to the RV just 2 minutes before the rain started.  And there were tornado warnings around us, not sure if we were included but if not, we were only one county away. Tropical Storm Bill hasn't even arrived yet, so one more night here and it's time to move on!