No Place Like Home
The Ohio Seven
Ulysses S. Grant (Point Pleasant)
Rutherford Birchard Hayes (Delaware)
James Abram Garfield (Orange Township),
Benjamin Harrison (North Bend),
William McKinley (Niles),
William Howard Taft (Cincinnati),
Warren Gamaliel Harding (Corsica).
William Henry Harrison was born in Virginia but settled in Ohio, which totally counts.
In Ohio, Presidents Day is an especially big deal. Known as the “Mother of Presidents,” Ohio is home to seven presidents, eight if you count William Henry Harrison.
And what better time to visit the home of one of those presidents, especially if you’ve never made the trip!
William Howard Taft, the 27th president and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court from 1921-1930, was born and raised in a 19th century Greek revival house in Mount Auburn. The house offers a glimpse of what the city was like from 1857 to 1877, when Taft was growing up here. The house remained the home of the Taft family for several more years, until 1889 when his father, Alphonso, and his wife moved to San Diego due to his declining health.
With a trip to the Taft birthplace you can learn more about the president than just that bathtub story. Plus you can ask the helpful rangers to help explain all the Taft connections in town. (They don’t get tired of answering those questions!)
William Howard Taft National Historic Site is at 2038 Auburn Avenue, one block south of Christ Hospital. It is open every day from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., self-guided tours of the Taft House are available every thirty minutes on the hour and half-hour.