President Ulysses Grant, our 18th president, from 1869-1877, lived in this house with his wife Julia after he retired from the army (before the Civil War). He lived here before and after the war. After he left the presidency, he lived in New York City.The house is open for public tours, but we were there early and it was not open yet.Belvedere Mansion, built in 1857, considered the finest mansion in Galena. (Nothing to do with Grant, but it is significant to Galena IL).
The movie was filmed here in 1988 and released in 1989. It won 7 Oscars. Like Dances With Wolves, Field of Dreams starred Kevin Costner.If you build it, he will come….So here I am!Doing my Tom Seaver imitation.Running the bases.And he scores!
This is the birthplace of President Herbert Hoover, our 31st president, from 1929-1933. He was born here in 1874.In this two room house lived Herbert’s parents and three children! Tight quarters!Rear of the house.Their bathroom.Hoover’s father was a blacksmith.The little box beside the brick chimney says “Seat for boys Tad-Bertie”. Bertie was the future president.Hoover attended this schoolhouse.Teacher’s desk.Penmanship workbook – an obsolete school subject.Student’s desk and books.The Friends (Quaker) Meeting House. Hoover was raised Quaker.Men sat on the right side of the partition.Women sat on the left side, with access to the cry room.The cry room.Unfortunately the Presidential Museum was closed due to COVID fear.The museum campus is very park-like.The graves of President Herbert and First Lady Lou Hoover.
The Iowa State Capitol is quite beautiful – 5 domes!Women’s Suffrage in Iowa.Rear view of the capitol.Another Abraham Lincoln statue is still standing!The Rotunda.The flag and emblems at the top of the rotunda are suspended from the top.Senate chamber.House of Representatives chamber.Iowa Supreme Court.Beautiful architecture.Very old water fountain.This mural, “Westward”, symbolizes the Pioneers, led by the spirits of Civilization and Enlightenment, to the conquest of the Great West by cultivation. The mural depicts a Prairie Schooner drawn by oxen across the prairie, with a family and other pioneers, through growth of stalks.Model of the battleship U.S.S. Iowa in the lobby.Des Moines IA
Southbound Rest Area, Sergeant Bluff IA – September 2021
So we stopped at this rest area in Iowa, and when we came out of the rest room – SNAKE!! This is apparently a Western Fox Snake, which feeds on field rodents, not people!
