PA -- Gettysburg -- Eisenhower NHS:
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- Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
- IKE_080921_003.JPG: Follow in the Footsteps:
"When my father was president, he developed the habit of bringing visiting world leaders to the farm. Such informality, he reasoned, would make them feel at home."
-- John Eisenhower
Walk in the footsteps of presidents, prime ministers, and kings as you follow the path through the heart of the Eisenhower farm. Eisenhower originally bought the farm as his retirement house, but during his two terms as President, he used it as a retreat from Washington's pressures and as a temporary White House. Believing that the relaxed farm atmosphere encouraged free discussion, the President treated every visiting world leader to a tour of the farm.
- IKE_080921_490.JPG: The Helicopter Landing Pad:
"The smoothest ride I ever had in my life."
-- Eisenhower referring to his first helicopter ride
President Eisenhower was the first president to travel by helicopter. His first ride was in 1957 during Operation Alert, a Cold War exercise to evacuate the president and his cabinet officers to safety in the Virginia mountains in case of nuclear attack. The helicopter soon proved to be very convenient, as well.
A drive from the White House to Gettysburg took about two hours. On a helicopter, he could travel to Gettysburg in about 35 minutes. Camp David, another presidential retreat, was a 10-minute flight to the south.
- IKE_080921_494.JPG: This is where the helicopter would have landed
- IKE_080921_562.JPG: The Stables:
"The entire family is eagerly awaiting the arrival at Gettysburg of the Quarter Horse. David is beside himself with joy and although he scorns any danger, I have assured his mother and grandmother that you are sending a gentle and tractable animal."
-- Eisenhower letter to Congressman Walter Rogers, July 1955
You might have found eight or nine horses in these stables during Eisenhower's day. He was familiar with horses from his childhood in Kansas and his cavalry training at West Point. The family kept Quarter Horses and Arabians at the farm and over the years the horses produced a number of foals.
The president sometimes rode. But his son and daughter-in-law John and Barbara and their children were the more frequent riders. The family enjoyed riding around the farm and on the trails on the battlefield. When the family rode beyond the confines of the farm, Secret Service agents were required to follow by car or horseback.
- IKE_080921_619.JPG: The Pond:
"When Eisenhower would come (to the farm), and especially if he had a hard day or a hard week at the office, we'd walk down by the flag pole all the way down to the creek, over to the pond."
-- CPO Walter West, US Navy, who was assigned to Camp David as a horticulturist and did landscape work on the farm.
Shortly after Eisenhower bought this property, a pond was created near this spot to provide water for fire protection and reduce insurance costs. A weir diverted water to it from the nearby creek and an overflow pipe send water back into the creek.
With its lily pads and fish, the pond added interest to the landscape. But its water level fell during a drought in the early 1960s, and it was gone by 1964. Only the weird and overflow pipe remain.
- IKE_080921_621.JPG: Where the pond used to be until it dried out in the 1960s
- IKE_080921_637.JPG: A Herd of Modest Size:
"If I can, from time to time, add an animal... I can in this manner accumulate... a future herd of modest size."
-- President Eisenhower
The farm grew as the herd grew. Originally housed in the back barn (to your right), the growing herd needed more space. The addition of a loafing shed (across the barnyard) provided cows and calves with a place to get out of the sun or inclement weather. The maternity barn (to the left) sheltered sick or calving cows.
The maternity barn's location near the farmhouse allowed herdsman Bob Hartley to check on ailing animals throughout the night. His attentiveness helped to avoid the loss of valuable cattle. By the 1960s, the Eisenhower Farms boasted 100 cows with calves.
- IKE_080921_668.JPG: "I shall leave the place better than I found it."
-- President Eisenhower
The fields in front of you demonstrate Eisenhower's skill in farming. Using a system of crop rotation and contour plowing, Eisenhower slowly improved the productivity of the land. To prevent soil erosion and water run-off, fields were plowed perpendicular to the slope of the land. Soil nutrients were closely monitored and crops were rotated to rejuvenate the soil.
The President's brother Milton recalled that Eisenhower "did a beautiful job of restoring productivity to the land. It became one of the most productive farms in the area."
- IKE_080921_671.JPG: Ike's fields
- IKE_080921_685.JPG: "Ankonian has been invaluable."
-- President Eisenhower
Here in the bull pens and breeding shed, Eisenhower's plans for the next generation of cattle unfolded. Much of the herd's success rested on Ankonian 3551. From his pen (on your left), Ankonian served as principal bull from 1956 to 1965. But his reign was carefully controlled.
Rather than release Ankonian into the pasture to sire calves, each mating of cow and bull was closely monitored. Herdsmen charted bloodlines and considered the attributes of each cow. Suitable cows were brought to the breeding shed (on your right) for either artificial insemination or mating. Ankonian's contributions to the herd led the President to remark in a 1958 letter, "I have been very proud of the animal."
- IKE_080921_714.JPG: "Second best, he didn't want"
-- Robert Hartley, herdsman
Cattle housed in the show barn (in front of you) lived in bovine luxury. Designed in 1957 for Eisenhower's Angus show herd, the barn included a heated office and washroom. The washroom gave herdsmen a warm place to groom cattle even during the coldest winter.
During the summer, cattle rested in the barn sheltered from the sun and cooled by breezes passing through special ventilation doors under each window. The Eisenhower Farms provided only the best for the show herd.
- AAA "Gem": AAA considers this location to be a "must see" point of interest. To see pictures of other areas that AAA considers to be Gems, click here.
- Wikipedia Description: Eisenhower National Historic Site
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Eisenhower National Historic Site was the home and farm of American General and President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Mamie Doud Eisenhower.
Located adjacent to the Gettysburg battlefield in the state of Pennsylvania, the farm served as a weekend retreat for the President and a meeting place for world leaders and was the Eisenhowers' home after they left the White House in 1961. With its putting green, skeet range, and view of South Mountain, it offered President Eisenhower a much-needed respite from the pressures of Washington. It was also a successful cattle operation, with a show herd of black Angus cattle.
Some of the more notable of Eisenhower's guests were Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, President Charles de Gaulle, Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Governor Ronald Reagan.
A row of fifty Norway Spruce trees lines the main driveway leading to the farm. These trees represent the fifty states of the United States and were given to Eisenhower as birthday presents from each of the state Republican Party chairmen in 1955.
The Eisenhower National Historic Site is open daily from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm, except for Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day. The home, grounds, barns and cattle operation are available for public tours. Visitors may reach the site via a shuttle bus which departs from the Gettysburg National Military Park Visitor Center.
- Bigger photos? To save server space, the full-sized versions of these images have either not been loaded to the server or have been removed from the server. (Only some pages are loaded with full-sized images and those usually get removed after three months.)
I still have them though. If you want me to email them to you, please send an email to guthrie.bruce@gmail.com
and I can email them to you, or, depending on the number of images, just repost the page again will the full-sized images.
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