Vice Presidents 3

    Since finishing my primary goal of visiting the gravesites of all the Presidents, I've been busy. Not long after that trip my wife and I found out that our 3rd baby was on the way. Baby Grant was born in January 2013. After the dust settled I started thinking about when we could pull off another trip. Adjusting to life with 3 kids 4 and under was hecktick. We decided that by September, we would probably be ready for a trip, just the 2 of us. But where? At this point I had a bunch of trip ideas. Now, my main focus is Vice President gravesites and Presidents birthplaces. And there are still a bunch on each of those lists to see. The next factor was convincing my wife. Ever since we visited Vermont in September 2009, My wife has wanted to return during fall foliage, to see the changing of the tree colors. Also the thought of hitting some lighthouses in Maine helped. So I started to plan a trip to New England and upstate New York.

    An unexpected chance came along and we ended up doing a trip down to Disney the first week of June with my sister and her family. I got to work in some sites on the way there and back. We even got to see Jimmy Carter teach Sunday School. But that was mostly a trip for my wife and kids, a reward for tagging along on my many historical sites filled trips.

    September came quicker then expected, and we were off. When I got off of work on Friday September 20th, we drove to our hotel in Rochester, NY for the night. It was a short night as we got there around midnight and were on the road by 6 am. We had alot of driving to do that day. But finally around 10 am we arrived at the first stop of the trip. Gravesite of Vice President William Wheeler.

    Now just to recap. We have had 47 men serve as Vice President, 6 are alive, which leaves 41 VP gravesites to visit. Of those 41, 13 went on to be President, and each of them have their own page on this blog. These Vice President post are meant to focus more on the 28 remaining VP's who never became President. And before this trip I collected 15 of them:

Elbridge Gerry  Washington DC

Charles Curtis  Topeka, Kansas

Henry Wallace  Des Moines, Iowa

Adlai Stevenson I  Bloomington, Illinios

Thomas Marshall  Indianapois, Indiana

Charles Fairbanks  Indianapolis, Indiana

Thomas Hendricks  Indianapolis, Indiana

John C. Breckinridge  Lexington, Kentucky

Richard M. Johnson  Frankfort, Kentucky

Alben Barkley  Paducah, Kentucky

Aaron Burr  Princeton, New Jersey

Garrett Hobart  Paterson, New Jersey

George M. Dallas  Philidelphia, Pennsylvania

George Clinton  Kingston, New York

Levi Morton  Rhinebeck, New York

   On this trip I would add 4 more, fairly unknown VPs to the list.



#19 William Wheeler 1819 - 1887



                                  Vice President under Rutherford B. Hayes from 1877 - 1881



     After 8 years of a scandal filled Grant administration, The 1876 Republican National Convention wanted canidated who were more honest and honerable. Ohio Governor Rutherford B. Hayes immerged as the Presidential canidate. And in was left to the New York delegation to pick the VP canidate. After much arguing someone, half joking said, "how about Wheeler"?

    At the time William Wheeler was a little known Congressman from upstate New York who once refused a bribe from corrupt political boss Roscoe Conkling. Eventually Wheeler was chosen to balance to ticket with Hayes. When Hayes found out that Wheeler was the VP canidate he told his wife, "I was sorry to say that I didn't know who Wheeler was".

   Hayes made it clear that he only wanted to serve one term, and Wheeler followed his example. After 4 uneventful years as Vice President, Wheeler retired to his Malone, NY home, where he died in 1887.

Historical marker in front of the cemetery.

Wheeler family gravesite.

VP Wheeler and I

As a bonus I found Wheelers house just a few blocks away from Morningside Cemetery

   When it comes to VP gravesites, Wheeler is one of the toughest to get to. It was about 3 hours out of the way. Luckily the beautifully scenic upstate New York made for a nice drive. Malone is WAY far north, just a few miles from the Canada line. While up that way the next stop was Chester Arthurs birthplace in WAY far northern Vermont, about 2 hours away.

    It would be 2 days until we hit another VP grave. After Arthur's birthplace we revisited the Coolidge historical site in Plymouth, VT. Then spent the night in the Albany, NY area. The next morning we revisited Chester Arthurs grave in Albany then headed north to Saratoga Springs to see the Grant Cottage where President Grant died. Then we headed east and hit some Franklin Pierce sites in NH before arriving at our hotel in Maine.

  First stop the next morning was in Bangor, Maine at the gravesite of Abraham Lincolns first Vice President Hannibal Hamlin.

#15 Hannibal Hamlin 1809 - 1891

                                    Vice President under Abraham Lincoln from 1861 - 1865



    Hannibal Hamlin is probably the most well known of the 4 VPs I saw on this trip, which doesn't say much. He was Vice President at one of the most critical times in the nations history. But he is pretty insignificant in Civil War history. He is a good example of how unimportant the Vice Presidency was back then. Lincoln depended more on the likes of his cabinet members: Stanton, Seward and Chase, then his VP. Hamlin spent much of the War at his home in Maine. At one point in 1864 he joined the war effort by serving as a cook in the Coast Guard for 3 months, until he quite.

   He was a Congressman and long time Senator. He was even elected Governor of Maine. He served as Governor for about 2 months, until he decided that he liked it better in the Senate. So he resigned the Governorship and resumed his term as Senator. As always the case, Hamlin was picked as Lincoln's VP canidate to balance the ticket in 1860. Lincoln dropped Hamlin from the ticket in 1864, and picked Andrew Johnson. As we know just a few weeks after Lincolns 2nd Inaguaral, he was assassinated and Johnson became President. Which means Hamlin was close to becoming President, had Lincoln picked him in 1864.

   Hamlin would return to the Senate after the Civil War. And later as Minister to Spain during the Garfield administration. He died in Maine in 1891.






Hamlin family gravesite.



VP Hamlin and I

   Maine was really nice. I enjoyed the drive. We left Bangor and headed south and along the coast where we hit the grave of Henry Knox, Revolutionary War General and first Sec. of War under President Washington. We continued along the coast hitting Portland Head Lighthouse and the Bush vacation home in Kennebunkport.

  We then spent a couple of days in the Boston area. We saw Plymouth, Daniel Websters grave, Abigail Adams birthplace, Adams sites in Quincy, George Bush birthplace, JFK Library and the North Bridge (site of shot heard around the world which started the Revolution in Concord) the first day. The next morning we hit JFKs birthplace and started heading out of Boston, where we hit our next VP of the trip. VP Henry Wilson in Natick, Mass.

#18 Henry Wilson 1812 - 1875

                                   Vice President under Ulysses S. Grant from 1873 - 1875


    Henry Wilson was born Jeremiah Jones Colbath, but changed his name as a young adult to Henry Wilson because he had long been astranged from his parents. He worked his way up from poverty to eventually being a U. S. Senator.

   In 1872, President Grant was running for reelection. He dropped his first VP Schuyler Colfax because he had gotten caught up in some scandals. Senator Wilson was picked to replace Colfax and the Grant Wilson ticket easily won.

   Wilson was a Radical Republican and stout abolitionist. He suffered through a few ailments throughout his Vice Presidency and died in office in the U. S. Capital Building in 1875.

Overview of the Wilson family gravesite in Dell Park Cemetery Natick, Mass.

To date, this remains the most unassuming of any President and Vice Presidents gravesite that I have seen.



A more modern marker informs you that this guy was Vice President



VP Wilson and I

     After VP Wilsons grave we stopped at some Calvin Coolidge sites in Northampton, Mass, then hit George W. Bush's birthplace in New Haven, CT before going to our hotel in CT. for the night. The next morning we started heading towards home hitting the new FDR Library and Martin Van Buren sites in Kinderhook, NY along the way. Our final stop of the trip was our final VP of the trip. VP James S. Shermans grave in Utica, NY.

#27 James S. Sherman 1855 - 1912

                                Vice President under William Howard Taft from 1909 - 1912


     James S. Sherman was a Conservative Congressman from New York when he was picked as William Howard Tafts running mate in the election of 1908. Which balanced the ticket nicely. Sherman was also a heavier guy, who along with Taft, remains the heaviest Major party ticket in U. S. history.
   
     The Shermans and Tafts became pretty good friends, and Sherman became the first VP renominated in 84 years. But as the election of 1912 approached Sherman was suffering from a  kidney ailment and died less then a week before the election. Taft failed to win reelection and Sherman remains the last Vice President to die in office.

VP Shermans tomb in Forest Hill Cemetery Utica, NY

Best pic I could get of inside the Sherman tomb.

VP Sherman and I.

Well that does it for now. I now have 9 VPs left to see. And it will be no quick and easy task. To illustrate, here are the ones that are left:

Daniel Tompkins  New York, New York

John C. Calhoun  Charleston, South Carolina

William R. King  Selma, Alabama

Schuyler Colfax  South Bend, Indiana

Charles Dawes  Chicago, Illiniois

John N. Garner  Uvalde, Texas

Hubert Humphrey  Minneanapolis, Minnesota

Spiro Agnew  Timonium, Maryland

Nelson Rockefeller  Sleepy Hollow, New York

  So as you can see, they are quite spread out. As of now I have no definate plans on which will be next. Time will tell.

Vice Presidents 2

As I was nearing completion of visiting all of the gravesite of the Presidents, collecting the Vice Presidents became more and more important. On the trip that I would complete my primary goal to get all of the Presidents, I was able to add 5 more VP's to my collection, 6 if you count  Theodore Roosevelt.

#3 Aaron Burr (1756-1836)

                                        Vice President under Thomas Jefferson from 1801 - 1805
                                                     
  The first VP of the trip immediatly followed the final Presidential gravesite of my collection. The President was Grover Cleveland, the VP was Aaron Burr, and the place was Princeton Cemetery in Princeton, NJ.


  Burr is probably the most famous (or infamous) VP that I saw on this trip. He actually became very close to becoming President himself. In the Presidential election of 1800 Aaron Burr tied electorial votes with Thomas Jefferson, both with 73. The election then went to the House of Represenatives and it took 36 ballots before Jefferson would be declared the winner.

  Burr is most known for the duel that he had with Alexander Hamilton in 1804, in which he killed Hamilton. This would be the only time that a sitting Vice President would shoot someone, until Dick Cheney accidentally shot one of his friends while hunting.

My nephew Chris, and my daughter Khloe join me for a photo opp at Aaron Burr's gravesite in Princeton Cemetery Princeton, NJ

A more modern marker at Burr's gravesite



#24 Garrett Hobart (1844-1899)

                                    Vice President under William McKinley from 1897 - 1899

  Later that afternoon we stopped at Cedar Lawn Cemetery in Paterson, NJ to visit the gravesite of VP Garrett Hobart. And we were also able to meet up with Frank McGady, one of my Presidential sites and gravehunting friends that I met online.

  Hobart served in the New Jersey General Assembly and New Jersey State Senate before William McKinley picked him as his running mate in the Presidential Election of 1896. New Jersey was an important key state that year.
 
   Hobart died in office in 1899 of heart disease at the age of 55. As Frank pointed out, Hobart is the closest that New Jersey has come to having their own President. Had Hobart lived a few more years he probably would of remained McKinley's running mate in the Presidential Election of 1900. When McKinley is assassinated in 1901, Hobart would of become President.

  Although Grover Cleveland was born and is buried in New Jersey, he spent most of his life in Buffalo, NY. So most consider him a New York President.

Garrett Hobart Tomb, Cedar Lawn Cemetery, Paterson, NJ

Inside the Tomb

Me at VP Hobarts Tomb. Paterson, NJ

#11 George Mifflin Dallas (1792-1864)

                                     Vice President under James K. Polk from 1845 - 1849


  The 3rd Vice President of the trip came 2 days later on Wednesday, my Valley Forge and Philidelphia day. I had planned to get VP Dallas earlier in the morning since he is buried just a few blocks from Independence Hall. But time was much tighter then expected and we didn't make it there. But later that afternoon we were heading back to the area to get some Phili Cheesesteaks at both Pat's and Geno's. As we drove I realized we would pass the block that Dallas is buried on. So I went ahead and turned on the street. I slowly drove and found the cemetery easily, but no parking. I ended up circeling the block. On the second try I took desperate measures. I parked illegally as my nephew and I hopped out and ran inside. The cemetery was bigger then expected. But I remember seeing pictures of the gravesite with a brick wall behind it. So I took a left and followed the perimider of the Church. Luckily as I turned the corner of the Church, there he was. I quickly took a picture of the gravestone. Then I got a picture of my nephew with it, then he got a picture of me with it. Then we hurried to the van before anyone noticed that I was parked in a no parking zone.

  Dallas was a U. S. Senator, Mayor of Philidelphia, and diplomat to Russia under Martin Van Buren before he was picked as James K. Polk's running mate the Presidential Election of 1844. After his term as VP he went on to serve as a Minister to England during the Pierce, Buchanan and Lincoln administrations. Also the city of Dallas, Texas is named after him.

George Mifflin Dallas gravesite, St. Peter's Episcopal Churchyard Philidelphia, PA

VP Dallas and I Philidelphia, PA

#4 George Clinton (1739-1812)

                                   Vice President under Thomas Jefferson from 1805 - 1809
                                                                         and
                                     Vice President under James Madison from 1809 - 1812

  The very next day after Philidelphia we were able to pick up 2 more VP's. The first was that of George Clinton in Kingston, NY

  Clinton was a veteran of the French and Indian War, and later an enthusiastic supporter of the American Revolution. He would become the First Governor of New York State before becoming Vice President. He is one of only 2 VP's to serve as Vice President under 2 different Presidents. The other one being John C. Calhoun, who served as Vice President under both John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson.

  Clinton would become the first Vice President to die in office in 1812.

Vice President George Clinton's gravesite, Old Dutch Churchyard Kingston, NY

Plaque on Clintons gravesite.

VP George Clinton and I. Kingston, NY

#22 Levi Morton (1824-1920)

                                  Vice President under Benjamin Harrison from 1889 - 1893


          We left Kingston and VP Clinton, took a short drive across the Hudson River and before we knew it we were in Rhinebeck Cemetery in Rhinebeck, NY to see the grave of VP Levi Morton.

   Morton served as a Congressman from New York and Minister to France before becoming Vice President. After his Vice Presidency he went on to be Governor of New York. He was the second longest living VP next to John Nance Garner. He died on his 96th birthday in 1920 after outliving 5 of his VP successors.

Levi Morton gravesite, Rhinebeck Cemetery Rhinebeck, NY

Vice President Levi Morton and I. Rhinbeck, NY.

   Well that does it for now. At this point I have no idea when or where my next big trip will be. I have alot of ideas, but it will probably be a year or so before I do anything to big. But, you never know what may come up. I have 13 more Vice Presidential gravesites to see. And they are scattered all over. From Maine to Texas, from Minnesota to South Carolina, from New York to Alabama. I hope to get them all someday. In time, I'm sure I will.

Trip #11 Tennessee, Kentucky and more

Tennessee State Capital Building Nashville, TN. Site of President James K. Polk's gravesite.

Presidential Gravesites seen on this trip: #17 Andrew Johnson Greeneville, Tennessee 35 of 38


Presidential Gravesite revisits: #7 Andrew Jackson Nashville, Tennessee
                                             #11 James K. Polk Nashville, Tennessee

Vice Presidential Gravesite: Alben W. Barkley Paducah, Kentucky


   It has been a very fun and productive last few years for this hobby. In early 2009 I decided to start visiting the gravesites of the Presidents with the intention to see them all someday. In April 2009 I made my first trip of this quest by going down to Marion, Ohio to see President Harding. By the end of 2009 I would of collected 20 of them. In 2010 I collected another 9. 2011 brought another 5. That leaves just 4 more. After my unexpected trip to L.A. in October 2011 to see Nixon and Reagan (Which were clearly to 2 toughest to see), I began to see the light at the end of the tunnell. The 4 remaining wouldn't be to hard to complete with 2 seperate trips in 2012. This is the first of those trips.

After the sucess of last years March western trip, I wanted to do something simular. But I wanted it to incorperate Andrew Johnson sites in Greeneville, TN. I kicked around alot of ideas. There have been alot of sites that I have seen on the fly. That for one reason or the other I needed to cut the stop short. And I always hope to see these sites again someday to take it in properly. Andrew Jackson's Hermitage was one of these sites. And I figured that while I was going down to Tennessee to see Andrew Johnson sites. That I may as well stop by the Hermitage and take it in properly. As I talked with one of my friends in Nashville a lot of other possibilities in Nashville opened up. Eventually I decided to head towards St. Louis after our time in Nashville. My wife has for a long time wanted to see the St. Louis Arch. And there is also a bunch of stuff that I wanted to see in St. Louis as well. As it always does, trip time arrived before we knew it. And we were heading south towards my 35th Presidential Gravesite.


March 23, 2012  Andrew Johnson

I got home from work around 5pm on Thursday March 22. My wife had the day off and was doing last minute trip preparation that day. My parents were there to get the kids. So, Luckily I got to see the kids for a few minutes before Mom and Dad had to leave with them. Once they left I got cleaned up, changed and we were on the road by 5:17. We would drive all the way down to our hotel in Knoxville, Tennessee for the night. We made great time and arrived at our Knoxville hotel around 11pm.

We made it to Greeneville that morning to see Andrew Johnson sites over a half hour before they opened. This gave us a good chance to walk around Greeneville and get pictures of the outside of Andrew Johnsons houses. We first got pictures of the replica birthplace and his early home near the visitors center. I glaced at a map that they had on display and we started walking down the street towards the Johnson homestead house. As we walked down I little ways we came across Andrew Johnson's backyard. We crossed an old, rickity bridge and walked through the backyard up to the back of the Homestead house. We got some pictures and before long we started heading back towards the National Park Service visitors center. We walked into the visitors center at around 9:02 and asked when the first available tour of the Homestead house would be. The lady at the desk said "Around 1:30 this afternoon". Apparently around 100 3rd graders had the morning tours all booked up. So this was kind of a bummer. But we went ahead and looked around the visitors center museum which included Johnson's Tailor shop. We also did the self guided tours of the early Johnson home and the replica birthplace.

It was then off to the Andrew Johnson National Cemetery to see the Presidents gravesite. Johnson was buried on top of a steep hill. I wanted to park by the gate and walk up the hill but a park ranger had the parking spaces there blocked. So we drove up the steep hill and found parking up there. It was a nice, peacefull gravesite that Johnson himself picked. There were 2 layers of fences circling the Presidents grave. After my wife got a picture of me at the gravesite I started looking at the fences. They were pointy and looked like they might hurt. But I could reach over the outer fence and could push the gate of the inner fence open. So if I could find my way over the outer fence I could make it all the way into the Momunent. So I found a spot where the fence wasn't as high and climbed over. I then walked around and opened the gate to the inner fence and I was in. So I got some pictures right next to the Monument. I then hurried out before they realised the hounds.

Andrew Johnson gravesite. Andrew Johnson National Cemetery Greeneville, TN

March 23, 2012 Andrew Jackson revisit


We left Greeneville ahead of scheduel since I had planned on touring the Johnson Homestead house. But we now had a roughly 4 hour drive across Tennessee to get to the Hermitage, Home of Andrew Jackson. Our last visit to the Hermitage was rushed, hot and we had our 5 month old Khloe with us. This time was much nicer. The weather was nice and mild. And we had nothing else planned to do that day. We got our headsets that offer information on various sites around the property. Making everything there, other then the house, a self guided tour. We took the house tour, and visited the rose garden where Andrew and Rachel Jackson are buried. We then headed out back behind the main house that we didn't get to explore last time. We walked back into the woods and found a large open field were the slave quarters once stood. We also found the little cabin in which Andrew and Rachel Jackson lived in for 17 years before the bigger Hermitage home was built. All in all it was a nice relaxing day of site seeing.





Andrew Jackson's gravesite at The Hermitage. Nashville, TN

March 24, 2012  James K. Polk revisit

This ended up being a very productive day in Nashville. My friend Josh, who I met on a facebook Presidents sites group, picked us up at our hotel around 8am to show us around Nashville. We first stopped at Mt. Olivet Cemetery were we found the gravesite of John Bell, a Speaker of the House, who ran for President in 1860. We hit a few more graves there and were off to down town to see some Polk sites. We revisited Polk's gravesite on the lawn of the Tennessee State Capital Building. We then walked around and saw the site of Polk Place, President Polk's home which was torn down. Now a Best Western sits on the site. We also stopped by 2 chuches with Polk connections. One is where his funeral took place, and the other is where he was sworn in as Governor of Tennessee. We then headed to the Parntheon replica. After that we stopped by RCA Studio B, where Elvis Presley and many others recorded. We then hit a couple more cemeteries. City Cemetery was the site where President Polk was originally buried. We then hit Woodlawn Memorial Park where we had to pull up some internet pictures to find what we were looking for. My wife has a great eye for these things and she found the gravesite of Country star Porter Waggoner. We also found Johnny Paycheck, singer of "Take This Job and Shock It". In the mauseleum there we found the gravesite of Jerry Reed. We also were looking for the gravesite of Tammy Wynette in the mauseleum. Josh had been there before but we just couldn't find it. We found out later that we were right there. They had just changed her name on the wall marker. We got lunch at a very good hot dog place and hit a few more country stars. We made it back to the hotel by 1pm. That night we saw a show at the Grand Ole Opry from back stage. It was pretty amazing!

President Polk's gravesite on the lawn of the Tennesse State Capital Building. Nahville, TN

March 25, 2012 Vice President Alben W. Barkley

#35 Alben W. Barkley (1877-1956)

                                      Vice President under Harry S. Truman from 1949 - 1953
  I recently made a posting of Vice Presidential Gravesites that I have seen so far. I only saw one more (2 if you count Andrew Johnson, but we already covered him) on this trip. So I figured I would add him to this posting.

The trip would continue the next morning. We left Nashville around 7 am and hit 3 sites on the way from Nashville to St. Louis. We stopped at Jefferson Davis' birthplace, Ohio Governor Charles Anderson's gravesite, and Vice President Alben W. Barkley's gravesite.

Barkley was a Congressman, Senator and Senate Majority Leader before he was picked as Harry Truman's running mate in the election of 1948. The Truman Barkley ticket narrowly beat NY Governor Thomas Dewey. Truman decided to not run for re election in 1952. Barkley was a short lived Canidate for the Decmocratic Nomination that year. But he was 74, and considered to old by most. Adlai Stevenson would eventually get the Democratic Nomination but would be defeated by Eisenhower.





Historical marker outside of the cemtery



...more info on the back




Me at VP Barkley's gravesite in Mout Kenton Cemetery Paducah, KY



Barkley's headstone

After Barkley's gravesite we headed to St. Louis. We first stopped by 2 cemeteries. Bellefontaine and Calvary. At these places we found the graves of Explorer William Clark, The graves of both Anheser and Busch, beer makers, Frederick Dent (President Grant's father in law), Union General William Tecumseh Sherman, Dred Scott and Tennessee Williams. It was then time to go to our hotel in downtown St. Louis. Once we checked into our room and opened the window we were very excited to see that we had an excelent view of the Arch from our room. We walked down to the Arch and toured the museum underneath. Which was very cool. We strolled around downtown St. Louis abit before we retired to our room for the night.

The next day we went to see the Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site in St. Louis. We started heading home and hit Vincennes, IN on the way. Vincennes was the capital of the Indiana Territory and William Henry Harrison served as Territorial Governor there. Also nearby is the site where a 21 year old Abraham Lincoln first crossed into Illinios when he moved with his family. We hit one final site before heading home. Ohio Governor Othniel Looker was buried in a town 20 miles or so from Vincennes north along the IL / IN border in Palestine, IL.

To complete my collection of Presidential Gravesites I only have 3 left. Which I will be able to see this June. Ulysses S. Grant in NYC, Grover Cleveland in Princeton, NJ and Theodore Roosevelt on Long Island.

Vice Presidents

Seal of the Vice President

If I would offer a word of advice to anyone who sets out to complete their own collection of Presidential Gravesites, it would be this. As you map out the final resting places of the Presidents, go ahead and map out the final resting places of the Vice Presidents while you are at it. Most of the friends that I have made online who share this interest have eventually started collecting Vice Presidents as well. And I am no expection. I only say this so that you may avoid covering the same ground twice. I passed in close proximity to many VP's gravesite on some of my early trips that I will now need to return sometime.

I started looking into the VP's about a year into this hobby. Around early to mid 2010. Current VP Joe Biden is the 47th VP. 6 are still alive which leaves 41 Vice Presidential Gravesite to visit. As far as Presidents go, I am fortunate to live in a state where 5 of them are buried. Vice Presidents were a little different. None are in my home state. One perk is that 14 VP's (John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Martin Van Buren, John Tyler, Millard Fillmore, Andrew Johnson, Chester Arthur, Theodore Roosevelt, Calvin Coolidge, Harry Truman, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Geoge Bush) have gone on to be President themselves. George Bush is the only one still alive. And 2 of them: Andrew Johnson and Theodore Roosevelt (note that I will be visiting Andrew Johnson next week and TR in June)are among the 4 Presidential Gravesites that I still need to see. So I have 11 of them already.

#5 Elbridge Gerry (1744 - 1814)

Vice President under James Madison from 1813 - 1814

The first non President VP gravesite that I visited was that of Elbridge Gerry in Congressional Cemtery, Washington DC in July 2010. I went to DC for the weekend to see my nephew in the Boy Scout parade and did alot of backpacking around DC. We visited Congessional Cemtery first thing on that Sunday morning. I really enjoyed it. Gerry is buried just a stones throw from FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover and Lincoln assassination co conspirator David Herald. We also saw Civl War photographer Matthew Brady there. Gerry was James Madisons 2nd Vice President, and also James Madisons 2nd Vice President to die in office. Back then when a vacancy occurred in the Vice Presidency (threw the death of the VP or the death of the President, moving the VP to President), it was simply left vacant. It wasn't until the the 25th Amendment was ratified in 1967 that there wasn't allowed to be a vacancy in the Vice Presidency. This is how both Gerald Ford and Nelson Rockefeller became VP.

Headstone of Vice President and Signer of the Declaration of Independence Elbridge Gerry.



Elbridge Gerry and I. Washington DC

My March 2011 western trip left a great chance to add to my VP collection, while collecting some of my last few Presidents. I set out to see the Libraries and gravesites of Presidents Truman, Eisenhower and Hoover. I noticed that along the way I could easily pick up 6 VP's.

#31 Charles Curtis (1860-1936)

                                       Vice President under Herbert Hoover from 1929 - 1933

The first was Charles Curtis, in Topeka, Kansas. Right along the path from Presidents Truman to Eisenhower. Curtis was VP under Herbert Hoover and is the only person of American Indian descent to hold such a high political office.



Vice President Charles Curtis gravestone



Charles Curtis and I. Topeka, KS.



#33 Henry Wallace (1888-1965)

                                  Vice President under Franklin D. Roosevelt from 1941 - 1945
The next day I was traveling through Iowa on the way to the Hoover Library. We made a stop in Des Moines, Iowa to see the gravesite of VP Henry Wallace. Wallace was the 2nd of FDR's 3 Vice Presidents. As VP during FDR's 3rd term he was very close to being President, but when FDR ran for a 4th term in 1944, he dropped Wallace from the ticket and chose Harry Truman as his running mate. Just a few months later FDR was dead, and Truman was Presdent. Wallace had been serving (demoted?) as Secrectery of Commerce in FDR's 4th term and into the Truman administration.



Wallace gravesite



Henry Wallace and I. Des Moines, Iowa

#23 Adlai Stevenson I (1835-1914)

                                    Vice President under Grover Cleveland from 1893 - 1897

The 4th and final day of the trip brought 4 more VP's as we were heading home. The first was that of Adlai Stevenson I in Bloomington, IL. Stevenson was VP during Grover Cleveland's 2nd non consecutive term. Buried near Stevenson was his grandson Adlai Stevenson II. The younger Stevenson ran for President against Eisenhower twice and was Ambassador of the U. N. during the Kennedy administration.



Adlai Stevenson and I. Bloomington, IL

The next 3 VP's I got in one place. Crown Hill Cemetery Indianapolis, IN. President Benjamin Harrison is also buried here. But when I visited his gravesite in May 2009, I hadn't done my homework and didn't realise that 3 VP's and outlaw John Dillinger were also buried there. This demanded a revisit.

#28 Thomas R. Marshall (1854-1925)

                                   Vice President under Woodrow Wilson from 1913 - 1921
The first VP we came to in Crown Hill Cemetery was that of Thomas Marshall. Marshall was VP under Woodrow Wilson. Towards the end of Wilson's 2 terms, Wilson suffered a stroke. He lived out the rest of his term in a questionable condition. Mrs. Wilson didn't allow very many visitors. Marshall probably could of pushed the issue and assumed the Presidency, considering that Wilson probably wasn't physically capable of fulfilling his Presidential duries. But he let Mrs. Wilson do her thing and now many think that she was in fact, our first female President.



Thomas Marshall and I. Indianapolis, IN

#26 Charles Fairbanks (1852-1918)

                                Vice President under Theodore Roosevelt from 1905 - 1909
The next 2 VP's in Crown Hill are just a stones throw from each other across the pavement. Charles Fairbanks was VP under Theodore Roosevelt. He was also the nephew of President Rutherford B. Hayes. Fairbanks sought the Republican nomination for President in 1912, but TR supported William H. Taft over him. In 1916 he ran for VP on the Republican ticket with Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes. But the Hughes Fairbanks ticket was beaten by the Woodrow Wilson Thomas Marshall re election campaign.



Charles Fairbanks and I. Indianapolis, IN

#21 Thomas A. Hendricks (1819-1885)

                      Vice President under Grover Cleveland from March 1885 - November 1885
Thomas Hendricks was the 6th and final VP of the trip, 3rd and final in Crown Hill. Hendricks was Grover Clevelands first VP. Unfortunatly he died just 8 months into his term. He was also VP nominee under Samuel Tilden in 1876 when they lost a controvisial election to Rutherford B. Hayes.



Thomas Hendricks and I. Indianapolis, IN

In late 2011 and early 2012 I was planning a trip for March that would incorperate Andrew Johnson's home and grave. Eventually I came up with the idea to swing through TN seeing Johnson sites and revisit sites in Nashville, as well as some new. Then catch some sites in KY on the way home. After awhile I decided that most of the KY sites could be seen on a day trip or over the weekend. So I shifted the trip towards St. Louis for a day after Nashville. And I will be doing that trip next week.

The chance to pick up the loose ends that I would of seen on that trip came sooner then expected. In late February we made a last minute trip to northern KY that would allow me to see 2 more VP's.

#14 John C. Breckinridge (1821-1875)

                                     Vice President under James Buchanan from 1857 - 1861
The first was John C. Brekinridge in Lexington, KY. Also buried in Lexinton Cemetery is Henry Clay, Actor Jim Varney and the Todd family (Abraham Lincoln's in laws). Brekinridge was VP under James Buchanen, and at age 36, is still the youngest person to hold the office of Vice President.





Without this sign, his unassuming marker would be tough to find.

John C. Brekinridge and I. Lexington, KY

#9 Richard Mentor Johnson (1780-1850)

                                    Vice President under Martin Van Buren from 1837 - 1841
It was a short half hour drive or so from Lexington to our next VP in Frankfort, KY.VP Richard M. Johnson in buried in Frankfort Cemtery along with Daniel Boone. Johnson was VP under Martin Van Buren. He was also a Colonel under General William Henry Harrison during the Battle of the Thames. In this battle, some have claimed that Johnson himself, killed Shawnee Indian Chief Tecumseh.




My daughter Khloe and I, and Richard Mentor Johnson. Frankfort, KY

I suppose that is it for now. As I see more VP's I will make more posts. I hope to see one more next week in western KY. And then I plan on seeing several more when I head to NY, NJ and Philadelphia in June.