Presidential Tour Part III: Teapots, Timbits and Stephens
I thought it fitting that the day I visited Warren G. Harding's house began with a teapot. As the Harding house wasn't open until noon, I decided to have a leisurely room service breakfast. There is a little visitor's center and gift shop. Unfortunately this meant I had problems hearing the introductory movie over the sound of our soon-to-be tour guide chatting loudly with her friend.
One thing that is especially cool about the Harding House is it was where he ran the bulk of his 1920 presidential campaign. He was one of of a few presidential candidates over the years that opted to do a "front porch" campaign. I got a kick out of standing at the spot where he used to give his speeches....and pretty much seeing all the same houses in the distance.
Now because presidential historical sites are all about cheerleading their particular president, I usually don't bring up the scandals and failings. Part of the fun for me is to see how they choose to present the president. The visitor's center does bring up the Tea Pot Dome Scandal briefly, but pretty much implies that it was all bad luck on Harding's part.
What I got a kick out of on the tour, was one man kept bringing up all the subjects that I'm sure would either have been glossed over, or not mentioned at all. "Tell us about the Teapot Dome scandal!" So we actually got a relatively in depth explanation of it. Then a minute later, "Hey didn't Harding have a mistress?" Turns out he had one for 15 years. He got rid of all her letters....but she kept his. Mua-ha-ha.
I was a little disappointed the gift shop didn't have the T-shirt I wanted in my size. I wanted to be stylin' with a picture of Warren G. on me.
After that I caught a showing of "Company" at the Columbus movie theater while happily munching away on Timbits. Tim Horton's is a chain restaurant that is in Canada, some of the northern states....and for whatever random reason, Ohio has a ton of them. Timbits are really really good donut holes. So the timbits-Sondheim combo.....while watching my "boyfriend" Stephen Colbert sing....I was a very happy camper indeed.
Of course the more appropriate Sondheim musical for this trip would have been "Assassins". Tomorrow I'm sure to have plenty of those songs stuck in my head as I'm visiting multiple McKinley memorials, and possibly Garfield's too.
One thing that is especially cool about the Harding House is it was where he ran the bulk of his 1920 presidential campaign. He was one of of a few presidential candidates over the years that opted to do a "front porch" campaign. I got a kick out of standing at the spot where he used to give his speeches....and pretty much seeing all the same houses in the distance.
Now because presidential historical sites are all about cheerleading their particular president, I usually don't bring up the scandals and failings. Part of the fun for me is to see how they choose to present the president. The visitor's center does bring up the Tea Pot Dome Scandal briefly, but pretty much implies that it was all bad luck on Harding's part.
What I got a kick out of on the tour, was one man kept bringing up all the subjects that I'm sure would either have been glossed over, or not mentioned at all. "Tell us about the Teapot Dome scandal!" So we actually got a relatively in depth explanation of it. Then a minute later, "Hey didn't Harding have a mistress?" Turns out he had one for 15 years. He got rid of all her letters....but she kept his. Mua-ha-ha.
I was a little disappointed the gift shop didn't have the T-shirt I wanted in my size. I wanted to be stylin' with a picture of Warren G. on me.
After that I caught a showing of "Company" at the Columbus movie theater while happily munching away on Timbits. Tim Horton's is a chain restaurant that is in Canada, some of the northern states....and for whatever random reason, Ohio has a ton of them. Timbits are really really good donut holes. So the timbits-Sondheim combo.....while watching my "boyfriend" Stephen Colbert sing....I was a very happy camper indeed.
Of course the more appropriate Sondheim musical for this trip would have been "Assassins". Tomorrow I'm sure to have plenty of those songs stuck in my head as I'm visiting multiple McKinley memorials, and possibly Garfield's too.