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DEL.ICIO.USMake a Presidential pilgrimage this weekend
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Growing up, my friend Tom’s birthday often fell on a national holiday. While our teachers would say something about Presidents Day, we called it Tom’s birthday and thanked our friend for the day off from school.
Tom’s Day…I mean Presidents Day, combines the birthdays of George Washington (February 22) and Abraham Lincoln (February 12) and celebrates the service of all U.S. Presidents. While the third Monday in February is not a guaranteed day off from work for many people, you can still find ways to celebrate that don’t involve a sale at the mall.
Travel to Plains, Ga. to the Jimmy Carter National Historic Site, to get a glimpse into our 39th President’s past. Check out his boyhood farm, the train depot which housed his campaign headquarters, and the visitors’ center at Carter’s old high school. (Closer to home, Carter aficionados can also check out Atlanta’s Carter Center and Presidential Library and Museum.)
Check out Warm Springs, Ga., where 32nd President Franklin Delano Roosevelt frequently sought treatment for his polio paralysis in the heated mineral springs. Visit the cottage he owned called the “Little White House”, as well as nearby FDR State Park.
Head to Tennessee, home of Presidents Andrew Jackson (7th), James K. Polk (11th) and Andrew Johnson (17th). Jackson’s home near Nashville, called The Hermitage, includes a museum and the mansion staffed by historically-costumed tour guides. Polk’s ancestral home in Columbia includes half-price admission for the Presidents Day weekend and a chance to see more than 1,000 of the Polks’ personal belongings. Johnson’s hometown of Greenville includes a museum, his tailor’s shop, his house and the national cemetery where the “Defender of the Constitution” is buried.
If you have the time, Virginians are honoring their many Presidents, including George Washington, in a variety of celebrations. Kentucky is also beginning a bicentennial celebration of its native son, Abraham Lincoln.
…Or you can do what my husband and his friends are doing. They are honoring the holiday in a way that would make 34th President Dwight D. Eisenhower proud - by getting in as many rounds of golf as possible.
Let us know if you’re traveling over Presidents Day weekend. Are you getting into the spirit of the holiday or just getting out of town? Have you ever visited any of these presidential sites? What did you think of them?
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