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Written by Eric
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Written by Eric
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(Surprisingly) Delightful Morning with James Buchanan
Lancaster, Pennsylvania has been on my list of sites to visit for many years. But James Buchanan just doesn't serve as the magnet that some of the others do, right? The only reason I have visited his birthplace is because I was lost in thought on the Pennsylvania...
Chasing Presidents Upward
Franklin Roosevelt's presidential plane, The Sacred Cow. Long about a year ago, I walked into a Safety Meeting of the first shift machinists and looked around the room and said, "I'm sure your wondering why I asked you all here tonight. Years ago, one of you did...
An Afternoon with James A. Garfield
Koritansky Hall, Hiram College. Site where James Garfield preached. Some things are worth the wait. Last weekend, I set out on my first Chasing Presidents tour of 2023. I turned back after only a half hour. I was to visit five new presidential sites and three I have...
50 Years Without Harry
Downtown Independence Maybe you know that Harry Truman is from Independence, Missouri. Maybe you know he became president on the death of Franklin Roosevelt. If you know that you probably know that Roosevelt and Truman spoke only a handful of times- and FDR did not...
Visiting Seven a Third Time
Coming to Terms with Andrew Jackson Andrew Jackson's Hermitage. Photo by Eric Ebinger, July, 2022 My first trip to the Hermitage was in 1998 after an all night road trip from State College to Nashville. I dare say we embarked on the trip for the sole purpose of...
Introducing Presidential Reading
Sometimes Known as Presidential Research Author's Note: Book Titles in this blog post are in bold print because I can't find the button to underline.As the prolific author and Civil War Professor Gary Gallagher signed his book, The Confederate War, for me in his...
Equal Before (and Under) the Fish
I slept soundly in the Holiday Inn Express and Suites alongside Interstate 70 just west of Vandalia, Illinois. I suppose I have to sleep soundly after a full day of work on a Friday followed by seven hours of driving. But that is what I do to myself to Chase Presidents. And I was prepared for a full day at dawn’s early light.
No Birthday for John Kennedy
Chasing Presidents #35 Only in college, perhaps, do you make such fast friends that you spend an entire day together and know very little about them. Such was the case my first Saturday at Penn State. A morning of Ultimate Frisbee, followed by lunch, followed by an...
Chasing Presidents for 34 Years – Part II
I left the crabs to their chances. As I brushed the sand off my feet, I wondered what else Long Branch might have in store for me. I had about twenty minutes left before the opening of Monmouth. And I like to be at places when they open to beat the throngs. I am sure...
Chasing Presidents for 34 Years- Part I
I wasn’t chasing James Garfield last September in Long Branch, New Jersey. In fact, forgive me this admission, it had slipped my mind that Long Branch had anything to do with the Orange Township, Ohio born 20th President of the United States. But we will get to...