SIGHTSEERS
Life on Ike’s Gettysburg Farm
A Photo Story
by Randy Karr

Walk in the footsteps of presidents, prime ministers and kings.

Your path through the Eisenhower National Historic Site, home of President Dwight D. (Ike) Eisenhower and First Lady Mamie Eisenhower, begins at the Reception Center, where a video and exhibits highlight Eisenhower’s life, continues past the Guest House, where the Eisenhowers’ grandson stayed while working as a farmhand, and ends at the Eisenhowers’ front door.

In the entrance hall is a guest book that Mamie asked all visitors to sign, including world leaders and her children and grandchildren. A curio cabinet contains her knickknacks, including plastic figurines of presidents and first ladies she collected from cereal boxes and a presidential plate she purchased from a nearby Stuckey’s souvenir stand.

The ranger-led tour begins in the adjacent formal living room, where gifts Ike and Mamie received from friends and world leaders are showcased. In one corner hangs a portrait of Mamie wearing a pink dress, her favorite color. Below the portrait is a grand piano lined with family photos. They seldom used this room because Ike thought it was too “stuffy.”

An enclosed porch is where Ike and Mamie did regular life - visiting with friends, watching TV, playing cards and eating dinner on TV trays. Shrewdly, Ike also used the porch for diplomacy, relying on its relaxed setting to melt cold war tensions with visiting world leaders like Nikita Khrushchev of the Soviet Union.

The balance of the home tour, which is self-guided, continues on the second floor. Located here are rooms that served as the Eisenhowers’ dressing rooms, guest rooms, a maid’s room and a sitting room used by grandchildren to watch TV. The books seen here are those Ike particularly enjoyed reading - histories, biographies and westerns.

The Master Bedroom is where Mamie met with staff members, wrote correspondence, planned her social agenda and met with close friends, all the while propped up on pillows. Mamie believed that once a woman reached the age of 50 she was entitled to stay in bed until noon.

Other home highlights include a 1950s era kitchen, complete with green linoleum counters, green tile floors and a Crosley refrigerator. Ike and Mamie, not fans of gourmet dishes, preferred eating basic American fare. Ike especially enjoyed grilling gigantic Black Angus steaks on his brick barbecue.

The final rooms seen on the tour are a den that reflects Ike’s interest in reading, fly-fishing and Civil War muskets and an office Ike used for conducting farm and presidential business. While Ike recuperated from his 1955 heart attack, the den and office became a “temporary White House.”

Adjacent to the Eisenhower home are gardens and greenhouses, a skeet range, a teahouse and a path that connects the Eisenhower home with Farm 2. Farm 2 is where the President operated a successful cattle business.

Eisenhower Farm’s Angus cattle gained national acclaim by winning grand championships and blue ribbons in major competitions across the United States. To prepare for competitions, animals were brushed daily and bathed weekly in the show barn, which also housed the headsman’s office and cattle stalls.

For more information about the Eisenhower National Historic Site and the adjoining Gettysburg National Military Park, visit the National Park Service’s Web page at www.nps.gov

© 2010 Randy Karr