Happy Long Weekend!

It’s Sunday but, for many of us in America, it’s a long weekend. We have celebrated Labor Day the first Monday in September since 1894 when President Grover Cleveland designated it as a day to celebrate working people.

So, if you’re not working Monday, thank this guy.

His full name was Stephen Grover Cleveland but I guess Stephen Cleveland didn’t have much of a ring to it or just wasn’t as cool as Grover so he went by that middle name.

The New Jersey native was a former teacher, lawyer, sheriff, mayor of Buffalo and New York Governor before becoming our 22nd and 24th President. He is our only President to win two non consecutive terms.

We don’t talk about President Cleveland much but we do have him to thank for this long weekend. So strike up the grill, take a road trip and raise a glass to the American worker.

The Taft House

If you’re a history buff, a fascinating site for Ohio Presidential history can be found in Cincinnati. Here, the National Parks Service operates President William Howard Taft’s boyhood home for tours.

I’ve been there just once – a few Decembers ago when it was decorated for Christmas.

We were the only two people on the tour of the home and then were invited to peruse the museum on our own.

The tour guide was informative and a good storyteller. As historic homes go, I don’t recall there being anything extraordinary about this particular Greek Revival home but the stories that accompany it as the boyhood home of one of our Presidents makes it well worth your time.

This area of the city was known as Cincinnati’s Fifth Avenue in the nineteenth century. Today they call it Mt Auburn.

Taft was a lifelong public servant who embraced many roles in his lifetime including President of the United States and Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court.

Ohio has contributed to the brotherhood of the Presidency eight men, more presidents than any other state. Sadly, we didn’t learn much about any of the eight in school and my knowledge of President Taft was tragically limited before visiting here.

Learn about his life and career, this old house, politics and more with a tour of his boyhood home.

It’s worth price of admission – zero dollars – and well worth your time. Given how slow it was when I visited, it seems like a good candidate for some socially distanced fun if you’re itching to get out of the house for a while.

Learn more here.