Great River Road Trip, Day #18

Wednesday, May 21, 2025

Upon his return to Galena following the Civil War, the townspeople purchased and gifted this fully furnished home to Ulysses S. Grant and his wife Julia Dent Grant as a sign of their appreciation for his valor. The Grant family would live in this home until their move to the White House following his election as the 18th President of The United Staes.

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This was General Grant’s - and soon to be President Grant’s - study. Most all the furnishings in the house are original, including his seat and this table. In this room, and upon this table, Grant outlined his candidacy for President and the plans for his administration.

His study from the other doorway.

This is the formal room where the Grant’s would entertain. On the day following his election to the Presidency there were hundreds of people who filed through this room.

The overstuffed chair in the foreground on the right was Grant’s favorite and it was the only piece of furniture from this room that traveled with him to the White Houe.

The dining room contains all original furnishings, including the dishes. Mrs. Grant sat in the chair in the foreground and Mr. Grant at the opposite end in front of the fireplace.

The dining room from another angle with the General’s seat in the foreground.

The second floor was entirely dedicated to the bedrooms. This is Mr. & Mrs. Grant’s bedroom, again, with all original furnishings.

The woodwork on the bed is impressive for the time.

The dressing room opened directly into the Grant’s bedroom.

The Grant’s had four children, three boys and one girl. These images are of their bedrooms, all located on the second floor of this nice, but quite modest home.

A recurring theme in each of these bedrooms are the chamber pots below each bed. These were used at night and emptied in the outhouse in the morning. There was no indoor plumbing.

The back stairway of the home. The bannister and rail is original and it was fun to think that as we held the rail to descend these rather steep stairs, the former President of The United States had done the very same thing.

The wallpaper is not original but was replaced with a replica of the original, and the pattern was known as poor man’s marble.

The kitchen where Mrs. Grant prepared the family meals.

The pantry with original Galena pottery on the top few shelves.

This is a replica of the General Store that existed in Grant’s time.

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The inside of the General Store is “busy” with period-appropriate provisions.

This statue of First Lady Julia Dent Grant is located on the lawn in front of their home.

Mrs. Grant was the first President’s Wife referred to as “First Lady” of the United States.

From ChatGPT:

“Ulysses S. Grant, the 18th President of the United States and commanding general of the Union Army during the American Civil War, died on July 23, 1885, at the age of 63. Grant was diagnosed with throat (and possibly tongue) cancer in the fall of 1884. The illness was likely caused by his lifelong habit of cigar smoking—he was known to smoke as many as 20 cigars a day.

After his diagnosis, Grant focused on writing his memoirs in order to provide financial security for his family. He had suffered financial ruin in 1884 due to a Ponzi scheme run by a business partner.

With the encouragement and assistance of Mark Twain, Grant completed the Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant, a work that was both a commercial and critical success. It was published shortly after his death and earned about $450,000 (equivalent to millions today) for his family.

He was originally interred in a temporary tomb in Riverside Park in Manhattan. On April 27, 1897, he was reinterred in a grand mausoleum known as Grant’s Tomb, also in Riverside Park—still one of the largest mausoleums in North America.”

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For our final night on the road we had dinner at The Log Cabin Greek Steakhouse in Galena, Illinois. We ordered the Flaming Saganaki - OPAA!

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The Flaming Saganaki is imported Greek Kasseri, flambeed to golden perfection tableside.

It was VERY good!!!