Presidential Homes

There are three Presidential houses all within about a half hour of each other - Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe. I had been through Jefferson's house, Monticello, before. Since it was so close, I went there, although I wasn't going to go in. I didn't go in because I'm not really crazy about  Jefferson and it cost $25 a person. Outrageous. The place where you buy your tickets was a lot different from when I last saw it. Their gift shop was the biggest one I think I've ever seen. To compare the three sites, in most every way Jefferson came in first, Madison second and Monroe third.

For example there was the admittance fee - Jefferson's cost $25, Madison $18, Monroe $8. But it seemed to be ranked like that in most every other way. Number of people there, how nice it was, size of the gift shop, the staff, and so on.

Poor James Monroe seemed to always be a distant third. I drove up to his place. Let's just say there was plenty of available parking. The gift shop was small and had a few descent items, but also novelty items that took away from the prestige a place like that should have. For example, I doubt Monroe really used a towel that had a picture of a squirrel on it saying, "My friends think I'm nuts". Maybe, but I doubt it. How about the fake glasses with built in eyeballs attached to springs?

When I first saw his house, I thought, "Not bad". But the nice part was an addition added on after Monroe had moved away. His part looks pretty ordinary. Its not the mansions the others have.

In terms of what kind of President they were, if anything, Monroe might have been the best of the three. Let's here it for James Monroe. I'll blog that up next time.