Sunday, March 11, 2012

Who's buried in Grants Tomb?

1st Question: Who is buried in Grants Tomb?
2nd Question: Where are the other US presidents buried?
3rd Question: Are US presidents now buried at their libraries?

There used to be an old joke since the 1950s used as a low ball/easy question for a contest:
"Who is buried in Grant's Tomb?" The expected answer is Ulysses S. Grant, but he is not buried there technically (he is entombed there). But where are US presidents buried?

Since Hoover, all presidents have been buried at their presidential libraries/ museums except for Franklin Roosevelt (at his home in Hyde Park, NY), John Kennedy (at Arlington National Cemetery) and Lyndon Johnson (at his ranch in Johnson City, TX). Those six are:
  • Herbert Hoover - West Branch, IA
  • Harry Truman - Independence, MO
  • Dwight Eisenhower - Abilene, KS
  • Richard Nixon - Yorba Linda, CA
  • Gerald Ford - Grand Rapids, MI
  • Ronald Reagan - Simi Valley, CA
  • George H.W. Bush - College Station, TX
But what about the rest? 

An obvious choice would be to be buried on the grounds of a family estate. For those presidents who had such large estates, this is usually the case for 9 of them:
  • George Washington at Mount Vernon (Mount Vernon, VA)
  • Thomas Jefferson at Monticello (Charlottesville, VA)
  • James Madison at Montpelier (near Orange, VA)
  • Andrew Jackson at Hermitage (Hermitage, TN)
  • Andrew Johnson at the Andrew Johnson House (Greeneville, TN)
  • James Polk at Polk Place (Nashville, TN) but moved to the Tennessee State Capitol
  • Rutherford Hayes at Spiegel Grove (Fremont, OH)
  • Franklin Roosevelt at Springwood (Hyde Park, NY)
  • Lyndon Johnson at LBJ Ranch / Texas White House (Stonewall, TX)
There are other presidents with family estates but were not buried there (James Monroe's Oak Hill, James Buchanan's Wheatland, James Garfield's Lawnfield, Theodore Roosevelt's Sagamore Hill, and John Kennedy's Kennedy Compound). 

Several US presidents were of such importance during their lives that separate tombs and memorials were created. Surprisingly, there are only 5 such Presidents:
  • William Henry Harrison - William Henry Harrison Tomb and Monument in North Bend, OH
  • Abraham Lincoln - Lincoln Tomb at Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield, IL
  • Ulysses Grant - Grant's Tomb in New York City, NY.
  • William McKinley - McKinley National Memorial in Canton, OH
  • Warren Harding - Harding Memorial in Marion, OH
Five US presidents have been buried in special locations, mainly churches or Arlington National Cemetery:
  • John Adams and John Quincy Adams - United First Parish Church in Quincy, MA
  • William Taft - Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, VA
  • Woodrow Wilson - Washington National Cathedral in Washington, DC
  • John Kennedy - Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, VA
Nine US Presidents are buried in a cemetery near or in their hometowns. These graves can have monuments, mausoleums, or tombs associated with them:
  • Martin Van Buren - Kinderhook Cemetery in Kinderhook, NY
  • Zachary Taylor - Zachary Taylor National Cemetery in Louisville, KY
  • Millard Fillmore - Forest Lawn Cemetery in Buffalo, NY
  • Franklin Pierce - Old North Cemetery in Concord, NH
  • James Buchanan - Woodward Hill Cemetery in Lancaster, PA
  • James Garfield - Lakeview Cemetery in Cleveland, OH
  • Benjamin Harrison - Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis, IN
  • Theodore Roosevelt - Youngs Memorial Cemetery in Oyster Bay, NY
  • Calvin Coolidge: Notch Cemetery in Plymouth Notch, VT. 
There are four US Presidents who are buried in cemeteries somewhat close to their hometowns. 
  • James Monroe: Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, VA with a cast iron cage-like tomb. 
  • John Tyler: Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, VA next to James Monroe
  • Chester Arthur: Family plot in Albany Rural Cemetery in Menands, NY
  • Grover Cleveland: Princeton Cemetery in Princeton, NJ (born in NJ but lived in NY)
So what does the future hold? Apparently Jimmy Carter wishes to be buried near his home in Plains, GA and not at the Carter Center. As for the rest, we don't know.

In the end, there has not been a "standard" presidential burial. Some have small graves in a small cemetery. Others are entombed on their large family estates. Surprisingly, most do not have large monuments or memorials to their memories. The last two US Presidents with a separate memorial may not be considered memorial by today's standards. However, a Presidential Library and Museum today could be considered a separate memorial. I guess we'll be seeing more and more of such monuments to US Presidents in the future. The days of a plain grave in a small cemetery are probably over. Coolidge was the last of them. He was quoted as saying: 



"We draw our Presidents from the people... I came from them. I wish to be one of them again."

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