Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site

After the Gateway Arch, I attempted to go to a site that I actually, no-kidding have never been to before, but boy, was it harder than I thought. The target was Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site, a house where he lived much of his adult life.

So, I was one turn away from getting to the site when traffic just STOPPED. There was a light at the bottom of a hill turning right, and I could see a half-mile's worth of cars waiting to turn left where dozens of us waited to turn right. My GPS clearly showed a large park, but I couldn't figure out why there was such a crowd and why it wasn't moving, just a few cars per light cycle. I also presumed that the site and the park were the same.

I turned on a side street before the light, and I wound my way through an exclusive looking neighborhood, but there was no other exit. Rather than rejoin the queue, I tried driving around the park and was surprised to see this huge city park completely fenced in with absolutely no other way in. Looping all the way around, I got to the source of the problem -- the park had a single parking lot with a single person taking money from people to enter. But the good news was that that was not the NPS site -- the entrance to that was blocked by the crowds to the other.

The movie at the visitor's center told the story of Grant's life and how he met his wife, who'd grown up in this house. They eventually bought the property, and it became a place of rest for him in between his various tours in the military and eventually the Presidency. Those historic aspects of his life were brought up, but it was more of a family story. An old barn was converted into a display case with artifacts and plackards about his life. The house and many out-buildings still stand and are in good condition.

Visitor's Ratings (out of 5)
Significance: 2 -- it's a good spot to commemorate a war hero and two-term president.
Beauty: 2 -- wooded farmland
Fun: 2 -- mostly you just wander the farm
Overall: 2 -- worth a stop if you're in the area.

Accessibility: SW of St Louis 7 miles off of either I-44 and I-55
Logistics/signs: 3 -- good, with helpful rangers, good displays
Time required: an hour or so, especially if you do the house tour.
Time to visit: not on a pleasant Labor Day weekend!
Kid friendliness: low