If my name ever goes into history, it will be for this act, and my whole soul is in it.

— A. Lincoln, 1863

Other Presidential Residents

“The drive by the east winds gracefully through field and forest until it reaches the immediate neighborhood of the [Soldiers’] Home—a large brick building [sic], with extensive piazzas, usually occupied by blue-coated veterans. The dormitories, kitchen, farm-house, residence of the Superintendent and his subordinates, cluster about the Home, and close by it is the little cottage, not now used, but made familiar to everybody as the Soldiers’ Home cottage occupied by Presidents Buchanan, Lincoln, Hayes, and Arthur during the summer months of their administrations.”

—Harper’s Weekly, June 26, 1886.

Beginning with James Buchanan and ending with Chester A. Arthur, the Soldiers’ Home served as a seasonal home for at least four presidents. The prestigious presidential connections and beautiful campus made the Soldiers’ Home a popular driving destination for the local elite as well as visitors to the capital city.

Evidence found in Soldiers’ Home board meeting minutes, diaries, newspapers and other primary resources, indicates that the following presidents resided seasonally at the Soldiers’ Home during their presidencies.

Primary resources indicate the President Garfield intended to stay at the Soldiers’ Home, but did not actually reside there.

Additional research about these presidential ties to the Soldiers’ Home is ongoing.

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