James A. Garfield NHS is back online from this morning's power outage. The site is operating under normal operating conditions.
James A. Garfield National Historic Site
@GarfieldNPS
James A. Garfield NHS interprets the home of the 20th President of the United States, including the Memorial Library added to the house by his widow, Lucretia.
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Reminder: Delayed opening!
Tuesday, August 4th, James A. Garfield NHS will open at 1pm. This delayed opening will allow for emergency leak detection to occur onsite. Thank you for your patience and understanding!
Tuesday, August 4th, James A. Garfield NHS will open at 1pm. This delayed opening will allow for emergency leak detection to occur onsite. Thank you for your patience and understanding!
Delayed Opening Notice
James A. Garfield National Historic Site will open at 1:00 p.m. on Tuesday, August 4, to allow for emergency plumbing leak detection to be completed.
For additional information about the site, please visit nps.gov/jaga.
Thank you for your patience and understanding.
James A. Garfield National Historic Site will open at 1:00 p.m. on Tuesday, August 4, to allow for emergency plumbing leak detection to be completed.
For additional information about the site, please visit nps.gov/jaga.
Thank you for your patience and understanding.
DON'T DRINK THAT COFFEE! AN APRIL FOOL STORY
From Memorial to James A. Garfield by his daughter Mollie Garfield Stanley-Brown published in the Youth's Companion, 1893:
~Father had a keen appreciation of harmless and merry jokes, and was always in sympathy with the joker, no matter if the laugh were at his own expense. Even the somewhat questionable "April fooling" was covered by his broad mantle of charity. One first of April morning the oldest of us planned what he considered a rare practical joke. To the normal contents of the sugar-bowl was secretly added a generous supply of salt, and it was placed at a point convenient to his hand should an extra allowance of sugar be needed for his coffee. All of us were made sharers in this plot, and when the family assembled, a state of great, though well-controlled excitement and suppressed merriment pervaded the breakfast atmosphere. We were breathless and expectant as the eventful moment almost reached. Father, wholly unconscious of the joke about to be played upon him, had put the salted sugar in his coffee, when, to our horror and just wrath, grandmother, whose loyalty could not tolerate even this juvenile victimizing of her son, called out "James! Don't drink that coffee!" I think he must have seen the consternation and disappointment of the youthful conspirators, which threatened to end in tears, for, as if he had heard no word of warning, he thoroughly stirred the unpalatable mixture, and drank it down. The crisis past, we felt the day was ours, and [brother Hal] had the chance after all, of saying "April fool."
Not amused - Grandma (Eliza Ballou Garfield) in a painting by Caroline Ransom. This portrait hangs in the parlor of the Garfield home here at this site. NPS PHOTO
From Memorial to James A. Garfield by his daughter Mollie Garfield Stanley-Brown published in the Youth's Companion, 1893:
~Father had a keen appreciation of harmless and merry jokes, and was always in sympathy with the joker, no matter if the laugh were at his own expense. Even the somewhat questionable "April fooling" was covered by his broad mantle of charity. One first of April morning the oldest of us planned what he considered a rare practical joke. To the normal contents of the sugar-bowl was secretly added a generous supply of salt, and it was placed at a point convenient to his hand should an extra allowance of sugar be needed for his coffee. All of us were made sharers in this plot, and when the family assembled, a state of great, though well-controlled excitement and suppressed merriment pervaded the breakfast atmosphere. We were breathless and expectant as the eventful moment almost reached. Father, wholly unconscious of the joke about to be played upon him, had put the salted sugar in his coffee, when, to our horror and just wrath, grandmother, whose loyalty could not tolerate even this juvenile victimizing of her son, called out "James! Don't drink that coffee!" I think he must have seen the consternation and disappointment of the youthful conspirators, which threatened to end in tears, for, as if he had heard no word of warning, he thoroughly stirred the unpalatable mixture, and drank it down. The crisis past, we felt the day was ours, and [brother Hal] had the chance after all, of saying "April fool."
Not amused - Grandma (Eliza Ballou Garfield) in a painting by Caroline Ransom. This portrait hangs in the parlor of the Garfield home here at this site. NPS PHOTO
