We visited Ronald Reagan's childhood home in Dixon, Illinois. I guess even after serving as President, he always loved returning home to Dixon. It's a very nice, quiet town. We went into a McDonalds after visiting his home and there was a cute old lady and all her friends there celebrating her 90th birthday. Everyone there seemed to know her, it was a true small town America kind of feeling.
By Reagan's statue in the courtyard that is now in the home's backyard.
A and E by Reagan's cut-out in the gift shop. Sorry about the glare.
Reagan's childhood home. On his first visit back there after the home had been restored, he commented that if the house had looked that good when he and his older brother lived there, they would have never left.
The girls and my mom on the front steps of his home.
When the Reagan boys grew up, they bought their parents a home in California (it was the only home they ever owned, they rented here) , and they took all the original furniture from their home here, to that new home in California. This chair is the only piece of furniture in the home that Reagan ever actually used. It came from a friend's home, and they donated it during the restoration process of this home. The rest of the furniture was chosen from catalogs by the two Reagan boys to fit what they remembered having in their home growing up.
Both Ronald and his older brother were Radio announcers for the University of Iowa, so they hung this pennant in the boys' room to signify their roots there. Go, Hawkeyes!!
Looking into their dining area. The china on the table was purchased one piece at a time until they were able to accumulate an entire set.
We took a photo of this tea cup because Rebekah and I love tea sets, and as a funny coincidence, my mom bought her this exact tea cup as a birthday present a couple of months ago.
Emma washing her hands in the Reagan kitchen.
Our girls LOVED this ~ President Reagan remembered from his childhood that there had been a loose stone in his fireplace mantle as he was growing up. He would hide a few coins in there on a regular basis. When he first was able to tour the restored home, he asked them to pull up one of the tiles so he could leave four pennies in there. It was really neat for the kids to kneel there and imagine how many times he had been right there as a kid, hiding coins from his brother.
President Lincoln also has history in this town. I believe in campaigning (maybe even the early campaigns where he experienced some faliure) he spent time here. Look how young the statue makes him look ~ no "whiskers" yet, he hadn't heard from young Grace Bedell with that recommendation.
Reagan's statue in town. It's always neat to walk through history a bit, even if it's just in a small way like this. I'm glad that the girls enjoy seeing it too.
1 comment:
I agree, it is always neat to walk through history like that! I had no idea that he was a radio announcer for the Hawkeyes?!
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