This has been on my to do list for years! I was legislative aide to Charlie Taft, the President’s son, in the 1970s, and had heard stories about the family from him and others many times. But I just hadn’t gotten around to actually stopping in to The Taft Education Center, and then being conducted around the Taft Home by a guide.
So today being the last day of my Christmas vacation, I made the journey of a couple of miles or so to Mt. Auburn – from my house on William Howard Taft Road. And was in great luck! There was not another soul / visitor in site. Volunteer interpreter Dennis showed me around the Center – where there’s fisherman Charlie Taft sitting on a stool, with his canoe on top of his car, as it always was in life: quite wonderful – and then turned on the 14 minute video. The video was funded by the Louise Taft Semple Foundation, and included many Cincinnati connections for this President and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
Then Dennis showed me through the beautiful yellow mansion sitting up on the hill. It is a beautiful, warm and friendly feeling building, just very comfy. Dennis really knew his stuff, and I added in what I knew. The rooms on the first floor are open, including the nursery, parents bedroom, parlor, and study. The kitchen and dining room are in the basement addition.
On the second floor are galleries of displays, which I loved and wandered in for quite a while, especially pictures of William Howard Taft’s time as Governor of the Phillipines, where the very young Charlie went along.
There was also a video featuring 3 of Charlie’s kids, now in their 70s or better, who were talking about their grandfather, and the family summer place in Murray Bay, Quebec. They, of course, had no real idea of who their grandfather was, as they were growing up.
It was a perfect experience. And interesting that I’d been yelling at myself about not going for a long time. When today was exactly the right day for my visit, and I had the place all to myself. Another Aaaahhhh event.