The Taft house in Cincinnati is big and it’s yellow. The Taft family moved to Ohio from Vermont in 1838. President Taft’s father, an attorney, moved his family to this Greek revival style home in 1851. The following year, Mr. Taft’s first wife Fanny died, leaving him with two small sons. He then married Massachusetts schoolteacher Louise Torrey, and they had four more children, including our future president, William Howard Taft, born September 15, 1857.

Happy Birthday William Howard Taft, born September 15, 1857 in Cincinnati, Ohio. President Taft apparently disliked being president and preferred his post-executive office position as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
In honor of his birthday, here are some random facts about our 27th president.

We had neither a GPS nor smart phone, so we were relying on printed Internet directions, which didn’t work so well. We had a tough time finding the memorial. I recall thinking, “Poor William Henry Harrison, if he had been in office longer, his memorial may have been better marked.”

For a president who only served a month in office and who died in 1841, William Henry Harrison is certainly hot these days. His name keeps coming up in things I see and read. Part of this interest probably comes from the publication of New York Times columnist Gail Collins’ new book on Harrison, who was 68-years-old when he was inaugurated (at a time when life expectancy was around age 40). Collins has written about Harrison in her column, making parallels between Harrison and the 2012 election. A co-worker recently stopped in my cube to ask if I had seen the recent article on our ninth president.

When people first hear about Nerd Trips, they often ask about the name and how it all got started. Throughout my life, I have always enjoyed visiting historic sites, particularly the homes of famous people, but these excursions were never an official hobby, nor did they have an official title.