“Every U.S. president has visited, resided in, or been honored in a national park,” said National Park Service Director Jonathan B. Jarvis. “Sites such as George Washington’s birthplace, Ulysses Grant’s battlefields and Jimmy Carter’s farm provide insight into the character of the men who have governed our country. Visit a national park and walk in their footsteps. See where they lived and learned, relaxed and recharged, experienced triumphs and tribulations.”
Locally, Bent’s Old Fort never hosted a president, but it does have ties to some presidential candidates. John C. Fremont, candidate for the Republican Party in 1856, visited the fort on several of his western expeditions in the 1840s. Fremont lost to Democrat James Buchanan. Frances P. Blair, Jr. who worked at the fort as a clerk, later ran for vice president. He was on the ticket with presidential candidate Horatio Seymour in the election of 1868, in which they were soundly defeated by Ulysses S. Grant. In 1960, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the bill establishing Bent’s Old Fort as a unit of the national park system.
In addition to free entrance, many parks will host special events to celebrate the holiday weekend. Visit the Presidents Day page on www.nps.gov for a calendar of events as well as travel itineraries and lesson plans about the presidents.
