01-14-09
Exhibition on five Presidents opens at National Historic Site in Mt. Vernon
     An exhibition exploring the interesting connections of five Presidents to St. Paul’s Church opens with a special program, at St. Paul’s Church National Historic Site, in Mt. Vernon, NY, on Saturday, Feb. 14, 2009, from noon to 4 PM. Parking and admission are free.
     Historic prints and documents, artifacts, news clips, and sound material tell the story of how the lives and political careers of Presidents Washington, John Adams, John Quincy Adams, Lincoln and F.D.R. connected with St. Paul’s Church from the 1700s to the 1900s. The opening program includes special appearances by Presidents Washington, Lincoln and F.D.R., as well as demonstrations in recognition of February as African American History Month.
     “These weren’t ceremonial visits of chief executives to a historic shrine,” says St. Paul’s site manager David Osborn. “Rather, they were connections based on geography, heritage, family ties, and patterns of residence. As a centuries-old church, village green and burial yard located at an important crossroads of southern Westchester County, just north of New York City, St. Paul’s bisected the lives of these five American presidents.”
     The exhibition also focuses on the point in the lives of these political leaders when they overlapped with St. Paul’s, according to Osborn. Washington’s is perhaps the most interesting: He traveled past the church at the depths of his military career in October 1776, and at the
pinnacle of his political career in October 1789. Associations of the other men occurred while they were on the rise to greatness, with F.D.R., in the midst of grave challenges, such as John Adams, at times of personal tragedy, with John Quincy Adams, or literally at the end, with Lincoln.
     Featured items include letters written by Washington documenting dramatically different state of affairs around the times of his trips past St. Paul’s in 1776 and 1789. A pair of 1797 letters written by First Lady Abigail Adams chronicle public and private matters while she and husband, President John Adams, lived in the shadows of St. Paul’s Church, fleeing from the yellow fever epidemic engulfing the capital of Philadelphia. Artifacts reflect the public career of Franklin D. Roosevelt on the eve of his Presidential odyssey. A visual/audio booth presents the compelling but tragic story of Dr. Charles S. Taft -- who is interred in the historic St. Paul’s cemetery -- trying to save President Lincoln at Ford’s Theatre, Washington, D.C. April 14, 1865.
     The exhibition is scheduled to remain on display for two years. Principal funding was provided by the National Park Service, New York Council for the Humanities, John and Jean Heins and the Society of the National Shrine of the Bill of Rights.
     St. Paul’s Church National Historic Site is located at 897 So. Columbus Avenue, in Mt. Vernon, NY. It is easily accessible by the Hutchinson River Parkway (Exit 7, Boston Post Road) and Interstate 95 (Exit 13, Conner Street) from Westchester County, New York City, Connecticut and northern New Jersey. The site is also convenient to public transportation from New York City. For directions and information, call St. Paul’s Church N.H.S. at 914-667-4116, or visit us on line at, http://www.nps.gov./sapa.