"The Lookout"

Today we drove up Mount McGregor to see the The Grant Cottage State Historic Site. Ulysses S. Grant attended West Point, & was the commanding general of the Union forces during the American Civil War. After the war, he was elected the 18th president of the United States, & served 2 terms in office. He was a very popular president & was one of the best known men of his time. Among many wonderful programs that he instituted, he introduced the idea of "binding arbitration" between countries when he helped resolve the issues between Russia & Japan. Sometime around 1884 he was diagnosed with throat cancer. His doctors, concerned with the heat & humidity of New York City, as well as the polluted air, advised him to leave the city & travel somewhere cooler. His friend offered him the cottage that we toured today; Grant & his family spent about 8 months here, during which time Grant wrote his memoirs. He died there in 1885, shortly after he finished his writing, & the house was left exactly as it was the day he died. In fact, when he died, his son got up & stopped the hands of the clock on the mantle @ 8:08 & the hands have stood this way for 129 years.This is the view from just beyond the cottage. It's said that he would ask his nurse or one of his children to wheel him out to "The Lookout" so he could sit & enjoy this view. From here he could see not only the Adirondak mountains, but the Green Mountains of Vermont off in the distance. :)