Trails and Treasures Home Page  Road Trips  Buffalo, NW Pennsylvania, NE Ohio (May, 2006)

James A. Garfield NHS

In 1876 Garfield purchased the neglected Dickey farm with its small nine-room, one-and-a-half-story farm house outside of Mentor, Ohio.  Within four years he had transformed it into a 20-room, two-and-a-half-story house with a grand front porch.  It was from this porch that he changed the style of American presidential campaigning forever.  Before 1880 candidates did not actively campaign for themselves.  Garfield spoke from his porch to whomever stopped by, including newsmen.  Assassinated just four months after becoming President, his wife Lucretia returned to the farm with their children and continued to make improvements.