Presidents and First Ladies Trivia

[Eva Elisabeth]

You are spot on, Roger (to me it looks like a British cathedral, York or Westminster...). Although correct there's more to find out - whose?

[RJNorton]

I believe Vicki and I have been to this grave MANY years ago. Right now my mind is blank, but I will keep thinking.

[L Verge]

Washington's National Cathedral, where Woodrow Wilson is entombed?

[Eva Elisabeth]

Good idea, Laurie, but, sorry, not correct.

Hint #1: The cemetery "contains" other famous names.

[RJNorton]

In the 1980s, during summer vacation from school, we toured Virginia. Among the sites we visited were Monticello (Thomas Jefferson) and Ash Lawn (James Monroe). We tried to visit Montpelier (James Madison), but at that time, it was not open to the public. We also visited a few cemeteries. I think it was during that trip that we saw the architecture in the picture. I will guess either Jefferson or Madison or Monroe.

[Eva Elisabeth]

Brilliantly memory and conclusion, Roger - James Monroe is correct. His grave is in Hollywood cemetery, Richmond. Photos and info courtesy Bill B.:
   
   
"Among those buried there were:  Presidents James Monroe and John Tyler; Jefferson Davis; Confederate generals JEB Stuart, George Pickett, Fitzhugh Lee, William 'Extra Billy' Smith, Henry Heth, and Edward 'Allegheny' Johnson; Confederate Secretary of War James Seddon; Historian Douglas Southhall Freeman, and the 'other' Lewis Powell (a US Supreme Court Justice)."

I was wondering whether "Hollywood" derives from "holy" (some former spiritual place) or indeed "holly" (the tree) and was told most likely the latter.

Roger, you win my best wishes for a wonderful weekend.

[L Verge]

Brilliantly memory and conclusion, Roger - James Monroe is correct. His grave is in Hollywood cemetery, Richmond. Photos and info courtesy Bill B.:


"Among those buried there were:  Presidents James Monroe and John Tyler; Jefferson Davis; Confederate generals JEB Stuart, George Pickett, Fitzhugh Lee, William 'Extra Billy' Smith, Henry Heth, and Edward 'Allegheny' Johnson; Confederate Secretary of War James Seddon; Historian Douglas Southhall Freeman, and the 'other' Lewis Powell (a US Supreme Court Justice)."

I was wondering whether "Hollywood" derives from "holy" (some former spiritual place) or indeed "holly" (the tree) and was told most likely the latter.

Roger, you win my best wishes for a wonderful weekend.

Just me being sarcastic, but with all those Confederates being buried there, Hollywood Cemetery better be prepared to close its gates or remove those graves...

[Gene C]

Amazing Laurie, I was thinking the same thing.
See what a positive influence you are for me.

[RJNorton]

Which President expressed in his will to be buried in Sherwood Forest, but his wish was not granted? He was buried elsewhere.

[Rob Wick]

I think I saw this one on Jeopardy. Who is John Tyler?

Best
Rob

[Thomas Kearney]

I think I saw this one on Jeopardy. Who is John Tyler?

Best
Rob

John Tyler is buried in Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond alongside his second wife, Julia, their children, and his children from his first marriage. James Monroe and Jefferson Davis are also buried there.

[L Verge]

Rob's right, and one can visit Tyler's Sherwood Forest plantation in Virginia. We took a bus tour from Surratt House to those wonderful old Tidewater plantations and manor homes many long years ago. In each and every one of them, you have to wish the walls could talk. Just gaining an appreciation for the culture of their respective eras is a lesson all in itself.

Sherwood Forest is the only private home in the U.S. to have been owned by two, unrelated Presidents. William Henry Harrison inherited it in 1790 and sold it in 1793, without ever living there. At that time, its name was Walnut Grove. Tyler purchased it in 1842, and it still remains in his family. So far as I know, it is still lived in by one of Tyler's two surviving grandsons. The President was a prolific producer of children - eight by Letitia, wife #1, and seven by Julia, wife #2. There is an interesting historical novel about Wife Julia and her "life" during the Civil War after the death of Tyler in 1862. The book is entitled The Rebel and the Rose.

In 1864, the house was occupied by staff from a Union regiment from Ohio. When they vacated the house, they set fire to it. A loyal Tyler slave extinguished the flames and there was little damage.

Remember that President Tyler died during the Civil War, and President Lincoln refused to recognize his passing - thus no state funeral for a former head of state. Lincoln considered Tyler a traitor for siding with his home state and the Confederacy. Seems strange to me, since Lincoln never recognized the Confederacy as a separate country.

[Eva Elisabeth]

...and I was thinking of the UK Sherwood Forest...

[RJNorton]

Kudos to all. John Tyler is correct. With respect to his place of burial, he stated in his will:

"My wife will select the spot on Sherwood Forest and mark it by an uncostly monument of granite or marble."

However, he was not buried there. Louis L. Picone explains in The President is Dead!

"But, despite his instructions, on the day he died, a resolution was passed in the General Assembly to bury Tyler in the Confederate capital: "With the consent of his family, his remains be deposited in Hollywood Cemetery, in the city of Richmond, near the remains of James Monroe, and that the Governor of this State be authorized a suitable monument to be erected to his memory."

Julia Tyler accepted.

All the winners receive free tickets to tour Sherwood Forest in Charles City, Virginia.

[Eva Elisabeth]

Looks friendlier than the original Sherwood Forest...
I find it disrespectful beyond words to ignore someone's gravesite wishes unless impossible to realize. I think the same happened with Robert.