A wide verandah supported by square columns was Hayes’s favorite architectural feature. The home features Victorian architectural designs including a mansard-style roof for maximum pitch and attic storage; an octagonal two-story section; marble lintels over some windows; and decorative chimneys. Two upper-level windows feature a partial architrave, ornamental framing that emphasizes the unique window shapes. (Hayes Presidential Library & Museums)
Second only to Virginia, Ohio is the state where the most American presidents resided, including Civil War veteran and 19th president Rutherford B. Hayes. His estate, called Spiegel Grove (or Mirror Grove), is in the small town of Fremont, Ohio. It’s one of seven presidential sites in the midwestern state.
The brick Victorian mansion is surrounded by a 25-acre “park” (originally 125 acres) boasting more than 100 species of trees, numerous varieties of flowers, a rose garden, an arbor, and walking paths. Hayes is said to have walked his property enough times to accumulate six miles daily.
Hayes’s uncle Sardis Birchard built the house between 1859 and 1863. Originally a 4,000-square-foot summer residence, the house was given to Hayes in 1873. Over the next 20 years, he made additions to the structure. The final square footage exceeds 10,000 feet.
True to Victorian design, every item’s detailing—door knobs, keyholes, hinges, door knockers, stained glass windows, gasoliers, bedding, and wallpaper—includes a decorative flourish. Ornate motifs on furnishings and hardware mirror the flora and fauna around the property.
Uniquely, much of the interior’s wood, which is sometimes painted or covered with a light stain, is butternut. The light-hued, native Ohio wood was used for the door frames and doors, ceiling and chair-rail moldings, floors, and the grand, four-story staircase, which also sports oak and walnut. After the 1880s, cherry wood was used in some additions, particularly in the upstairs bedrooms.
Enclosed by stone walls and wrought-iron gates (including two massive gates from the White House), Hayes’s 31-room mansion is the centerpiece structure of Spiegel Grove. The property comprises the country’s first presidential library and museum, which is dedicated to housing papers, artifacts, and antique related to Hayes, his wife, and his descendants.
Over 100 species of mature trees flank the 25-acre grounds surrounding the Hayes mansion. Cherry trees are in bloom in the spring, and sprawling oaks are named for Union generals with whom Hayes served during the Civil War, such as Gen. William Rosecrans and Gen. Philip Sheridan. (Hayes Presidential Library & Museums) Spiegel Grove, also called the “grove of good spirits,” is maintained but also presents a lush and somewhat wild ambiance. Both Hayes and his wife, Lucy, enjoyed the outdoors. Referred to as Boffin’s Bower, this arbor is surrounded by a thick stand of mid-to-late spring blooming Virginia bluebells with a sprinkling of daffodils. (Hayes Presidential Library & Museums) The entrance hall greets guests with a Victorian display of 19th-century wallpaper and a half-arch with a keystone and stacked molding cornices. The florid brass and etched glass gasolier is one of the many distinct lighting fixtures found hanging prominently in each room. Tucked to the left of the hallway is a cantilevered, four-level staircase. (Hayes Presidential Library & Museums) Lining the walls of the mansion’s long, rectangular dining room are sideboards that are used to display and store china, silverware, and serving pieces. Two, on the left side of the room, were originally in the White House and were saved from being burned during the War of 1812. Each of the Chippendale dining chairs has an embroidered seat cover. (Hayes Presidential Library & Museums) In the Hayes’s bedroom is their four-poster bed with tall, square, column-like posts. On the bed is an original bed covering intricately hand-embroidered by a Hayes cousin. A Victorian-style, blue velvet button and wood-trimmed settee and a button-tufted, pink damask chair coordinate with the sumptuous floral wallpaper. This room is heavily apportioned with historic black-and-white photographs of the Hayeses, as well as a rare photograph of a young Abraham Lincoln and paintings of family members. (Hayes Presidential Library & Museums) Most of the paintings throughout the mansion are originals and are enclosed in elaborate, hand-carved, and gilded frames. The ceiling in this large parlor was raised to 13 feet to accommodate an 1878, larger-than-life portrait of Hayes by artist William Garl Browne. Also in this room is an 1881 painting of Hayes’s wife, Lucy, by E.F. Andrews. The gown she wears in the portrait is on permanent display in Washington’s Smithsonian National Museum of American History. (Hayes Presidential Library & Museums) Built-in butternut wood shelving and cases house thousands of books collected by Hayes in his favorite room, the library. A low-hanging, bronze, three-light gasolier provides the room’s illumination, while the nearly floor-to-ceiling windows allow natural daylight to flow into the space. (Hayes Presidential Library & Museums)
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A 30-plus-year writer-journalist, Deena C. Bouknight works from her Western North Carolina mountain cottage and has contributed articles on food culture, travel, people, and more to local, regional, national, and international publications. She has written three novels, including the only historical fiction about the East Coast’s worst earthquake. Her website is DeenaBouknightWriting.com
