I was watching the debate the other night -- you know, for the folks who, for some reason, want to be president -- when a thought struck me, as I'm sure it has struck you as well:

Why don't these people ever come to Carroll County?

One cannot help but wonder what it would be like to have the opportunity to meet the candidates in person to size-up their qualifications for office.

One presidential candidate who did visit Carroll County in the past was the topic of last week's Sunday Carroll Eagle history trivia quiz, in which we asked readers to name the perennial presidential candidate who visited Carroll County on Oct. 23, 1900.

Dr. Patrick Turnes, Sara K. Daniel, Richard Siehler, Michael Sears, Don Huber, Charles Scott, Michele Johnson and Ruth Anderson all knew that on Oct. 23, 1900, Carroll County was buzzing with excitement as Williams Jennings Bryan, the Democrat Party's presidential candidate, made several campaign stops in Carroll County. (Some people say it was the last time a Democrat visited Carroll County. We're busy checking to determine if that's true.)

Meanwhile, Charles Scott is this week's winner of a handsome Sunday Carroll Eagle coffee mug.

I've had discussions in the past with Cathy Baty, the curator at the Historical Society of Carroll County, about presidents who have visited Carroll County.

We've always counted six, but our thinking is changing somewhat. It may be seven ... or even eight.

One addition might be President Dwight D. Eisenhower. In response to an Eagle column I wrote this past summer about D-Day, Sam Greenholtz e-mailed to say that he used to watch President Dwight D. Eisenhower "come in Liberty Street and head to Gettysburg for the weekend. It was kind of neat back then that you could actually stand there and watch a couple of cars go by and Ike would wave."

Last October, Bill Jones responded to a question in a Westminster Eagle column about presidential visits, and also mentioned Eisenhower "commuting to his farm in Gettysburg."

In a recent phone call, Baty said she has since learned President Eisenhower visited the Cambridge Rubber Company in Taneytown during his term in office. (She's still looking for the exact date.) She said she's also been told that after he was President he visited and joined the Union Mills Homestead.

We're still looking for more information. If you are aware of a visit to Carroll by Eisenhower please contact Baty at 410-848-6494.

Jones also mentioned Richard Nixon's 1948 visit to Whittaker Chambers' farm to retrieve microfilm hidden in a hollowed-out pumpkin.

Baty and I have been discussing whether or not to count that as a "presidential visit" because Nixon was a Congressman at the time, and the visit was not during or after his term in office.

Besides, if Nixon wanted some pumpkin pie, all he had to do is go to Baugher's. It goes great with vanilla ice cream (much better than microfilm).

Other presidents who have visited Carroll County, according to research by Baty, are:

George Washington, who visited Taneytown in June 1791; Ulysses S. Grant, who attended the Carroll County Agricultural Fair on Oct. 2, 1873; Teddy Roosevelt, who made stops in New Windsor and Westminster on May 4, 1912; Herbert Hoover, who came to Carroll County on May 25, 1929 to visit his ancestral home near Linwood; and President George W. Bush, who visited the Brethren Center in New Windsor on Dec. 8, 2001, and also marked World AIDS Day on Nov. 30, 2007, at Calvary United Methodist Church in Mount Airy.

There's one more .... so, on to this week's history trivia question: Which president, who visited Carroll County, did I not mention?

Here's a hint: He stopped in Hampstead on his way to Gettysburg for a Memorial Day speech, and the Historical Society has a flag from that visit on display.

Think you know? Drop me an e-mail at kdayhoff@carr.org with Sunday Carroll Eagle in the subject line, and you may be sipping from a Sunday Eagle coffee mug.

When he's not on the phone with Cathy Baty, Kevin Dayhoff can be reached at kdayhoff@carr.org. Jim Joyner contributed to this column.

---

user comments (0)