A One-Day Trifecta includes Lake County as its Epicenter

Do you know this self-mad man?

• Born in a log cabin in Orange Township
• Attended the Geauga Academy as a youth 
• aspired to be a sailor
• Was educated at the Western Reserve Eclectic Institute ( Hiram College) in the 1850s
• Was a faculty member (Greek & Latin) as well as president (age 26) at same college in the 1850s
• Married a student from the college - Lucretia Randolph in 1858, had 7 children
• Was an ordained minister / lay preacher
• Served in the Civil War and achieved notable war time successes
• Began a 17 year Congressional Career in 1863
• A front porch campaign became his signature moment
• An assassin's bullet took his life early in his Presidency
• Funeral wreath from Queen Victoria may still be viewed at his Mentor home (former Dickey Farm) 

With the start of the RNC this week, I can think of no other local resident to share with you than our 20th President.  The RNC that year was a brokered convention with three candidates and two factions.  Unity proved elusive and consensus seemed hopeless.  On the 36th ballot a dark horse from Ohio became the party candidate and soon-to-be U.S. President.  An assassin's bullet took his life four months after election and his legacy faded in the annals of history.  However this week conventioneers, history buffs and county residents may want to visit the place and learn about the self-made man who is at the heart of the Republican Party.  His name James A. Garfield.

Your Trifecta Challenge -

1. Visit Garfield's birthplace in Orange Township.  Garfield was the last president to be born in a log cabin.  The cabin is located at 4350 S.O.M. Center Road in Moreland Hills.
2. Visit the 160 acre site that was his last home.  Today the 8 acre site that remains in Mentor, Ohio is fondly remembered as Lawnfield.  This NHS includes the first ever presidential library, a restored Victorian interior, a windmill and many other artifacts from the Garfield family collection.
3. Visit the James A. Garfield Memorial in Cleveland. Garfield's elaborate castle-like monument is located on a hill in Lake View Cemetery in the heart of downtown.  Mosiacs, stained glass windows and a full casket display give way to a balcony view that shares a 40 miile view of Lake Erie.