Pictured is Grant, the 18th president of the United States, who was born in Clermont County on April 27, 1822. Photo provided.
Ulysses S. Grant’s 200th birthday to be celebrated with year of events, presidential dinner
Pictured is the Grant Memorial in Washington D.C., which is of Grant on his horse, Cincinnati. Photo provided.
Pictured is the bicentennial logo for Ulysses S. Grant’s upcoming bicentennial celebration on April 27, 1822. Photo provided.
Clermont County’s favored son, Ulysses S. Grant is turning 200 soon, believe it or not, and there are plenty of events coming up to celebrate, including a turn-back-the-clock time period presidential dinner.
The bicentennial of Grant’s birthday is April 27, 1822.
Grant, who was born in Point Pleasant, was the 18th president of the United States. He has seen something of a revitalization in the last few years, thanks in some part to the most recent biography on him by renowned historian and biographer Ron Chernow’s 2017 book, Grant.
The Grant Birthday Celebration Committee held its first meeting on Oct. 19, 2020, and since then, in collaboration with the Clermont County Convention and Visitors Bureau, Ohio History Connection, the Columbus-based history museum and research center, the Bethel Historical Society, the Clermont County Historical Society, Historic New Richmond, Inc., the Clermont County Public Library, and the Grant Presidential Library in Mississippi are planning a number of events and exhibits throughout the year to generate interest among the public.
Members of the committee include co-chair Gary Knepp, honorary county historian; co-chair Bob Proud, former county commissioner, David Painter, current commissioner, Jeff Blom, president of the CVB; and Leslie Jacobs, assistant director with the CCPL.
Knepp said the centerpiece of the bicentennial will be the Grant Birthday Bicentennial Dinner on April 27 at 5:30 p.m. at Norlyn Manor in Batavia.
Norlyn Manor is located at 4440 state Route 132.
The dinner will be a turn-back-the-clock time period event, with a replica presidential menu from the 1860s, as well as tastings of items a soldier during the Civil War might have had, featuring hardtack, a type of biscuit/cracker soldiers on the frontlines ate (sometimes dipping it in coffee, so as not to break their teeth), and beans.
Another item popular among Union soldiers was “skillygalee,” a salted pork dish, often mixed with the broken up hardtack (legend has it, only after the hardtack was drained of undesirable critters that got into the packaging) and coffee.
Period music will also be played by the Union Army Band, along with speeches and reenactments of Grant by local actors.
Knepp said there will also be a traveling exhibit courtesy of the Grant Presidential Library, featuring some of the 3D copies of the artifacts from the Library.
The exhibit will be displayed at the dinner.
Knepp also said the CVB has worked on issuing a commemorative coin in honor of the bicentennial. On occasion of the centennial, a half dollar coin was issued as well.
He said he’s seen the designs on the bicentennial coin and it’s “really sharp, I think it’s something people will want to hold on to.”
The coin will be part of the ticket price of the dinner.
There will be seating for 200.
To purchase event tickets, please visit https://bityl.co/AqFE.
The CVB is planning a driving tour brochure of Grant and Underground Railroad spots throughout Clermont and Brown Counties, and Kentucky as well, both digital and hard copy versions.
Knepp said the CVB has been an “essential” partner in preparing and planning for Grant’s bicentennial.
“There’s no doubt that we couldn’t do half of what we’ve done here without them,” he said.
For Knepp, the bicentennial represents an opportunity to “re-introduce” Grant to the community. Growing up, Knepp said Grant’s reputation was in the tank; he was known as a “butcher and a drunk,” who also wasn’t a very good president.
However, Grant has been steadily having his reputation repaired. According to C-SPAN’s Presidential Historical Survey, Grant started the 21st century in 2000 ranked as 33rd among presidents.
In the most recent 2021 ranking, he was at 20th.
Among the reasons historians and academics have begun to view Grant in a more favorable light is for Grant’s support of the 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, giving black men the right to vote, and for sending the Army into the South to smite the first iteration of the Ku Klux Klan.
To that, the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, located at 50 Freedom Way in Downtown Cincinnati, is hosting, Grant — A Civil Rights President, on Feb. 17 at 7 p.m.
The event will include a lecture by Christy Coleman, executive director of the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation of Virginia, examining Grant’s role in freeing the slaves, battling the KKK and how he was influenced by his “upbringing in the abolitionist hotbed” of Clermont and Brown Counties.
Tickets are required, but admission is free. Please call 973-378-3082 or visit freedomcenter.org for more information.
Knepp also cited Grant’s magnanimous handling of the defeated South in the post-Civil War period for why there wasn’t five years of guerrilla warfare, to the point where counterintuitively, Grant was actually liked among Southerners.
Another item that occurred under Grant’s presidency some may have heard of: Yellowstone National Park, so desginated after Grant signed the Yellowstone National Park Protection Act into law on March 1, 1872, creating the world’s first national park.
“We’re excited about him. Hopefully people will look at him and see what a great asset he’s been to the community,” Knepp said.
For the full list of bicenenntial events planned, please visit the CVB’s website at: discoverclermont.com/grantevents/.