Some presidents’ journeys to Washington began in surprisingly humble homes, cottages, or log cabins.
With six levels, 132 rooms, and 35 bathrooms, the White House was unsurprisingly a jarring transition for some presidents. Harry S. Truman, for example, called the White House a “glamorous prison,” while Joe Biden likened it to a “gilded cage.”
“I don’t know about you all, but I was raised in a way that you didn’t look for anybody to wait on you,” then-President Biden said during a February 2021 CNN town hall, ABC News reported. “And it’s where I find myself extremely self-conscious for wonderful people who work in the White House.”
From one-room log cabins to farmhouses without running water, here’s a look at 16 presidents’ modest beginnings.
John Adams
Adams was born in this quiet cottage in rural Massachusetts in 1735.
In the summer months, John Adams’ father, John Adams Sr., would till the 6 acres of land their cottage sat on, and in the winter, he would practice cordwaining, a form of leather shoe making, the National Park Service reported.
James Buchanan
Buchanan, the United States’ 15th president, was born in this unpretentious log cabin in Cove Gap, Pennsylvania, 1791.
In 1953, the cabin was moved to The Mercersburg Academy in Mercersburg, Pennsylvania.
The site of Buchanan’s original birthplace is open to the public at Buchanan’s Birthplace State Park.
James K. Polk
Polk grew up on a humble homestead, which has been recreated for a National Historic Site.
The 150-acre farm in North Carolina where Polk was born in 1795 now features vintage 1800s log buildings — including a cabin, barn, and kitchen — and furnishings similar to those on the original property, North Carolina Historic Sites reported.
Polk lived on the property until he left for Tennessee at age 11. He would later return to North Carolina to attend the University of North Carolina.
Millard Fillmore
Fillmore, who was born in 1800, spent his childhood in this log cabin near what’s now Summerhill, New York. He was one of eight children, and his parents were farmers.
Though the birthplace of the 13th US president is no longer standing, a state historical marker now commemorates the location.
Abraham Lincoln
Lincoln was born in 1809 in a one-room log cabin on his father’s Sinking Spring Farm near Louisville, Kentucky.
Lincoln’s family lived at the cabin until he was 2 ½ years old. His father, a carpenter and farmer, then moved the family to another farm 10 miles away.
The original cabin is no longer standing but a replica, pictured, is on display at the Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historic Park.
Ulysses S. Grant
Grant lived in this quaint cottage for less than a year after his birth in 1822.
The family paid $2 a month in rent before moving to Georgetown, Ohio, where he lived until he was 17.
The house is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is a historic house museum operated under the Ohio Historical Society. The inside is furnished with items that once belonged to Grant.
James Garfield
Garfield was born in 1831 in what’s now Moreland Hills, Ohio.
Though the original cabin no longer stands, a replica cabin, statue, and plaque commemorate his birth site.
William McKinley
In 1843, William McKinley was born in an upstairs bedroom of a two-story Ohio home that his parents were renting.
The original structure burned down in 1937, but it was recreated at the McKinley Birthplace Home and Research Center in Niles, Ohio.
Herbert Hoover
Hoover was born in 1874 and spent the first three years of his life in this two-room cottage in West Branch, Iowa.
The National Park Service reported that one of the rooms was used as a bedroom for Hoover, his parents, his older brother and, after her birth, his younger sister. The second room was a living and kitchen area. The family later moved to a two-story house.
Hoover later said, “This cottage where I was born is physical proof of the unbounded opportunity of American life.”
Harry S. Truman
Truman was born in this small house in Lamar, Missouri, in 1884.
It is now a Missouri State Historical Site and free tours are available for visitors. The inside of the home has furnishings that reflect what life was like when Truman was growing up in the late 1800s.
Lyndon B. Johnson
In 1908, Lyndon B. Johnson was born in a ranch-style home near Stonewall, Texas.
The home where Johnson was born and spent his childhood was constructed in 1889 by his grandfather Samuel Ealy Johnson, Sr., according to the National Park Service. His parents sold the home in the 1920s and it was later demolished, per the Texas State Historical Association.
In 1964, LBJ hired an architect to reconstruct the birth home for people interested in learning more about his heritage.
According to the NPS, Johnson’s birthplace home “has the distinction of being the only presidential birthplace reconstructed, refurbished, and interpreted by an incumbent President.”
Ronald Reagan
Reagan was born in an apartment above a bakery turned bank building in downtown Tampico, Illinois, in 1911.
Though he only lived in the apartment for four months after his birth, it was refinished to reflect how it looked when he was born, the Tampico Historical Society reported.
Richard Nixon
President Richard Nixon was born in this single-family home in 1913 in Yorba Linda, California.
Nixon’s father built the home on his citrus farm using a kit, a popular housing method in the early 20th century, according to the National Park Service. Nixon would spend the first nine years of his life here before moving to Whittier, California.
Although ownership of the home changed over time, it was restored prior to the opening of Nixon’s Library in 1990 and is now a National Historic Landmark open to visitors.
Jimmy Carter
Carter was the first US president to be born in a hospital, but the Plains, Georgia, farm he grew up on initially had no running water or electricity and relied on wood stoves for heat.
The family had moved to the farm in 1928, when Carter was 4 years old. He helped his father, James Earl Carter, Sr., raise cotton, corn, peanuts, and sugar cane, all of which they sold at a country store near their house.
“The early years of my life on the farm were full and enjoyable, isolated but not lonely. We always had enough to eat, no economic hardship, but no money to waste. We felt close to nature, close to members of our family, and close to God,” Carter said, per the NPS.
Joe Biden
Biden’s family moved in with his maternal grandparents in Scranton, Pennsylvania, during the early years of his childhood, after his father faced economic hardship, The New York Times reported.
The family stayed in the home (pictured above) until 1953, when his father moved the family to Delaware for work. Biden was born in 1942.
George W. Bush
George W. Bush was born in Connecticut in 1946, but grew up in Texas. His family lived in this 1,400 square foot home in Midland, Texas, from 1951 to 1955.
The house is now a Texas Historical Landmark and on the National Register of Historic Places. It was restored to reflect its 1950s appearance and is open to the public for tours.
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