Monday, April 8, 2013
This Wednesday's lunch-time talk focuses on the role the draft played in the American Civil War
James A. Garfield National Historic Site and Mentor Public Library are continuing their lunchtime talks this Wednesday at noon at the library's main branch. This week, Park Guide Joan Kapsch will talk about the role the draft played in both the north and south. The Union and Confederacy both used conscription to grow their military forces during the Civil War. Kapsch will discuss how effective draftees were as soldiers and will also examine such famous incidents as the 1863 New York City draft riots. This program is free of charge; please make a free reservation by calling Mentor Public Library at 440-255-8811. Attendees are invited to bring a lunch to enjoy during the program. Following the April 10 program, the next presentation in this …
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
This Wednesday's talk focuses on the first and only president of the Confederacy
James A. Garfield National Historic Site and Mentor Public Library are continuing their lunchtime talks this Wednesday at noon. This month, Park Ranger Allison Powell will speak about the life, career, and legacy of Jefferson Davis, the first and only President of the Confederate States of America. Jefferson Davis attended West Point, fought in the Mexican-American War, and served both in Congress and as U.S. Secretary of War at one point. When the Civil War began, he sided with the South and his home state of Mississippi and was elected the Confederacy’s president. “We discussed the life of Abraham Lincoln last month, so following up with a presentation on Jefferson Davis makes perfect sense,” said Todd Arrington, the Garfield site’s …
Friday, March 8, 2013
The cancellation is another decision made following sequestration
Federal sequestration continues to affect the James A. Garfield National Historic Site. The site's Twitter account stated that the annual Easter Monday Egg Roll has been cancelled. The early April event usually features games, crafts, activities and contests on the lawn of President James Garfield’s Mentor home. The decision comes a week after the announcement that the site would close on Sundays until further notice due to a loss of $34,440 in federal funding. "It was a tough decision, and we've had to make a lot of those recently," public information officer Todd Arrington said. "Hopefully, things will be a little more evened out next year and we can bring it back in 2014." Arrington said the event is pricey because the site has to be …
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James A. Garfield National Historic Site
8095 Mentor Ave, Mentor, OH
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Monday, March 4, 2013
The national historic site will lose nearly $35,000 as part of the federal budget cuts
The impact of the U.S. Senate's failure to reach an agreement to stop $85 billion in federal cuts was immediately felt in Mentor. The James A. Garfield National Historic Site announced this weekend that it would close on Sundays until further notice. "Sequestration means an automatic cut of $34,440 from our annual, (federally) appropriated operating budget," site superintendent Sherda Williams said in a news release. "These cuts are permanent, so those funds will not be retroactively restored to us." The site is also considering foregoing the hiring of summer employees and cancelling all special events through the end of September. According to the news release, the site will announce any changes in the coming weeks. For now, the only …
Thursday, February 7, 2013
See what events are happening in and around Mentor this weekend
1. HARLEM LEGENDS V. LAKE COUNTY ALL-STARS Where/When: Mentor High School, 6:30 p.m. Saturday Why Go: The Harlem Legends will face Lake County's finest in basketball but, regardless of score, the winner will be the Society for Rehabilitation. The Legends, including members of the original Globetrotters, will play an exhibition game against the Lake County All-Stars this Saturday at Mentor High School. The All-Stars are coached by Mentor Schools Superintendent Matt Miller and will include Mentor High Boys Basketball Coach Bob Krizancic, Principal William Wade, Mentor Municipal Court Judge John Trebets and more. The evening's festivities will begin at 6:30 p.m. with a high school 3-point shootaround. Then the Legends will take the court …
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Members of the audience will be invited to perform The Trial of Charles Guiteau this Saturday
Though theatrical performances at the James A. Garfield National Historic Site are not unusual, there will be a twist during the premiere of The Trial of Charles Guiteau this Saturday. The audience will also be the cast. The show begins at 1 p.m. and audience members in attendance will be selected to read the various parts, including those of the judge, the attorneys, witnesses, and even Guiteau himself. Those who volunteer or are selected to read a part will be given a copy of the script. Charles J. Guiteau shot President James A. Garfield -- Mentor's most famous resident -- on July 2, 1881 as Garfield walked through a Washington, D.C. train station. Garfield survived the shooting but eventually succumbed to his wounds on September 19, …
Thursday, January 10, 2013
See what's happening in and around Mentor this week
1. CELEBRATE MENTOR CIVIC ICE ARENA'S 30TH ANNIVERSARY Where/When: Mentor Civic Ice Arena, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday Why Go: The Ice Arena will celebrate its 30th anniversary this Saturday with games, prizes and demonstrations from local youth hockey teams and figure skaters. The schedule for the day is: From 9 to 11 a.m., there will be a pancake breakfast. The donations from the breakfast go to the Special Skaters program, which teaches skating in a fun way to youths and adults with disabilities. Next, professional coaches will be offering free lessons from 11:30 a.m. to noon. Then, the west rink will have open skating from noon to 5 p.m. Meanwhile, there will be hockey clinics for children from 12:30 p.m. to 2 p.m. Afterward, the east …
Monday, January 7, 2013
Those attending “Behind the Ropes” will get a closer look at many of the beautiful original artifacts on display in the Garfield home and may even have the opportunity to handle or at least touch certain pieces.
The James A. Garfield National Historic Site has a new in-depth tour that allows visitors to get closer to certain parts of the president's Mentor home than ever before. The new tour -- called “Behind the Ropes” -- will be on the second Saturday of each month, at 11 a.m. beginning Jan. 12. This tour, not to be confused with the regular “Behind the Scenes” tour, will take participants behind the normal public barriers in select rooms in the large Victorian home of the twentieth President of the United States. To be clear, on the "Behind the Scenes" tour, visitors are taken into parts of the Garfield home and property they are otherwise not able to see like the basement, the third floor and inside the windmill. On the new "Behind the Ropes" …
Friday, January 4, 2013
The "Major Battles of the Civil War" series takes a break from the battlefield and talks about one of the biggest presidential addresses in this country's history
James A. Garfield National Historic Site and Mentor Public Library are continuing their lunchtime talks on the Civil War but are taking a break from the battlefield. Their next talk will focus on The Emancipation Proclamation this upcoming Wednesday at noon at the library's main branch. Dan Vermilya, a site volunteer and a seasonal National Park Service ranger at Antietam National Battlefield, will be the featured speaker. After the Union victory at Antietam in September 1862, President Abraham Lincoln publicly announced his intention to issue an Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863 unless the Confederacy ended hostilities and returned to the Union. The Proclamation made abolition of slavery a specific, publicly stated Union war …
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
Fredericksburg was one of the Confederacy’s most decisive and one-sided victories
James A. Garfield National Historic Site and Mentor Public Library will continue their series of lunchtime talks on the major battles of the Civil War with "The Battle of Fredericksburg" at noon Wednesday. Fredericksburg was one of the Confederacy’s most decisive and one-sided victories. It resulted in massive casualties for the North and was another in a long line of debacles led by ineffective Union generals. The South’s victory at Fredericksburg was so overwhelming that Confederate General Robert E. Lee is said to have remarked of the battle, “It is well that war is so terrible; otherwise, we may grow too fond of it.” James A. Garfield National Historic Site Volunteer Rebecca Hayward will be the speaker. Guests may bring a lunch to …
Steven Schaefer
1:20 pm on Monday, March 4, 2013
Is this a big deal or was this something that would have happened anyway? How many people visit on Sunday? How many people visit during an average week? It if almost impossible to cut anything in government even if it makes good sense.   more ›