Hail to the chiefs: Some Presidential artifacts seen along the way

In case you hadn't heard, there's an election going on in this great land of ours, which reminds us of some of the fun, offbeat presidential sites we've seen out on the eccentric highway. Which of these is the winner? Key precincts have not yet reported so it's neck and neck, the race is too close to call and it's still anybody's horse race.

 George Washington's outhouse, Mount Vernon

 Chester A. Arthur's muttonchops

 George H.W. Bush takes a stand

 The handicap-accessible Roosevelt Theater, Hyde Park, New York

Stardusters' saxophonist Bill Clinton

 Creepy Abraham Lincoln souvenirs, Springfield, Illinois

 "Third-rate non-entity" Rutherford B. Hayes

 The late, great Presidents Park of Williamsburg, Virginia (closed in 2010)

 A hilarious Gerald Ford imitation in front of Air Force One at Presidents Park

 Herbert Hoover's boyhood outhouse, West Branch, Iowa

We happened to be in Canton, Ohio on the 100th anniversary of assassinated president William McKinley's funeral. As far as presidential funereal reenactments go, it was one of the best.

 We had a great time visiting Clare McLean's Presidential Pet Museum. At the time, she was located in Annapolis, Maryland, and now plans are underway to move the museum to Glen Allen, Virginia. 

She's showing us her portrait of Amy Carter with her dog Grits.

This is the most requested photo from the National Archives in Washington. For once Richard Nixon wasn't the oddest guy in the room.

The Presidential Pet Museum: If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog

Clare McLean and her portrait of Amy Carter and her dog

A portrait of the Reagan's dog made with genuine dog hair. (Really!)

President Taft's cow's cowbell

There have been some good presidents, some bad presidents and some mediocre presidents but there are no bad presidential pets, and there's a place that pays tribute to them. The Presidential Pet Museum was in a storefront shop in a quaint part of Annapolis, Maryland when we visited there in 2007, but it has since moved to Williamsburg, Virginia, and is now part of President's Park (the last swell place I blogged about). This is a great idea because now you get two, two, two eccentric roadside attractions in one! The pet museum is the "pet" project (sorry) of Clare McLean, a nice lady whose life's mission since 1999 has been to share her quirky collection of artifacts and original artworks with curious history buffs and school kids on field trips. Clare does folk art paintings of the White House's most beloved residents and the pièce de résistance is a portrait of Lucky (President and Mrs. Reagan's Bouvier des Flandres) made from her own hair (Lucky's that is, not Clare's). Her most prized pocession is an original cowbell that hung from the neck of Pauline Wayne, the last cow to graze the White House lawn and was a favorite of President Taft who drank her milk every morning. Places like this make you proud to be an eccentric American. Here's their website: http://www.presidentialpetmuseum.com/index.htm