Celebrate Presidents' Day

Celebrate Presidents’ Day at a historic site, with special events, birthday parties, lectures by re-enactors and more.

Three days of festivities commemorate the 278th birthday of our first president at his home, Mount Vernon in Virginia. Featured events on Feb. 13-15, 2010, include a surprise birthday party for Gen. Washington; breakfast of hoecakes swimming in butter and honey; and a wreath-laying ceremony at Washington's tomb.

A new exhibit opens on Feb. 13, “Bringing Them Home: 150 Years of Restoring the Washington Collection.” The exhibition celebrates 150 years of historic Mount Vernon’s being open to the public and the preservation efforts of the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association. Most items are being exhibited for the first time, and many have not been at Mount Vernon since the Washingtons lived there.

Admission is free for everyone on Monday, Feb. 15. On Feb. 22, Washington's real birthday, anyone who is named George or who has a Feb. 22 birthday, will be admitted free upon presenting identification.

Colonial Williamsburg, in Williamsburg, Virginia, celebrates Presidents’ Weekend, Feb. 13 and 14, 2010, with a number of events and talks throughout the weekend. Hear stories about and meet with America’s forefathers, including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. Discuss the role of a president’s wife with Martha Washington, and listen to the music adored by Thomas Jefferson, in the Governor’s Palace, his home when he was governor of Virginia.

Billings Farm & Museum, in Woodstock, Vermont, is hosting the Vermont Humanities Council program “Teddy Roosevelt: Mind, Body, and Spirit,” on Presidents' Day, Monday, Feb. 15 at 3 p.m. in the farm and museum’s theater. The program is free and open to the public. The 50-minute, one-man performance features Theodore Roosevelt’s own words. A formidable achiever, Roosevelt attained many accomplishments as a soldier, author, naturalist, historian, statesman, Nobel Prize-winner and president of the United States. The presentation will be followed by a “presidential” receiving line. Advance reservations requested.

Honor Presidents’ Day with a visit to the Mary Todd Lincoln House in Lexington, Kentucky. The home is the first historic house restored to honor a first lady. Admission is free for school-age children (K-12) on Feb. 15, 2010 from 10 a.m. - 3 p.m.

Photos top to bottom courtesy of: Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association; Billings Farm & Museum