President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s fourteen room farm house greeted us with pink blossoms on the crab apple trees lining the driveway. Little inside the house has changed since President Eisenhower and his wife Mamie occupied the home. Since 1979 the home has been administered by the National Park Service. The grounds have a grassy helicopter pad, a golf putting course, and sheet shooting range.
Inside the main Eisenhower House the living room showcases gifts received from heads of states and friends. They include a mother-of-pearl inlaid, black lacquer coffee table from the Republic of Korea and a silk Tabriz rug from the Shah of Iran. The room has the white marble fireplace removed from the White House in 1873 by President Grant. It was an anniversary gift from the Eisenhower White House staff. Ike and Mamie seldom used the living room as it was considered to stuffy with all the formal gifts in display cases.
They preferred the more comfortable sunnier sitting room porch area. It was simplified and more to Ike's taste. It served as a television room. "I Love Lucy" was such a favorite show that they invited Lucille Ball to visit the farmhouse as a guest. There are photos evidencing world leaders such as Winston Churchill, Charles De Gaulle of France, Prime Minister Nehru of India , and Nikita Khrushchev had been guests at the farm. Imagine the private talks that were conducted on the porch in the 1950s by these men.
