First Ladies National Historic Site

Although I applaud a site dedicated to first ladies, I was disappointed. I expected to be informed to some degree about each first lady and her role in the White House. Instead, the very small museum spent alot of precious real estate on the equal rights movement and on just a handful of first ladies. Aren't each of the first ladies important enough in their own right to be spotlighted more fully? The museum needs more funding and a serious overhaul.

This is a good National Historic Site conveniently located in downtown Canton. I went here and was satisfied with my experience. I parked in a parking lot right next to the McKinley house and walked to the visitor center. I went into the visitor center to wait for a scheduled tour of the house, which started five minutes after I got there. The visitor center was in a large building with marble floors, and it had some dresses worn by First Ladies on display and an informational film about America’s First Ladies. The second floor of the visitor center is a large research library dedicated to America’s First Ladies, but I didn’t go there. Once the tour started, the tour group I was in left the visitor center and walked to the McKinley House. To get to the McKinley House, you have to walk along a sidewalk pass an average size parking garage and cross a normal size city street, and walk past a small parking lot right next to the house. I then walked into the house, where the tour group stopped in the house’s hallway by the door. After stopping in the hallway, we went to the living room, which had a large painting of William McKinley’s wife and multiple pieces of furniture. After the living room, we went to some other rooms before walking up the house’s steps to the second floor of the house. On the second floor we went to William McKinley’s bedroom, which had a comfortable looking bed, the dining room, which had a large, rectangle shaped table with many nice, wooden chairs, and some other bedrooms. After we went through all of those rooms, we walked back to the visitor center, thus ending the tour. After the tour ended, I walked back to my car and left the National Historic Site, satisfied with my experience. I gave this National Historic Site five stars because it has a very nice, historic, very well preserved house and the only research library dedicated to America’s First Ladies in the entire United States.

Despite all appearances, the museum is open. You have to walk through a gravel construction zone to get in and out, but once inside, it's your quintessential museum. Exhibits extend to Hillary, but do not yet include Michelle Obama nor Melania Trump. The building itself is historic and beautiful.

Neat small museum that has a historical house as well to tour (the house is currently closed, but museum is open). Mostly political item's, but enough personal artifacts to even it out. Give yourself an hour.

It's a quick visit. What is there is well done.