Tree Plaque - Iowa
circa 1950s
Brass. L 15.3, W 5.1, T 0.5 cm
Eisenhower National Historic Site, EISE 5212.

Tree Plaque - Pennsylvannia
Brass. L 15.3, W 5.1, H 0.5 cm
Eisenhower National Historic Site, EISE 5215.

Tree Plaque - Kansas
Brass. L 15.3, W 5.1, H 0.5 cm
Eisenhower National Historic Site, EISE 5222.

Norway Spruce Trees
1950s
The thirty-eight Norway spruce trees lining the driveway from the front gate of the Eisenhowers Gettysburg farm to the Eisenhower home were gifts from state Republican parties. Each tree was labeled with a plaque indicating the state from which it was received. The plaques pictured here include that of Kansas, President Eisenhower’s home state. The President was born in Denison, Texas, but at the age of one his family moved to Abilene, Kansas. He resided in Abilene until leaving for West Point when he was twenty one.

While recuperating from his heart attack at the farm in 1955, the President took walks down the driveway for exercise and used the plaques to measure his progress. Upon returning to the house he would inform Mamie that he had walked all the way to Arkansas or perhaps South Dakota. The next day it might be all the way to Nevada.