Eisenhower Home Guide

 

This page contains text for the self-guided tour of the Eisenhower home. Each room in the house is numbered, with the numbers corresponding to the sections below. Please follow this guide and the accompanying directions as you tour the Eisenhower home.

 

A map showing the first floor of the Eisenhower home.

NPS Photo

Room 1: Living Room

The formal living room reflected the public stature of the Eisenhowers. The room showcased the gifts the Eisenhowers received from heads of state as well as 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 marble fireplace, removed from the White House in 1873 by President Grant, was an anniversary gift from the Eisenhower White House staff. The painting of Prague, Czechoslovakia above the mantel was presented to General Eisenhower by its citizens at the end of World War II. While the rest of the home reflected who Ike and Mamie were as individuals, this place attested to their decades of public service.

Room 2: Sun Porch

This modest and comfortable porch was the Eisenhowers’ favorite room. Here Ike and Mamie watched tv, played cards with friends, and the General pursued his hobby of oil painting. The easel holds a reproduction of an unfinished painting of Culzean Castle, Scotland, that he was working on in his last year of life. Eisenhower entertained many distinguished guests in a relaxed setting to encourage intimate conversations with visiting world leaders like Nikita Khruschev of the Soviet Union and Charles de Gaulle of France.

Room 3: Entrance Hall

Mamie asked all visitors, from world leaders to the Eisenhower grandchildren, to sign her guest book here in the entrance hall. The curio cabinet contains a collection of personal items that Mamie valued. Among them are a presidential plate she purchased from a nearby Stuckey's souvenir stand, and plastic figurines of presidents and first ladies that she collected from cereal boxes. These items represented a place of belonging and memories from decades of a busy, nomadic life.

Room 4: Dining Room

The Eisenhowers preferred to dine on TV trays on the sun porch. When family and friends visited, dinner was served in the formal dining room amid lively conversation led in turn by the General and Mrs. Eisenhower. Young Major Eisenhower bought Mamie the tea service across the room piece by piece with his poker winnings. Mamie purchased the dining room suite in 1927. It traveled with the couple during their many and frequent moves.

After viewing the dining room and entryway, please proceed upstairs to the second floor. Please note that at this point the house tour route becomes one way. Follow the rooms and stops in numerical order. When ascending the stairs, please use the handrailing and do not lean on the original wallpaper.

 

A map showing the second floor of the Eisenhower home.

NPS Photo

Room 5: Mrs. Doud's Room

Mamie's mother, Elivera Carlson Doud, used this room when she stayed at the farm. After her death in 1960, it served as a guest room. A picture of Doud Dwight Eisenhower, Ike and Mamie's first child, sits on the back dresser. Doud, nicknamed "Icky", tragically passed away at the age of three. This is the only picture of him in the home.

Room 6: Sitting Room

This served as a television room for the grandchildren. Mamie used it as a sitting room after Ike passed away. The books here are part of the General’s personal library found throughout the house. The three volumes with the frayed brown covers on the bottom shelf are his yearbooks from West Point, The Howitzer. Ike finished painting the snow covered landscape, Winter, St. Louis Creek, while recovering from his 1955 heart attack.

Room 7: General's Room

This small and sparsely decorated room served as General Eisenhower's dressing room. Following his 1955 heart attack, he used the room for afternoon naps which he took daily under doctor's orders. Many of the General's westerns occupy the bookshelf. The portrait he painted of his two oldest grandchildren hangs over the bed.

Room 8: Mamie's Dressing Room and Bath

The bathroom reflects Mrs. Eisenhower’s eye for detail and her love of the color pink. In the adjoining dressing room, Mamie’s pearls and perfumes cover the dressing table, her brightly colored outfits pack the closet, and assorted hats in hat boxes line the shelves. Ike’s West Point photo sitting on the dressing table is inscribed “To the dearest, sweetest girl in the world…”

Room 9: Main Bedroom

Mamie loved this room. The low windows allowed her to take in the views of the farm from her bed. It was also a hub of activity. Due to a health condition earlier in life, Mamie spent much of her time here, especially in the mornings. She used the room to rest while still meeting with staff, writing correspondence, planning her social agenda, and visiting with friends. After General Eisenhower's death, Mamie kept his side of the bed piled with books, stationary, and candy so it would not seem so empty. Mamie's devotion to family and friends is seen in the numerous photographs surrounding the room, including a portrait of her three oldest grandchildren above the fireplace. A portrait of her youngest granddaughter, Mary Jean, sits above her dresser.

Room 10: Maid's Room

Some of the Eisenhower's earliest furniture was used in this room by Mamie's personal maid, Rose Wood. The maid's room, along with the kitchen and butler's pantry downstairs, is in the portion of the original house salvaged when the Eisenhower's rebuilt their home.

Room 11: Guest Rooms

Visiting friends and family often spent the night here. The four paintings in the hallway, painted by General Eisenhower, add a personal touch. The most famous visitor to stay in the guest rooms was Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India. Nehru visited in December 1956, and was the only world leader to stay at the farm overnight. The Prime Minister and President Eisenhower conducted private talks on the sun porch during his visit.

After viewing the guest rooms, please proceed down the stairway to the first floor, where you will see the final rooms on the tour before exiting through General Eisenhower's office.

 

Room 12: Laundry Room

Sergeant John Moaney and his wife, Delores, were employed as the valet and cook. Sergeant Moaney washed, repaired, and ironed the General’s clothes in the laundry room. He did all his sewing on an old Singer sewing machine that he brought from overseas after the war and kept in his room. Moaney would also sit here and clean the General’s golf clubs after the General returned from a round at the Gettysburg Country Club.

Room 13: John and Delores Moaney's Room

Dwight Eisenhower was not the only World War II veteran who called this house a home. John Moaney first served on the General's personal staff in 1942. John and Ike hit it off and developed a close bond, one that they carried through the rest of the war, and the rest of their lives. John remained on Eisenhower's staff for decades. In 1946, John married Delores Butler. She would join him in working for the Eisenhowers, becoming a cook and aide to the family. Even after Ike's death in 1969, the Moaneys stayed on with Mamie. John died in 1976. Delores passed away in 2014.

Room 14: The Kitchen

The kitchen, with its linoleum counters and Crosley refrigerator in the pantry, reflects the 1950s style more than any other room in the house. General Eisenhower enjoyed cooking and pursued this hobby both here and at the barbecue outside. Soups, stews, and Pennsylvania Dutch breakfasts were some of his specialties. Mamie was not quite as adept in the kitchen and liked to joke that she could only make fudge and mayonnaise. Most of the meals were prepared by Delores Moaney. She seldom prepared gourmet dishes, however, since Ike and Mamie preferred basic American fare.

Room 15: The Den

The Eisenhowers’ wish to preserve part of the original farmhouse is evident in the den. The old fireplace and oven were salvaged from the summer kitchen which stood near the house. Salvaged wood from the old house was reused in the construction of the floor and ceiling. Ike spent many relaxing hours reading and playing bridge here with friends. The Civil War pike and musket above the fireplace, the red lamp decorated with fishing flies, and the art books in the bookcase reflect Ike’s interests.

Room 16: The Office

Used for conducting farm and presidential business, this room and the den became a “temporary White House” while President Eisenhower recuperated from his 1955 heart attack. The desk is a reproduction of the one used by George Washington. The gift was made with pine boards recovered from the White House during its 1948-1952 renovation. Eisenhower received a phone call here on May 7, 1960, informing him that the Soviet Union not only shot down the U-2 spy plane, but also captured its pilot, Francis Gary Powers. The room’s simplicity reflects the down-to-earth nature that served Eisenhower so well as one of the world’s great soldiers and statesmen.

After visiting the office, you may exit the home and begin a self-guided tour of the grounds.