Black Oak Tree at Ulysses S. Grant NHS

Only one tree standing on the park grounds of Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site today has been confirmed to have stood when Ulysses S. Grant lived on this property. It is a Black Oak tree that was planted around the year 1829.

• The tree is located on the far northeastern part of the park grounds roughly fifty yards off the park's walking trail. The tree is approximately 75 feet high and is surrounded by other trees in the are.

Dawn Redwood Trees at Ulysses S. Grant NHS

Dawn Redwood trees are a nearly extinct deciduous tree indigenous to China. They are not as large as their famous relatives in the California forests, but contain many similar traits, including their bark and colorful fall leaves.

• The tree is roughly 50 feet high and located in the far northwestern corner of the park grounds. The tree is adjacent to the park walking trail and gate opening onto White Haven Drive.

Father Dickson Cemetery

Father Dickson Cemetery is a historic African American cemetery that serves as the final resting place for numerous Black St. Louisians who were contemporaries of Ulysses S. Grant.

• Roughly 15 acre cemetery with small rolling hills and hundreds of gravestones. A parking lot is adjacent to the cemetery and located near the site entrance.

Flowering Dogwood Trees at Ulysses S. Grant NHS

Flowering Dogwood trees can be seen throughout the state of Missouri and several of them are planted here at Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site.

• Tree is located in northeast corner of park grounds. It is surrounded by a number of trees in an open green space about 200 yards from the back entrance of the park's visitor center.

Gingko Trees at Ulysses S. Grant NHS

Gingko trees are some of the oldest known trees on earth. Several gingko trees are on the park grounds at Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site, including one that is estimated to have been planted at some point in the late 19th or early 20th centuries.

• The male gingko tree is roughly 25 feet behind the stone building facing northwest. The tree is on a small high and a retaining wall surrounds the tree on its northern side. The tree has distinctive fan-shaped leaves.

Grant's Farm

Grant's Farm is a 280-acre wildlife park owned and operated by Anheuser-Busch InBev and adjacent to Ulysses S. Grant NHS. This property was part of the White Haven estate in the 19th century when Ulysses S. Grant lived in St. Louis.

• Large property with 750-space parking lot and gated entrance. The Bauernhof Courtyard houses food and drink stations and restrooms. The Courtyard is roughly 300 yards from the front entrance and is about 100 feet wide.

Gravois Greenway (Grant's Trail)

Grant's Trail was once the Kirkwood-Carondelet Branch of the Missouri Pacific Railroad, constructed in 1872 during Ulysses S. Grant’s ownership of the property. Today it's a ten-mile bike trail that runs adjacent to Ulysses S. Grant NHS.

• The trail runs adjacent to the park and is paved with concrete. The trail is ten miles long and on each end there are trailheads with large green signs with maps of the trail. Parking is available at both trailheads.

Hardscrabble: The House That Grant Built

While living at the White Haven property in St. Louis, Missouri, Ulysses S. Grant constructed a log cabin named "Hardscrabble." Despite taking more than a year to build the house, the Grant family only lived in it for three months in late 1856. Hardscrabble nevertheless remains a living legacy to Grant's life as a St. Louis farmer.

• A log cabin with green logs, two stories high and about 35 feet wide. The log cabin sits on flat land that is part of "Grant's Farm," an animal park managed by Anheuser-Bush.

Ice House and Chicken House

The ice house and chicken house are two of the remaining outbuildings from White Haven. The ice house was built around 1840 and the chicken house dates from 1850 to 1870.

• The ice house is a wooden structure with a stone base. There is a stone wall across the structure to separate two different rooms. The chicken house is a two-story wooden structure that features three rooms on the main floor and a large storage space on the upper level. The two structures stand next to each other, with the ice house on the left, and face the back of the historic house. Both are painted red.

Jefferson Barracks

Originally an active military base from 1826 through the end of World War II, Jefferson Barracks was Ulysses S. Grant's first deployment with the U.S. Army after graduating from West Point in 1843. Today the site features a recreational park, a National Cemetery, and the Missouri Civil War Museum.

• large park grounds roughly 338 acres in size. Walking trails, several historic buildings, and a National Cemetery with thousands of graves located within the park grounds.

Stable at White Haven

Historic stable designed by Grant while President of the United States. He had plans for establishing a horse-breeding farm at White Haven. Today, the structure houses the park's museum exhibits.

• The horse stable is approximately xxx feet long. It has xxx windows along the long sides. There is a large double door entrance.

Summer Kitchen

This stone building, located behind White Haven, consists of two rooms. Before the Civil War, the enslaved used this building for laundry and summer cooking.

• The stone building has fireplaces on each end. There are two doors, each one leading to a separate room.

Sweetgum Trees at Ulysses S. Grant NHS

Sweetgum trees are common throughout Missouri. Many visitors to Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site are fascinated by the spiky "Sweetgum Balls" that these trees produce.

• A large tree roughly 5 feet off of the walking trace on the back side of the White Haven estate. The tree frequently drops spiky balls with seeds onto the ground, and most of the year these sweetgum balls can be felt on the grass surrounding the tree. There are numerous sweetgum trees throughout the park grounds.

Thomas Sappington House Museum

The Sappingtons were a prominent family that lived in St. Louis for most of the 19th century. The Sappingtons were well-acquainted with the Grant and Dent families. Today the site offers guided tours of the history home and a farm-to-table restaurant serves breakfast and lunch at the site.

• The historic home is a two-story brick building approximately 2,000 square feet in size. The restaurant is housed in a historic barn and the library is housed in a roughly 1,500 square foot building. Site grounds are 2.5 acres in size.

Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site Park Store

When you visit Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site, stop by the park store. There you’ll find a curated selection of quality educational products and books that will extend and enhance your park experience.

• Located adjacent to the Visitor Center information desk, this twenty-one by thirteen foot rectangular park store contains multiple shelves and racks of merchandise. Along the left wall of the gift shop, a series of five tan wooden shelving units display NPS handbooks, reproduction documents, and activity books for children. The unit closest to the front of the gift shop has a shallow counter with a passport stamping station and National Park Passports, and stickers for sale. Along the right wall of the shop are seven tan wooden shelving units. The unit closest to the entrance of the gift shop contains an exhibit panel labeled "The Grant Tour". Below the tile of this panel is a map of the united states showing the location of many Grant related sites throughout the country. Below this map touchscreen computer encased in a black plastic frame. A sign over the computer screen says "Sorry, Temporarily unavailable". To the right to the computer screen is map portraying the St. Louis metro area. It is labeled with multiple sites associated with Grant in the St. Louis area. Along the wall beyond the exhibit panel and computer are three short, wide shelving units staggered with the three tall thin shelving units. The shorter units consist of three wide shelves each displaying books about the Grants, slavery, the Civil War, and local history. The taller units consist of four narrow, deep shelves displaying similar items. In the middle of the shop are three dark wooden and metal merchandise displays. These displays are four-sided and consist of a variety of open shelves, hangers, and book racks.

White Haven

Ulysses S. Grant, the victorious Civil War general who saved the Union and the 18th President of the United States, first met Julia Dent, his future wife, at her family home, named White Haven. Today, that home commemorates their lives and loving partnership against the turbulent backdrop of the nineteenth century.

Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site Visitor Center

• Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site Visitor Center
• This is the first stop for your visit. You can watch an introductory film, get information on historic house tours, explore the museum in the historic stable, and shop in the bookstore.

• Conduct Research at Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site
• Want to learn more about Ulysses S. Grant and anxious to find more resources? Consider scheduling an appointment to conduct research at Ulysses S. Grant.

• Visit the White Haven Estate
• Visit the historic White Haven estate.

• Visit the White Haven Home
• The historic White Haven estate is more than 200 years old and the home where Ulysses and Julia Grant fell in love. The house is open daily from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

• Historic Trees at White Haven
• View a range of historic and unique trees on the park grounds at Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site.

• Historic Tree Tour
• Numerous trees of historic and natural significance are on the park grounds today. Explore six of these trees by taking a self-guided tour of the park grounds.

• Take A Self-Guided Tour of the Park Grounds
• The historic site grounds are open during standard operating hours (9:00AM to 5:00PM). Explore the quarter-mile walking trace, read the wayside markers, and visit four historic outbuildings on the property.

• Moving Through History
• Join a Park Ranger for a three-mile jog to see the original location of Hardscrabble, a log cabin built by Ulysses S. Grant in the 1850s while he lived in St. Louis.

• Let Nature Speak
• Take in the beautiful scenery at Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site.

• Pause in the Summer Kitchen
• Learn about slavery at White Haven by visiting the summer kitchen, located behind the main home on the park grounds.

• The Legacy of Freedom
• Watch the park's 22-minute orientation film about Ulysses S. Grant's life.

• Ulysses S. Grant's Life and Accomplishments
• Visit the park's museum to learn more about Ulysses S. Grant's life and times.

• A Place Called Home
• Walk the park grounds and learn about the Grants, Dents, and enslaved African Americans who lived at White Haven in the 1850s.

• Bicentennial Celebration
• Learn more about the park's efforts to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Ulysses S. Grant's birth in 2022.

• Explore the Little Free Library
• During your visit to the park, stop by the Little Free Library to grab a book and donate your old ones.

• Do the Junior Ranger Program
• The Junior Ranger program helps kids get involved and learn more about Ulysses S. Grant's life and times. Anyone can become a Junior Ranger by completing activities during a park visit.

• Stop By The Visitor Center
• Start your experience at the Visitor Center. Park Staff and volunteers will be located at the front desk to greet you and answer questions. Allow yourself at least a few minutes to become oriented to the park operation. The Visitor Center is open daily from 9:00AM to 5:00PM.

• Watch the Orientation Film
• A 22-minute orientation film provides insights into Ulysses S. Grant's military service during the American Civil War and his two terms as President of the United States.

• Check Out the Park Museum
• The park museum is housed in a historic horse stable designed by Ulysses S. Grant and completed in 1872. This space is self-guided and there's no wrong way to explore the fascinating content with the museum's six permanent exhibits.

Historic Trees Walking Tour

This self-guided walking tour introduces visitors to a number of unique and historic trees on the park's ten-acre property. At various points this tour takes visitors off the park's paved walking trail. Be sure to wear appropriate shoes and be aware of current weather conditions.

Visit White Haven

The historic White Haven estate is the centerpiece of Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site. Grant's home White Haven is open from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. daily. There is no fee to see the home. Ranger talks about the home are usually offered at the top of each hour at the front porch, with the first program beginning at 10:00 a.m. and the last program at 4:00 p.m. Advance reservations are not required.