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HPU Student Visits Presidential Birth Sites

Eric Wallace, a junior at High Point University, has always had an interest in everything historical and political in the United States.

One of his main interests, however, is rather unusual. He enjoys studying the lives of U.S. presidents -- all 43 (technically 44) of them.

"I've been interested in U.S. presidents since high school," he said Monday.

As a hobby, Eric and his father visit the sites of where these leaders of the free world were born. The two of them have gone as far south as Georgia and as far north as Vermont from their home in Chapel Hill, N.C.

"I just figured as an American citizen I should be familiar with who they are," he said.

 So one day he started reading up on the life of George Washington before progressing to John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and so on.

"Every one of these men lived a unique life and had problems in their lives both personally and politically that defined who they were," Wallace said. "I went from feeling obligated to learn about them to actually enjoying learning about them."

His father suggested the idea of doing field trips to the birthplaces of these individuals one day.

"Andrew Johnson, our seventeenth president, was born in Raleigh," Wallace said. "It was closest to us, so that was the first site we visited."

Since then, they have visited roughly half of the sites. They have visited South Carolina, Georgia, Virginia, Ohio as well as various states in the Northeast and Midwest.

"My favorite so far has been George Washington's," he said. "There was an entire park devoted to the site of his birth. The worst one had to be Rutherford B. Hayes, his birth site is currently an Exxon station in a rough neighborhood outside Cincinnati. I guess that shows the difference in how you're remembered when you're a great versus an obscure president."

When asked which site he most looks forward to visiting, Wallace said it would be Richard Nixon's.

"He was born in California," he said. "I've never been there so it will be interesting to visit."

 What he enjoys most about this hobby is the experience of visiting new places, he said.

 "Not all of these guys were born in major tourist traps like New York or Boston," Wallace said. "These guys were for the most part born in log cabins, rural farms, or rural plantations. By going to these tiny communities, you get to see part of the United States you would have never come across. I'm really glad that I have done this and look forward to continuing to pursue this hobby."

Topics:
What got him interested
How the hobby started
Favorite ones he has visited
What he enjoys about it