The visitors still come to Grant’s Tomb
By Lauren Kirchner
October 8, 2009
Photo credit: Lauren Kirchner
For David Adamczyk, a 22-year-old student at the Manhattan School of Music, the wide stone plaza in front of Grant’s Tomb means a quiet place to doodle in a notebook while he thinks about his latest composition. For Corey Kilgannon, a writer for The New York Times, the sloping lawn in back is the perfect place to practice his trumpet scales every morning without bothering his neighbors on West 108th Street. At night, cab drivers park in the quiet lot and get out to stretch their legs. On the weekends, families spread picnic blankets while the members of The New York Unicycle Club wheel around nearby.
Grant’s Tomb, fifteen stories of white marble reaching up out of a sliver of parkland on the far west side of upper Manhattan, is many things to many people. Outside, mosaic-tiled benches and full green bushes border a quiet open courtyard. Inside, a majestic dome and amber-colored stained glass shelter a warmly lit room containing maps and old flags and photographs of Civil War battles. And below, two granite sarcophagi are displayed in low light in a hushed, circular room. The boxes contain the bodies of Ulysses S. Grant – 18th President, Commanding General of the Union Army during the American Civil War – and his wife of 37 years, Julia Dent Grant. Surrounding the Grants are larger-than-life bronze busts of the former president’s five favorite generals, back-lit and keeping eerie watch over the crypt.
Now surrounded by foliage, the monument at West 122nd Street and Riverside Drive, was built at the top of a then-treeless hill overlooking the entire city. It was dedicated on April 27, 1897, on the 75th anniversary of the birth of General Grant, and a million people are said to have paraded up Broadway to celebrate it, according to George Tonkin, New York State Park Ranger and historical interpreter. As grand as it is, Tonkin says that this, the largest mausoleum in the Western Hemisphere, the tomb was originally designed to be 30 stories tall, and to include huge statues of soldiers and horses above its thick columns. As Tonkin explained on a tour of the building, “Just picture everything doubled.” The design by New York architect John Duncan was too grand, and not enough money was raised from private donations. But it wasn’t for lack of trying by Richard T. Greener, who was the first African-American graduate of Harvard, and who led the fundraising campaign for the final resting place of his good friend.
Tonkin tells stories with a thick Long Island accent about Grant’s transformation from the timid tanner’s son in rural Illinois who couldn’t stand the sight of animal’s blood, to a man who, according to Tonkin, “drank whiskey, smoked cigars, and was a commander of men.” As the man who was most closely associated with the northern-states’ victory in the Civil War, Grant was also associated with the emancipation of slaves, and was revered for that. “His story is that of someone who comes out of nowhere and becomes the most popular American figure of the 19th century,” said Tonkin. “He was more popular than Lincoln in his time.” Tonkin explained why he likes working at Grant’s Tomb better than other parks: “Most national monuments, historical houses, you know, the people don’t live there no more. But General Grant and his wife are here. That’s maybe the most important thing to take away. Years from now, we’ll be gone, but they’ll still be here.”
Grant’s Tomb is something of an anomaly, admitted Gloria Lee, supervisor at the monument, in an interview in her office off the monument’s statuesque entrance area. For a national park, it doesn’t have much nature, and the actual historical exhibit is smaller and more somber than might be expected. But it gets about 100,000 visitors a year; on weekdays about 100 visitors come to the museum, and on weekend days as many as 1,000 come, according to Tonkin. Clusters of international tourists stream out of New York City tour buses several times a day. Sometimes people come as part of the “Civil War experience,” as if they are checking off spots on a list of important places, said Lee.
One thing that visitors to Grant’s Tomb will not find, however, is a public restroom. Julia Grant, the General’s wife, made a special request that, “as her husband’s final resting place,” there be no restrooms in the mausoleum, said Lee. But even without the facilities, the other familiar features of a national monument are there: the guest book, which features scribbled signatures from Houston to Tokyo, and the gift shop, which sells Grant’s memoirs, toy bugles and copies of Civil War Uniforms Coloring Book. Tonkin says that the memoirs, and the black-and-white photo postcards of Grant, are the best sellers. Grant’s Tomb is open every day from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and admission is free.
On a late summer Tuesday, Sasha Schulman supervised 21 sixth-graders on a group visit to the tomb. The children clamored up the steps with clipboard and pencils, followed by teachers and aides telling them to hush. “We’re doing a segment on world religions,” Schulman said, blinking rapidly. “We’re having them observe and see how they feel in the space, and to discuss what makes a place sacred.” When asked whether the children would be going downstairs to the crypt, she shook her head. “No, we just don’t have time.”
Whatever the reason for visiting Grant’s Tomb, it is hard for people not to be touched by the grandeur of the place. Tonkin, during an interview on the monument’s steps, remarked, “You’re walking up steps that millions of people have walked up and down.” Describing all the types of people who felt a connection to Grant and his legacy, he gestured with his hands: “Picture it. Civil War vets, some of them missing legs, ex-slaves, Native Americans…it was like a pilgrimage, sometimes people would come in the last years of their life.”
Considering the large number of people who still visit every year, it must have some continued appeal. Eric Foner, Professor of History at Columbia University and an expert on the Civil War, agreed that Grant and his story remains a compelling period of history, both for Americans and people all around the world. In an interview in his office, Foner explained that the Civil War was a conflict that involved many themes that are still resonant today, such as race, the role of the federal government, power and liberty. “These are perennial issues, they are no easy things,” said Foner. But, he added, it was probably especially “the drama of the emancipation of the slaves that gave it the worldwide attention,” both then and now.
Bernhard Krautler was one of many visitors to Grant’s Tomb on Tuesday, smiling up at the display board covered in photos and Grant trivia. Krautler was visiting New York for a couple days, and had a few last hours to spare before going to the airport to fly home to Austria. He said he decided to visit the historic spot because he was familiar with the Civil War, and Grant had always appealed to him as a person. “Certainly he seems a very positive character,” Krautler said, cleaning his glasses with a piece of cloth. “As a president he seems to be progressive, not continuing the bad politics with the Indians.” He added, “he was a human president, and that is important.”
