Photos show what the childhood homes of 33 US presidents looked like
Talia Lakritz
- Some US presidents, like Jimmy Carter, grew up on farms with no electricity or running water.
- Others, such as Donald Trump, grew up in mansions.
All US presidents live in the White House during their terms, but the homes where they were raised have ranged from farms to mansions.
Here's a glimpse into the way that 33 presidents grew up.
George Washington grew up on Ferry Farm in Fredericksburg, Virginia.
The historic site features a replica of Washington's childhood home, where the family moved when he was 6 years old, according to Ferry Farm's official website.
John Adams was born in 1735 in a rural cottage in Quincy, Massachusetts.
Joseph Penniman built the home now known as John Adams Birthplace in 1681, and John Adams' father purchased it in 1720, according to the National Park Service.
Thomas Jefferson was born on a plantation named Shadwell, but spent most of his childhood at Tuckahoe Plantation in Virginia.
Jefferson moved to Tuckahoe Plantation with his family when he was 2 years old, according to the property's official website. His education began in a one-room schoolhouse on the property that still stands today.
James Madison grew up in a plantation house called Mount Pleasant, later expanded and renamed Montpelier in Orange County, Virginia.
Growing up as the oldest son in a wealthy family, Madison studied math, geography, and languages with a number of tutors, according to Montpelier's official website. Reverend Thomas Martin studied with Madison at Montpelier and helped prepare him to attend the College of New Jersey.
James Monroe was born in Westmoreland County, Virginia, in 1758.
Monroe lived in a 1,600-square-foot house with his parents and four siblings, according to Virginia's Department of Historic Resources. The historic home no longer exists, but a replica of Monroe's childhood home operated by The James Monroe Memorial Foundation opened in 2021.
William Henry Harrison was born at Berkeley Plantation in Charles City, Virginia.
Berkeley Plantation was built in 1726 and is said to be the oldest three-story brick house in Virginia. William Henry Harrison's grandson Benjamin Harrison, who served as the 23rd US president, also lived on the plantation, according to its official website.
The original log cabin where James K. Polk lived as a child no longer exists, but the President James K. Polk Historic Site recreates the homestead.
The 11th president was born in 1795 on a 150-acre farm in Pineville, North Carolina. Polk lived there until he was 11 years old and his family moved to Tennessee, according to the North Carolina Division of State Historic Sites and Properties.
Zachary Taylor's boyhood home is located in Louisville, Kentucky.
Known as Springfield, the two-and-a-half-story house dates back to 1790, according to the National Park Service.
Millard Fillmore, the 13th president, grew up in a log cabin in New Hope, New York.
The cabin has been replaced with picnic tables and a plaque marking where it once stood.
Franklin Pierce lived in a two-story home near Hillsborough, New Hampshire, until he married his wife, Jane, in 1834.
Pierce's father ran a popular tavern out of the house, according to the National Park Service. It also featured a ballroom on the second floor.
Abraham Lincoln was born in a humble log cabin near Louisville, Kentucky.
Today, a symbolic cabin similar to the one in which Lincoln was born is enclosed in a neoclassic memorial building on the site.
Ulysses S. Grant's boyhood home is located in Georgetown, Ohio.
Grant lived there from when he was 1 year old until he left for West Point in 1839, according to Ohio History Connection.
Grover Cleveland was born in a two-story house in Caldwell, New Jersey.
Cleveland is the only US president to serve two non-consecutive terms. He was the 22nd and 24th president.
William McKinley's original birthplace burned down in 1937, but it was recreated at the McKinley Birthplace Home and Research Center in Niles, Ohio.
There's also a replica of his home where it once stood, one block south of the McKinley Memorial and Museum in Niles, according to the Niles Historical Society.
Theodore Roosevelt grew up in a townhouse in New York City.
The townhouse is now a museum located at 28 East 20th Street in Manhattan. Roosevelt lived there until he was 14 years old, according to the National Park Service.
William Howard Taft's birthplace is part of the William Howard Taft National Historic Site in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Taft lived in this home from his birth in 1857 until he left for college in 1874, according to the National Park Service.
Woodrow Wilson was born in Staunton, Virginia.
The house, located at 24 North Coalter Street in Staunton, was built in 1846, according to the National Park Service.
Calvin Coolidge took the oath of office in the house where he was born and raised in Plymouth, Vermont.
Coolidge became the 30th US president when Warren G. Harding died in 1923.
Herbert Hoover was born in a two-room cottage in West Branch, Iowa, in 1874.
Hoover lived in the cottage until he was 3 years old with his parents and two siblings, according to the National Park Service's official website.
Franklin D. Roosevelt's estate, known as Springwood, is located in Hyde Park, New York.
Roosevelt was born on the estate in 1882 and is buried there, as well.
Harry Truman was born in a 20-by-28-foot house in Lamar, Missouri, in 1884.
Truman is the only president who was born in Missouri.
Dwight D. Eisenhower was born in Denison, Texas, in 1890.
Eisenhower was born in the bedroom of a two-story house in Denison — the first US president to be born in Texas, according to the Texas Historical Commission. His family then moved to Kansas when he was 18 months old.
John F. Kennedy grew up in Brookline, Massachusetts.
Kennedy was born in the master bedroom of 83 Beals Street in Brookline in 1917 and lived there for the first 10 years of his life, according to the National Park Service.
Lyndon B. Johnson hired an architect to reconstruct his childhood home in Johnson City, Texas.
Johnson lived there from when he was 5 years old until he graduated high school in 1924. According to the National Park Service's official website, the home had no electricity or indoor plumbing.
Richard Nixon's birthplace and childhood home is located in Yorba Linda, California.
Nixon's father built the one-and-a-half story house, where the future president was born in 1913. The Nixon family lived there until 1922, according to the National Park Service.
Gerald Ford lived in this Grand Rapids, Michigan, home from ages 8 to 17.
Ford moved around a lot, but wrote in his memoir that he had the most vivid memories of 649 Union Street, according to Grand Valley State University.
Jimmy Carter's family moved to a farm without indoor plumbing or electricity in Plains, Georgia, when he was 4 years old.
Carter helped harvest and sell cotton, peanuts, sugar cane, and corn until 1941, when he left for college, according to the National Park Service.
Ronald Reagan's boyhood home is located in Dixon, Illinois.
Reagan moved many times throughout his childhood, but lived in this Dixon home from 1920 to 1924, according to the National Park Service.
Bill Clinton spent the first four years of his life in Hope, Arkansas, living with his mother and maternal grandparents.
The two-and-a-half story house dates back to 1917, according to the National Park Service.
George W. Bush lived in this Midland, Texas, home from ages 5 to 9.
His parents George H.W. and Barbara Bush, also a former president and first lady, bought the house in 1951, according to the National Park Service's official website.
Barack Obama's childhood home in Honolulu, Hawaii, sold for $1.8 million in 2021.
Obama lived in the 2,268-square-foot home from 1964 to 1967, according to the home's Zillow listing.
Donald Trump grew up in Queens, New York, and moved to this brick house when he was 4 years old.
Trump lived in the 23-room house until he left for a military boarding school at 13 years old.
Joe Biden grew up in a three-story home on North Washington Avenue in Scranton, Pennsylvania.
He signed one of the walls in the home on Election Day, writing, "From this house to the White House with the grace of God. Joe Biden 11-3-2020," Politico reported.
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