by Nelson Price, Society Pilgrimage Chairman
For the second consecutive year, the Society of Indiana Pioneers scheduled a special, half-day “Behind the Scenes” visit to an Indiana history-related site. Just as with the initial such tour, a trip in 2024 to the Indiana History Center, the “Behind the Scenes” visit to the Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site in Indianapolis filled up to a maximum capacity of forty Pioneers and guests. Participants drove themselves to the site in the city’s historic Old Northside neighborhood for the afternoon event on September 12, a sunny Friday.
The Pioneers gathered outdoors next to the Italianate house built during 1874-75 in which Benjamin Harrison, the only U.S. president elected from Indiana, lived both before and after his term in the White House. Charlie Hyde, the president and CEO of the presidential site, welcomed the Pioneers and shared insights near the Sarah Evans Barker Citizenship Plaza, the site of civic events, including naturalization ceremonies, and the Presidential Promenade that leads to the elegant, brick house.
From the front porch of the house, a Benjamin Harrison re-enactor, dressed in a period outfit, spoke to the Pioneers about a range of events during the lives of the president and his first wife, Caroline Scott Harrison. The re-enactor (in real life, Indianapolis attorney and radio host Charles Braun) noted that Benjamin Harrison, a Republican who famously ran a “front porch” campaign for the presidency in 1888, delivered about 88 speeches from the porch then.
The Pioneers then subdivided for private tours of the home, which is a house museum where nearly 75 percent of the furnishings are original to the Harrison family. That’s said to be an extraordinarily high percentage for a restored presidential home. For the Pioneers’ visit, Jennifer Capps, vice president of curatorial services, organized an exhibit of significant artifacts from the early and mid-1800s, including the original document naming William Henry Harrison (Benjamin’s grandfather) as a justice of the peace in the Old Northwest Territory. Eventually, William Henry Harrison served as governor of the Indiana Territory and, for one prior to his death in 1841, the U.S. president.
Another highlight of the Pioneers’ visit was the opportunity to view “Treasures of the Harrison Collection”, an exhibit of some of the most precious pieces at the presidential site. They included glittering artifacts not typically displayed, ranging from a ceremonial badge in a Tiffany box to a presidential inaugural invitation etched in gold. Some of the artifacts were associated with Caroline Scott Harrison, who, as First Lady, died in the White House of tuberculosis in October 1892, one month before Benjamin Harrison lost his bid for re-election.
With his second wife, Mary Lord Harrison, he returned to live in the Indianapolithe Society of Indiana Pioneers scheduled a special, half-day “Behind the Scenes” visit to an Indiana history-related site. Just as with the initial such tour, a trip in 2024 to the Indiana History Center, the “Behind the Scenes” visit to the Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site in Indianapolis filled up to a maximum capacity of forty Pioneers and guests. Participants drove themselves to the site in the city’s historic Old Northside neighborhood for the afternoon event on September 12, a sunny Friday.s home, where the former president resumed a distinguished career as an attorney. Earlier in his life, Benjamin Harrison had served as a general during the Civil War and a U.S. senator from Indiana. He died in 1901.
Because the “Behind the Scenes”, half-day visits to history-related sites have been so well-received by the Pioneers, more such Pilgrimages are being planned.
