Edith Wilson and the War Effort That Began With Sheep
My conversation with Farron Smith, founder of the Edith Bolling Wilson Birthplace Museum.
Today is First Lady Edith Bolling Wilson’s birthday. And while the staff of the Edith Bolling Wilson Birthplace Museum in Wytheville, Virginia, has festivities planned, it is the story of one of Mrs. Wilson’s war efforts that continues to enchant visitors of all ages.
Farron Smith, founder of the nonprofit public charity organization, spoke with me about how the first lady brought in sheep to graze on the White House lawn, an effort that freed up grounds workers after the United States entered Word War I. The story, according to Smith, gives people a glimpse of the first lady’s roots coming from a small Southwest Virginia town.
Smith also shares her and her husband’s own efforts to preserve Mrs. Wilson’s birthplace home, a project that spilled over into restoring a hotel in downtown Wytheville that they renamed the Bolling Wilson Hotel in honor of the former first lady. The work, she says has contributed to revitalizing the downtown.
The Edith Bolling Wilson Birthplace site is one of only a few first lady sites across the country that have been preserved, maintained and still operating. For more information about the site or to make a donation, click here.
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