Did you know that your favorite place to visit in the summer was also a favorite of President Dwight Eisenhower? Tucked in the corner of Fort Adams in Newport lies the Eisenhower House, the summer home of the former president.
Although President Eisenhower served as the leader of our country in the 1950s and early 1960s, his summer home was built many years earlier in 1873. After his time in the Oval Office, President Eisenhower’s summer home was acquired by the state of Rhode Island.
Before President Eisenhower occupied the house in 1958, General Henry Jackson Hunt lived in the house, which was then called the Commandant’s Residence or the Quarters Number One of Fort Adams. President Eisenhower had previously spent a summer at the Naval War College in Newport, but the golf enthusiast wanted to move to the now-Eisenhower House to live closer to the Newport Country Club. The house became the official Summer White House when Eisenhower lived there.
“I am trying to get in as much golf (of a rather poor variety) as possible and in general charge my batteries for the months ahead,” President Eisenhower wrote in September 1958 about his second summer spent in Newport.
Around a century and a half after its construction, the Eisenhower House now serves as an event venue and is registered on the National Register of Historic Places. With its sweeping lawns, classic wrap-around porch, cheery yellow exterior, and timeless scaffolding and architecture, the Eisenhower House creates a special and vintage location to host an event.