President Rutherford B. Hayes’s second son Webb spearheaded the drive to build the Museum in 1916 to honor his father. The nation’s first presidential library, it is located on a 25-acre estate known as Spiegel Grove. Access is near the intersection of Buckland and Hayes Avenues. The library has an extensive collection of books on Sandusky County history, as well as material related to the War of 1812. The Harrison Trail, which passes through the grounds beginning at the southern gate, originally connected Fort Seneca and Fort Stephenson. During the Revolutionary War, Daniel Boone passed along this trail as a captive of the Indians on his way to the British fort at Detroit. At the time, it was known as the Scioto-Sandusky Trail. Native Americans created it to facilitate travel between the Ohio River and Lake Erie.
About “Tracking the Troops, Tippecanoe & Perry, Too!”This driving tour is a five-county collaborative project with Wyandot, Seneca, Sandusky, Wood and Ottawa counties that takes you on a self-guided driving tour following the military trail of General William Henry Harrison during the War of 1812. Harrison would later become the ninth president of the United States and has the shortest presidency, dying from pneumonia one month after having taken the oath of office.
