Cincinnati – Nomadic Dragon Media

America’s 27th President was a large presence in Cincinnati, Ohio. It would be hard for him not to be – he weighed in at over 300 pounds. William Howard Taft is notable for being America’s most obese President. Towards the end of his Presidential term, he weighed around 335 pounds. His large size made him the target of jokes even in college, but we won’t comment on it anymore here. What we will discuss, however, is the tradition of public service that was part of the Taft family legacy in Cincinnati. This tradition is a major part of the story being told at the William Howard Taft National Historic Site, part of the National Park Service.

The family home on Auburn Avenue is three stories and fairly spacious. It had to be, since there were up to fourteen people living there at times. William was one of six children, and his grandparents lived in the home as well. They also had four servants living under the Taft roof.

William’s father, Alphonso Taft, served his country as a diplomat, as Secretary of War and as U.S. Attorney General. If you visit the Taft Historic Site, you’ll learn about the Taft family’s contributions to civic society at city, state, and national levels. William famously became the Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court following his term as President. Tafts have served as Congressmen, Governor, Ambassadors, and have held numerous positions on charitable boards in Cincinnati and throughout the country.

Ohio is known as the birthplace of Presidents. If you’re in the Cincinnati area, you should stop by the Taft Historic Site to see the actual birthplace of one of those Presidents. And be inspired by his family’s legacy of seeking opportunities to give back to their community.

I’ll admit it, I didn’t really know anything about Cincinnati before I drove there on a whim last Saturday afternoon. I knew that it had a baseball team. I also thought it was named after Cincinnatus. It is, but only indirectly, deriving its name from the Society of the Cincinnati. Other than that, I had no expectations. Then I stopped in the American Sign Museum and had a fabulous time.

This wall traces the history of signs in America.

Now, I’ll say up front that Cincinnati has a lot of sights to see. The zoo is world famous, there are art museums and national parks and more. I chose to spend my short time there at the American Sign Museum and I was not disappointed.

The collection demonstrates the history of signs in Amercan, from early trade signs and goldleaf signs of the early 1900s up to the neon age and the plastics used in the 1950s. There’s a free tour, which I recommend. Our tour guide was a volunteer who is studying graphic design. She gave descriptions of each type of sign and pointed out subtle differences that denoted innovations and technological advances.

Main Street at the American Sign Museum.

The finale of the tour is a re-created American main street. This was a very cool place to stop. Big hat tip to Atlas Obscura, which is where I heard about it.