Lecture: Ulysses S. Grant's Tomb: The Monument on the Hudson

"Ulysses S. Grant’s Tomb: The Monument on the Hudson"

Wednesday, March 31, 2021 | 7:00 PM | Virtual via Zoom

$5/household | HRMM members FREE

The story of Ulysses S. Grant’s tomb on the banks of the Hudson River is fascinating from the beginning. It took twelve years to build in Riverside Park, New York amid protests that the great general’s body should be moved elsewhere. When it was completed in 1897 during the Gilded Age it was largest tomb in American history, and it remains so to this day. After it was dedicated it was the most popular attraction in New York City (only rivaled by the Statue of Liberty), but is now widely forgotten from public memory except for the Groucho Marx gag, “Who’s buried in Grant’s Tomb?”  Its popularity began to fade as the Civil War generation passed away but by the mid-1960s it hit rock bottom. It became one of the most dangerous tourist locations in New York City –besieged by graffiti and vandalism and more popular with drug addicts, prostitutes, and gang members than tourists.

The extraordinary, and little known, story also weaves in the history of New York City during the period of 1885 to today as well as the period of reconciliation after the Civil War. 

Speaker Bio:

Louis L. Picone is the award-winning author of Grant's Tomb: The Epic Death of Ulysses S. Grant and the Making of an American Pantheon, The President Is Dead! The Extraordinary Stories of the Presidential Deaths, Final Days, Burials, and Beyond and Where the Presidents Were Born: The History & Preservation of the Presidential Birthplaces.

Louis is a member of the Authors Guild, Mensa International, the American Historical Association, and is also a trustee on the board of the Grover Cleveland Birthplace Memorial Association in Caldwell, NJ. He holds a Masters in History and also teaches at William Paterson University.

Louis has spoken widely on the topic of the presidents and the places we commemorate them, including Morristown National Historical Park, James A. Garfield National Historic Site, and the international conference "U.S. Presidents and Russian Rulers" at the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow. He has been featured in BBC News, NPR, Washington Post, New York Times and the Travel Channel. For more information visit www.LouisPicone.com

To purchase Grant's Tomb: The Epic Death of Ulysses S. Grant and the Making of an American Pantheon, please visit the Hudson River Maritime Museum store or purchase online.