Presidents' Places: James A. Garfield

Lawnfield, the home of James A. Garfield and his wife, was the center of their lives from the time they bought it. They enlarged and remodeled it several times. After President Garfield's assassination, only six and one-half months after his inauguration, Mrs. Garfield remodeled the library to hold his papers and other artifacts of his political life.

An excellent book on Garfield's life, Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President, by Candice Millard, is now available; it is the story of President Garfield, his assassin, and the doctors who treated the president.