Skip to site content
Group Travel Leader Group Travel Leader Group Travel Leader

It’s Personal in Ohio

The large sarcophagus is carved from a single block of green granite. “Ida and William’s caskets are right there,” said Christopher Kenney.

Kenney is the education director of the William McKinley Presidential Library and Museum in Canton, Ohio, and he was referring to the 25th president of the United States, who was assassinated in 1901, and his wife.

The McKinleys’ sarcophagus lies 80 feet beneath the dome of a large marble memorial that sits high on a hill overlooking the town.

People collect many things on their travels in addition to souvenirs. One of the things I try to “collect” is presidential graves. McKinley’s was the 27th grave of the 38 deceased presidents that I have visited, in 14 states and the District of Columbia.

Five former presidents are buried in Ohio. They are honored in a variety of ways, from the understated tombstones of Rutherford B. Hayes in Fremont and William Henry Harrison in West Bend to the large, ornate monuments of James Garfield in Cleveland, Warren B. Harding in Marion and McKinley.

Harding’s is the only Ohio site I haven’t visited.