Answer to Map #99

Click here for a full-size version of this week’s map.

Back to this week’s maps and hints.

Answer: This week’s map, which was created by David H., depicted the birthplaces (blue) and burial places (red) of all U.S. presidents. Thanks also to David for contributing such a detailed write-up of the solution.

Overall, the map shows how heavily the presidency has drawn from the eastern half of the United States. Only Richard Nixon (Yorba Linda, California) and Barack Obama (Honolulu, Hawaii) were born west of Texas. There have been only eight presidents born west of the Mississippi River.

Virginia has the most birthplaces (eight) and burials (seven). Ohio has seven birthplaces and five burials, while New York has five birthplaces and six burials.

A number of presidents were buried very close to, or on the grounds of, their birthplaces, accounting for the purple dots on the map. These include: Martin van Buren in New York, Calvin Coolidge in Vermont, Herbert Hoover in Iowa, Franklin Roosevelt in New York, Lyndon Johnson in Texas, and Richard Nixon in California. There is also a purple dot in North Bend, Ohio, representing the grave of William Henry Harrison—born in Virginia—and the nearby birthplace of his grandson, Benjamin Harrison, who was later buried in Indianapolis.

Five presidents were born in a hospital rather than at home: Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Donald Trump. This fact complicates the question of how to define a birthplace. For example, there is a house called the Bill Clinton Birthplace in Hope, Arkansas, which was the home of the Clinton family at the time of his birth. While it’s a small distinction, invisible at this scale, this map points to the site of the hospital where Clinton was actually born, not to his family’s home.

Many birthplaces no longer exist. In those cases, this map shows where they once were. Unique among presidential birthplaces, Franklin Pierce’s in New Hampshire is underwater, submerged in the manmade Franklin Pierce Lake. Both North and South Carolina claim to be the birthplace of Andrew Jackson. Jackson was born in a border town, and the actual location is in dispute. Jackson himself stated that he was born in South Carolina, but he may have said so for political purposes. For the record, while the two proposed birth sites are close enough as to be indistinguishable at the scale of this map, it marks the North Carolina one based on the fact that it has an eyewitness account to vouch for it.

When Chester Arthur emerged from obscurity to become James Garfield’s running mate, and later when he succeeded to the presidency after Garfield’s assassination, he was the subject of a number of vicious rumors, persisting well into the 20th century, that he was actually born in Canada, rather than in the Vermont town of Fairfield. Although those rumors were largely debunked, the exact location of Arthur’s birthplace is still a mystery. These rumors about Arthur prefigured the discredited birther conspiracy theory surrounding Barack Obama.

John Adams and his son, John Quincy Adams, are the two presidents interred within a few feet of each other in the crypt of the United First Parish Church in Quincy, Massachusetts. Their birthplaces are also next door to each other. James Monroe and John Tyler are buried within steps of each other at Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, VA—Monroe’s body was moved there from New York City shortly before the Civil War. John F. Kennedy and William Howard Taft are both buried in fairly close proximity at Arlington National Cemetery in northern Virginia.

Only one president is interred in the District of Columbia. Woodrow Wilson is interred in the Washington National Cathedral, the recent site of John McCain’s memorial service.

Since Herbert Hoover, every president has been buried either at his home or presidential library/museum, with the exception of John F. Kennedy at Arlington. Of the living former presidents, Jimmy Carter has announced plans to be buried in his front yard in Plains, Georgia; George H.W. Bush will be buried next to his wife, Barbara, at the George Bush Presidential Library on the grounds of Texas A&M; and George W. Bush will buck the home and library trend and be buried at the Texas State Cemetery in Austin, TX. Bill Clinton and Barack Obama have not announced their burial plans. President Trump has possibly set aside some land next to his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, as his future burial site, but, as with many things Trump, the real estate deal hasn’t been finalized.

Next map: Click here to try out our newest map question.