GRANT ME THE SERENITY
Ulysses S. Grant was known for serving in the Civil War and for being the eighteenth president of the United States. But in one small Pennsylvania community, he’s remembered for something far less presidential—a wild party that happened when he couldn’t go fishing.
Grant enjoyed fishing, and one of his favorite spots was the Sinnemahoning River in Clinton County, Pennsylvania. In June of 1870, heavy rains ruined his plans, so he and his entourage took the presidential train to the nearby borough of Renovo instead.
Renovo, a town founded around the railroad industry, saw plenty of trains stop at its station in those days. When the rain made fishing impossible, it was as good a place as any to stop for the night.
And so Grant decided to throw a drunken party. As one does.
The story appeared in The Clinton Democrat, a newspaper so old it didn’t even have a website, of course. On June 6, 1870, the headline read: “THE PRESIDENTIAL PARTY IN PURSUIT OF PISCATORIAL PLEASURES—THEY GET GLORIOUSLY DRUNK AT RENOVO.” Shockingly, the president throwing a drunken party wasn’t even the biggest news that weekend—it was buried on page three.
“The party did not condescend to leave the excursion cars,” the article reported, “But gave themselves up to bacchanalian revelries. Champagne, whiskey punches, etc. were the leading features of the evening’s entertainment.” (The Clinton Democrat clearly had a flair for the dramatic—that much is certain.)
The festivities lasted all night, with the president and his guests never actually stepping off the train—which was probably for the best. Still, not everything stayed on board. Plenty of things were thrown out the windows onto the station platform. The newspaper mentioned quite a few, um, bodily fluids that needed cleaning up afterward, which, all things considered, isn’t the worst legacy left by an American president.
Since The Clinton Democrat apparently wasn’t granted access to the president’s inner circle, it interviewed the man tasked with cleaning the station the next day. His name was Thomas. He recalled plenty of bottles and lemon peels—among the more pleasant items in the mess. Thomas said it took four hours to hose down the platform, which, frankly, is longer than it has taken some presidential policies to be drafted.
To everyone’s relief, Grant didn’t come up with any legislation while drunk at this party (that we know of). But Renovo, Pennsylvania will always be the community where Ulysses S. Grant held a very wild, very drunken party on his train. I’m seriously considering campaigning for a monument—preferably one shaped like a whiskey bottle.
- Lou Bernard is a writer and paranormal investigator from Lock Haven, Pennsylvania. He lives with his wife, son, and two dogs. He can be reached at loulhpa@gmail.com.