Where Eisenhower Bowled...

 After spending the morning with cousin Ryan in the fields, our afternoon plan was to drive to Abilene, Kansas and visit with Aunt Brenda.  The suggestion was made that we tour the Seelye Mansion, and it turned out to be an awesome afternoon.  

First, a small bit of back story.  Rob's father is one of 9 kids, and Brenda is one of his sisters.  She married Jack Olson and they settled in Kansas after he retired from the military.  They have 4 boys, one of whom is cousin Ryan.  So we drove to Jack and Brenda's house.  Rob has a lot of fond memories of Abilene because when he was a kid they lived for a bit in Oklahoma and visited the Olsons a lot.  

When we arrived, Rob said the house hadn't changed a bit in 30 years.  We were pleasantly surprised to find two of Brenda's grandchildren were there, Haley and Rebecca (daughters of Steven and Kelly).  These girls are so sweet and jumped right into chatting with us and the kids, even though we hadn't seen them in 4 years.

We loaded into two cars and took the short drive into Abilene.  If you think you've heard of Abilene, Kansas before, you might have.  It's the location for the Eisenhower Presidential Library, and was his boyhood home.  Unfortunately, right now the Library is being refurbished, so it's closed.  Instead, we were headed to the Seelye Mansion.

In 1905, Dr. A.B. Seelye built this 25 room mansion for his wife and two daughters to live in.  The family purchased most of the furnishings at the 1904 World's Fair, and almost everything in the house is exactly where the family put it.  The two daughters, Helen and Marion, never married and lived in the mansion from 1905 until each passed away.  In 1981, they sold the mansion to the current owner for historical preservation.  After the sisters passed, the current owner began to restore parts of the house and opened the home for tours.

Our tour was given by the owner, who had lived  with the sisters after purchasing the property.  He was full of stories about their lives, including how each girl had gone to school with one of President Eisenhower's brothers.  The highlight of the tour was the basement, which features a rare box ball alley, still in operation. President Eisenhower bowled on this very alley as a youth when he was a guest at the house.  

Please enjoy these photos from our tour.  I tried hard to pare it down to the most interesting.

Haley bowling. The wooden post to her right is pulled to reset the pins and the balls return below the alley, much like a skee ball machine.

Some of the nutcrackers the "girls" collected.

In the entryway to the mansion.

This fireplace was designed and installed by the Tiffany Company.

This was an Edison cylinder phonograph, which the family purchased at the World's Fair in Chicago. It still plays!

The home has a Steinway Grand piano, which Mr. Tietjens played for us. Home on the Range, of course. The house also has 2 organs, one of which you can see in this photo.

Classic children's books.

One of five original Kellogg telephones in the house.

This was the girls' bedroom. Note the light fixture. All the lighting in the house is still the original Edison lighting. Mr. Edison himself oversaw the installation of the lighting when the house was built.

Look at this curved window. Isn't that amazing?

This is the third floor, which was built with both servants quarters and a concert hall.

Victrola.

After the tour, we were all very hot.  I mean, original 1905 mansions don't have air conditioning and this was Kansas in summer!  So we took the kids to a good old fashioned soda fountain for some ice cream.  Before dinner.  I had to stretch my parenting ideals a lot on this trip!

Are there any better memories than those made with cousins?

Twin love, sharing ice cream.

After dessert, it was time to meet Kelly at a restaurant for dinner.  I'm not sure how, but I failed to get a picture of all of us together!  It was great to catch up with her, and their girls are so sweet and funny.   After dinner we drove back to Cousin Ryan's.  It was a very full day!