April 4, 2011

Then God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and year…And God saw that it was good.” Genesis 1:14, 18

I guess the arrival of spring and my recent trip out to the Plains and Midwest have got me thinking about seasons and the warmer weather to come.  It’s almost here…

I love going to presidential museums, so while I was out in Kansas, Nebraska and Missouri, I visited a pair. The Harry S. Truman Museum & Library and his home are in Independence, Missouri—the former is administered by the National Archives, I learned, while the latter (which, ironically, I didn’t get to) is under National Park Service jurisdiction. The Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Museum and Library, also under National Archives management, is in Abilene, Kansas, right off of I-70, and I stopped in on a miserably cold, windy morning on my way to the college where I was performing that evening.

The Eisenhower museum had a traveling exhibition from the Smithsonian Institution on the White House garden, a refreshing sight on a dreary day. It outlined the history of how different presidents and first ladies arranged the landscaping, and included one interesting tidbit I didn’t know: While the White House Head Gardener, called the Superintendant, is a member of the Executive Residence staff, all the other people who work on the grounds are under the Park Service. The President lives in a national park!

“The White House and President’s Park have been a part of the national park system since 1933,” the park’s website notes. “President’s Park is the park land surrounding the White House and its grounds and includes the Ellipse, Lafayette Park, Sherman Park and the First Division Monument.” It also includes the greenhouses and White House florist shop, according to the Smithsonian exhibit, so when you see photos of the lovely floral arrangements at a state dinner, think Park Service!

Then there’s the Rose Garden, site of many White House press conferences, formal ceremonies and special events. In addition to roses, the garden boasts seasonal displays of a variety of flowers, all developed, maintained and preserved by the Park Service.

And the annual Easter egg roll on the White House’s South Lawn? You’ll find information about that on the park’s website as well (sorry, it’s too late to join the lottery for tickets for this Easter—maybe next year! But if you happen to be in Washington, D.C. this coming weekend, you might be able to snag free tickets to the White House’s spring garden tour).

The brochure I received at the White House garden exhibition says, “Despite changes from season to season, year to year, and century to century, the White House garden has remained a source of beauty, tradition, and national pride for Americans everywhere.”

I’d have to agree. But, while it’s called the President’s Park, the bottom line is it’s really God’s handiwork that’s on display.