George H. W. Bush

George Herbert Walker Bush was born in 1924 in Milton, Massachusetts, near Boston, in his parents’ house at 173 Adams Street, less than five miles from the birthplaces of John Adams and John Quincy Adams.

The family moved to Connecticut six months later, and the house changed hands a few times, historically forgotten until his final term in office, when efforts to commemorate it began. The current owners, however, were not fans of his politics, and resisted.

In 1997 an agreement was reached, and a small plaque was installed on the street, dedicated by the governor and George H.W. Bush himself. He was the last president to be born in a house, and not a hospital.

While not too many tourists stop to see his birthplace, still privately owned and obscured by trees, the Bush family compound at Walker’s Point, in Kennebunkport, Maine, is another story.

Though he has lived in Connecticut, Texas, and Washington, this rocky outcrop in southern Maine is likely where George Herbert Walker Bush’s roots to place run deepest.

The peninsula was purchased jointly by his great-grandfather and his grandfather in the late 1800s. Though they both built mansions on the property, only the one built by his grandfather remains. Bush spent much of his childhood there, especially the summers, as did his children.

The property was not willed directly to George H.W. Bush - he bought it from his uncle’s estate in 1977. While in office he continued to spend much of the summer at Walker Point, and entertained several heads of state there during and after his presidency.

The main house has nine bedrooms, four sitting rooms, a den, library, dining room and covered porches.

The grounds have a pool, tennis court, boat house, guest houses, and separate staff buildings, including for the Secret Service, which has a permanent presence at the Point, even if there are no Bushes there.

Bush likely will continue to spend his summers there while he is still capable. His son Jeb is reportedly building a house on the property, to escape the Florida heat.

Maine has more seasonal second homes than any other state, and picturesque seaside towns like Kennebunkport are often crowded with tourists in the summer.

Like the JFK Hyannis Museum near the Kennedy’s summer place at Cape Cod, Kennebunkport has a museum about the Bush family’s presence in their midst. Called the First Families Kennebunkport Museum at White Columns, the museum is inside an old sea captain’s house, and also has other historical exhibits.

George H. W. Bush is also a Texan. After Yale he went to Texas with his new family, and eventually became an oil millionaire. One of their early homes in Midland is preserved as a museum, and it is one of few places where two future presidents lived under one roof.

George H. W. Bush moved to Houston in 1959, then moved away in 1971, to begin his long career with the federal government, as UN Ambassador, CIA director, vice president, and president. After all that, in 1993 George and his family moved back to Houston, where they still live in the West Oaks neighborhood, on a formerly public road, now blocked to public travel due to neighbors’ complaints about tourists.

He established his official presidential library and museum at Texas A&M, in College Station, Texas, in 1997. It was updated and rededicated in 2007, with the 83 year old former president arriving for the dedication by parachute.

Inside are the usual displays showing the life and times of his presidency, though with more elaborate set work than at most other presidential museums.

Outside on the property is a path leading to a secluded location, behind the Bush School of Government and Public Service.

It leads to a fenced area, mostly vacant inside, where George and Barbara will be buried, some day.