Have you ever wondered if it was possible to walk directly from Grant’s Home on Bouthillier Street to Grant’s Park on Park Avenue?
The answer is YES!
There is a well defined trail that also accommodates the rise in elevation.
From Grant’s home go to the statue of Julia Dent Grant. You will be able to see the path heading directly downhill toward the park. From the Center entrance to the park, look up the hill to see the Statue. Cross the street and walk up.
The trail is not maintained in the winter. However, snow will not interfere with finding the cache.
As you may know, Grant’s full name is Hiram Ulysses Grant. But he was known as Ulysses and never used the Hiram. He preferred to be called Ulys or just Lys. The congressman that put Ulysses in for West Point didn’t know it was his middle name. He thought Ulysses was Grant’s first name and assumed his middle name was his mother’s maiden name of Simpson. He submitted Ulysses Simpson Grant. When Ulysses got his paperwork he figured he could get it corrected when he arrived at West Point. When he was packing to go Hiram Ulysses Grant found he had another problem. Normally trunks are marked with initials. There was no way he could go to a military academy with HUG marked on his trunk. So he decided he would become Ulysses Hiram Grant.
On arriving at West Point he was told that West Point appointments were done as an act of Congress. It would take another act of Congress to change his name. That wasn’t going to happen. In the end it was all for the best. US Grant worked very well for him. The other cadets decided he was Uncle Sam Grant and they called him Sam. There is an excellent book about Grant’s pre-Civil War life. It is “Captain Sam Grant.”