Exterior

Almost twenty Presidents of the United States have descended from Ulster or Ulster-Scots emigrants – amongst them Ulysses Simpson Grant, the 18th US President who served two consecutive terms from 1869-1877 for the Republican Party.

This little farmhouse is a far cry from Washington and the White House, but it was here that the ancestors of Ulysses Simpson Grant raised their families, tended their animals and harvested their crops.  In fact, the homestead remained in the ownership of the Simpson family until the death of Miss Isabella Simpson in 1978 when the local Council bought the house.

This is a classic example of a 19th century cottage - basic and functional.  The original homestead dates to the time of the Plantation of Ulster and was a typical two-roomed dwelling with mud walls, reinforced with reeds.  It has been altered over the centuries but today looks as it would have during the 1800s, the time of Grant’s Presidency.