Ulysses S Grant National Historic Site

Book - The Naturalist by Darrin Lunde

Start your new year off by joining the park’s readers’ guild. We meet quarterly on Wednesdays. Book selections forthcoming. The book is available in the park’s bookstore.
For reservations, please call 314-842-1867  ext. 230 

Greg Wolk will discuss his newest book, John Frémont’s 100 Days in Civil War Missouri covering Grant’s activities during his wartime days in the state, which overlapped to a considerable extent Fremont’s tenure. The book tracks Grant’s progress from Quincy, Illinois to Belmont, Missouri, and his relationship to Frémont – the man who put him on the road to success.

The program is free. Call 314-842-1867 ext. 230 for reservations.

Presidents and their First Ladies often have new sets of china produced for their official entertaining, such as State Dinners. These events are an important part of diplomacy and the table setting conveys not only an atmosphere of elegance and hospitality, but also national pride. Julie Northrip, former interpretive program manager at the park, will show and discuss some of the china used during presidential administrations.

Presidents and their First Ladies often have new sets of china produced for their official entertaining, such as State Dinners. These events are an important part of diplomacy and the table setting conveys not only an atmosphere of elegance and hospitality, but also national pride. Julie Northrip, former interpretive program manager at the park, will show and discuss some of the china used during presidential administrations.

Black St. Louis explores the rich and inspiring history of African Americans in St. Louis from the city’s founding as a French fur trading post during the Spanish colonial era to the new millennium. Author NiNi Harris highlights great figures who showed leadership, incredible innovation, and courage despite the injustices they faced.

The program is free. Call 314-842-1867 ext. 230 for reservations.

*This program is rescheduled from November 15.

Join us as we celebrate the 200th anniversary of Julia Dent Grant’s birth in St. Louis on January 26, 1826. From Julia Dent Grant’s childhood when she interceded with her father on behalf of the enslaved to her widowhood when she befriended Varina Davis, Julia Dent Grant served as a diplomat and unofficial ambassador. Pam Sanfilippo will share insights into Julia’s role as diplomat throughout her life and how her personality made her well suited for this role, whether in personal interactions or in world affairs. Cake and punch reception to follow. 

Come learn about the love story of Ulysses and Julia on February 14th. Park Guide Sky Castilleja will present and discuss their courtship and young relationship. 

Post Dispatch cartoonist, Dan Martin will mostly focus on two of the eras most celebrated names of the time, Thomas Nast (pro-Grant) and Joseph Keppler (anti-Grant) along with the surprising St. Louis connections of some of their biggest targets.

(This program has been rescheduled from October 4, 2025)

The end of the Civil War created new discussions about citizenship and voting rights in the United States. Women and newly freed African Americans both pushed for expanded civil rights during Reconstruction. However, a proposed 15th Amendment only barred racial discrimination at the polls while saying nothing about gender discrimination. Various activists such as Frederick Douglass, Susan B. Anthony, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton faced a crossroads: should they push for voting rights for women and African Americans at the same time, or did one group's needs supercede the other in the short term? Historian and Curator Nick Sacco explores the ways the 15th Amendment caused severe splits in the women's rights movement during Reconstruction. 

Ulysses S. Grant did not preserve letters Julia wrote to her husband, but she left her family and posterity her memoir and the letters Ulysses sent her starting with their long-distance courtship. Using those words, Diana Carlin paints a picture of the woman who was a daughter of the West, a soldier's wife, a first lady, and an intrepid world traveler. Diana B. Carlin is professor emerita of communication at Saint Louis University and a former associate provost. She is currently completing a chapter on Julia Grant's memoir for a book to be published by the University Press of Kansas.