Post Card Tuesday: President Polk's Tomb

This post card dates back to 1904. In the 108 years since then, some things have changed but a few are the same.

President Polk at the time was the youngest ex-president ever. Despite that, after leaving office to settle down, he died of Cholera less than half a year later. For that brief time, he lived at a mansion in downtown Nashville, which became known as Polk Place. Soon after his death, he was interred on the Polk Place grounds, which can be seen in the photo from the 1880's.



Polk's wife Sarah outlived by over another 4 decades at Polk Place. However, after her death in 1891, the future of the home became in disarray. The outcome that few people wanted came true as the property was sold to investors who tore down the mansion in 1900 and built another building here. The president's burial site needed to be relocated, and today is seen upon Capitol Hill.

There are some minor differences between the older view and now.  I suppose the biggest difference is that tree to the right, which has had another century to grow.  There is now also a small wrought iron fence around the monument, which I suppose acts as a deterrent to people walking all over it.  The flower planter in the foreground is gone now, I suppose.