If you had a day off from work or school on Monday, you can thank George Washington.
Presidents Day is a federal holiday commemorating George Washington’s birthday. Even though our first Commander in Chief was born on Feb. 22, Presidents Day, which falls on the third Monday of February, can fall anytime between Feb. 15 to 21.
It has since become a holiday aimed at honoring all of the presidents (as well as a day with an inordinate number of mattress sales). In honor of the occasion, we researched some of our past presidents and put together this list of odd facts:
-Maybe you’ve heard George Washington referred to as the president with wooden teeth. His teeth weren’t actually made out of wood – they were instead made of gold, ivory, lead and animal teeth.
-No one from John Adams’ family came to his inauguration – and he later blamed a “day of fasting” for his reelection defeat.
-Thomas Jefferson was a huge wine snob. He owned two vineyards at Monticello, and was acknowledged as the great wine expert of early America.
-William Taft, who weighed 355 pounds at one point, reportedly got stuck in the White House bathtub. Upon leaving office, he lost 150 pounds and became Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
-Calvin Coolidge was born on July 4, 1872. He was the only president born on the Fourth of July.
-Ulysses S. Grant got a $20 speeding ticket on a horse.
-Grover Cleveland is the only president to be married at the White House.
-Andrew Jackson taught his parrot to curse -- and it had to be removed from his funeral because it wouldn’t stop swearing.
-Benjamin Harrison brought the first Christmas tree inside the White House in 1889.
-George W. Bush is the first president to complete a marathon. He finished the Houston Marathon in 3 hours, 44 minutes and 52 seconds on Jan. 24, 1993.
-Jimmy Carter is the first president to be born in a hospital: the Wise Sanitarium in Plains, Georgia.
-Rutherford B. Hayes was the first president to have a telephone in the White House.
-Andrew Johnson, a former tailor, only wore suits he had made himself.
-Martin Van Buren was the first president to be born a U.S. citizen.
-Warren Harding lost the White House China collection in a poker game.
-Abraham Lincoln is the only president to receive a patent (# 6469). It was for a device for buoying vessels over shoals.
-Gerald Ford worked as a model during college. He also worked as a forest ranger at Yellowstone National Park directing traffic and feeding the bears.
Bonus: No president has ever been an only child. So if you have a sibling, you have a lot in common with the presidents!
