I love being a tourist. Visiting new places, learning about historic events, seeing different cultures and lifestyles are how I would spend all of my free time if I were able to. This past weekend, my son, Michael, and I pretended to be tourists in our own town for a little while.

As a kid, I remember visiting the Truman Farm Home and touring the interior with my family. I envisioned what it would be like to pull up to the front porch on a horse, knock on the door, and have a smiling Harry S Truman usher me inside. Of course, in my childhood imagination, I was Bess in this scenario, and I would eventually become First Lady of the United States. That is the kind of emotion that visiting the old Farm Home invoked in me as a child.

Last Saturday, October 21, thanks to the National Park Service and the Grandview Historical Society, the Truman Farm Home was again open for tours to the public. I’m certain Michael didn’t pretend he was a young Bess visiting the future president, but maybe he was Truman himself in his imagination. Seeing the old kitchen, the lack of indoor plumbing, the wood-burning stoves, the quaint rooms and the woodwork that might still hold the fingerprints of our former president, is an experience that, as a kid, I never forgot.

Walking through the same house with my own son, I am reminded of how far this community has truly come, and I am motivated to continue to be a tourist in my own town. Grandview has a rich history, and there are signs of that history tucked here and there if you know where to look.

The Truman Farm Home interior is closed to the public except for these special events. It will likely be open in May 2018, coinciding with the Harry’s Hay Days festivities. The grounds are open year-round, and a guided cell-phone walking tour is available, with access information located on the property.