Eisenhower Farm Main Gate

The formal entrance signaled to visitors that the Eisenhowers' farm was not just any farm.

Quick Facts

Location:

Gettysburg, PA

Significance:

Entrance to the Eisenhowers' Farm

Designation:

National Historic Landmark, National Historic Site

Amenities

2 listed

Audio Description, Cellular Signal

In the 1950s; the white gates, brick pillars, guard hut, and landscaped entrance signaled visitors and passers-by that this was no ordinary farm. In 1955, the Eisenhowers received 15 dogwood trees that they planted near the front gate. For Christmas 1955, an anonymous donor gifted the Eisenhowers the two copper lanterns with eagle finials that sit on top of the brick columns. In 1966, the National Historic Landmark program installed a marker to the west of the gate that identified the farms designation for its association with President Eisenhower. The Department of the Interior affixed the plaque on a boulder relocated from the Devil’s Den area of the Gettysburg Battlefield. 

The entry gate provided not only a formal entry to the Eisenhower’s home, but also a level of security. The motorized gates were operated by a guard in the nearby hut. During the presidential years, the Secret Service staffed the gate and nearby guard house. When John F. Kennedy was sworn in as President on January 20, 1961, the Eisenhower’s Secret Service protection ended. From 1961 to 1965 the Pennsylvania State Police assumed the role of protecting the Eisenhowers. Following President Kennedy’s assassination in 1963, Congress passed Public Law 89-186 that provided lifetime Secret Service Protection for Presidents and First Ladies. The Secret Service returned to the farm in 1965 and remained here until Mamie’s passing in 1979. Cameras and electric eye sensors near the gates provided additional layers of security.