White House Hanukkah Party the Frontier". For two centuries after the time of the story about George Washington and Hanukkah, Christmas was the only winter religious holiday officially recognized by the White House. In 1923, President Calvin Coolidge began lighting an official White House Christmas Tree, and also delivered the first formal presidential message for the holiday. In 1927, his proclamation included the statement that, "Christmas is not a time or a season, but a state of mind". Focusing on the holiday's message, he continued, would guarantee that "there will be born in us a Savior and over us will shine a star sending
Franklin Pierce Homestead Benjamin Pierce, who had served during the American Revolution and would later become governor of New Hampshire, bought 200 acres in the Lower Village area of Hillsborough after the new state turnpike opened nearby. In addition to the home, he also built a tavern here. After Benjamin Pierce's death in 1839, the property was transferred to his son-in-law John McNeil Jr., a general during the War of 1812. McNeil had married Pierce's daughter Elizabeth, whose house next door was built in 1807 and today known as the Elizabeth Pierce House, now an antique shop. The home is one of Franklin