1

Martha Washington

Image: Boston Public Library, CC BY 2.0

Let’s begin with the inaugural first lady of our country. In May 1789, Martha Washington inaugurated the role of First Lady of the United States when she arrived in New York City to meet her husband, George Washington. Interestingly, the name "First Lady" wouldn’t be used until some time later. Instead, Martha was simply referred to as "Lady Washington".

As you would expect, Martha Washington installed practices that went on to become traditions held by many future First Ladies, including receptions to the general public during New Year’s Eve. Furthermore, President Washington asked Martha to hold special drawing room events at their residence. These social gatherings became instrumental in forming what was known as the "Republican Court" , an influential group of American intellectuals and politicians.

2

Rosalynn Carter

Image: Tatiana V. Konokotina, CC BY 4.0

According to Rosalynn Carter , she first became attracted to her husband, future president Jimmy Carter, when she saw him in a photograph dressed in his U.S. Navy uniform. What followed is a long and prosperous love story, which only ended in 2023 after Rosalynn passed away at the age of 96 years old.

During her tenure as First Lady, Rosalynn became an advocate for mental health and women’s rights, and she continued to support these causes through her work in the Carter Center. Both Rosalyn and President Carter were awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1999.

3

Barbara Bush

Image: NIAID, CC BY 2.0

Few First Ladies hold the honor of being both the wife and the mother of a U.S. President, and Barbara Bush is one of them. She served as the First Lady during the presidency of George H. W. Bush, who acted as the 41st U.S. President from 1989 to 1993.

Although she presented herself in an almost apolitical manner, Barbara often engaged in charity work, most notably in campaigns to fight illiteracy. After her husband’s presidency ended, she continued to work in campaigning for her sons, including our 43rd President, George W. Bush.

4

Eleanor Roosevelt

Image: FDR Presidential Library & Museum, CC BY 2.0

Eleanor Roosevelt is remembered as the longest-serving First Lady in U.S. history. However, the legacy of this amazing figure is not limited to this fact. Roosevelt is considered to be one of the most groundbreaking First Ladies in history, completely revolutionizing the function.

Roosevelt took an active role during her husband’s terms, actively engaging in public events, travels, and cultural activities. Not only that, she was instrumental in President Roosevelt’s involvement with the then-newly formed United Nations. Eleanor served as a delegate to the U.N. General Assembly, acting as the leading figure behind the drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

5

Nancy Reagan

Image: Bill Varie, Los Angeles Times, CC BY 4.0

Just like her husband, Nancy Reagan’s career before the White House was filled with the glamour and excitement of Hollywood. Between the 1940s and 1950s, she starred in several blockbusters such as "The Next Voice You Hear...", "Night into Morning", and "Donovan ’ s Brain", acting under her maiden name Nancy Davis.

In 1952, she married then-fellow actor Ronald Reagan, the president of the Screen Actors Guild at the time. Nancy first served as First Lady of California when her husband was governor of the state, and later on as First Lady of the country in 1981.

6

Lady Bird Johnson

Image: City of Boston Archives from West Roxbury, United States, CC BY 2.0

Some First Ladies (although not many) are better known by their nicknames, and that’s certainly the case with " Lady Bird" Johnson . Born Claudia Alta Taylor in Karnack, Texas, this First Lady’s nickname comes from the fact that her nursemaid apparently stated that young Claudia was as "pretty as a ladybird".

When she was in her early 20s, Lady Bird met a young congressional aide named Lyndon B. Johnson after a mutual friend introduced them. The First Lady would later declare that she felt "like a moth drawn to a flame" on that first meeting. A few weeks after their first dates, the couple married and went on to have two daughters, Lynda Bird and Luci Baines.

7

Jackie Kennedy

Image: Florida Memory

For many Americans, First Ladies are the pinnacle of glamour. Their impeccable manners and warm personalities perfectly match their classy outfits. In that sense, Jacqueline "Jackie" Kennedy is considered to this day an international icon, known for her daring yet elegant attire and her devotion to their family and her country.

Jackie met President Kennedy, then U.S. Representative for Massachusetts, at a dinner party held by journalist Charles L. Bartlett. A year later, in 1953, the couple married in an event that was listed as the social event of the season. Jackie took a rather active role in her duties as First Lady. She conducted a massive restoration process of the White House and often joined her husband on many trips abroad, becoming a beloved cultural ambassador for America.

8

Hillary Clinton

Image: Hillary for Iowa, CC BY 2.0

Hillary Clinton is definitively the person on this list with the most political experience. She was Secretary of State, Senator for the State of New York, and presidential candidate. However, we shouldn’t overlook the fact that she dutifully served as First Lady of the United States while her husband was in the White House.

While the world knew her as Hillary Rodham, she entered Yale Law School in the early 70s, where she met a fellow law student by the name of William "Bill" Clinton. They married in 1975 and welcomed their only daughter, Chelsea, in 1980.

9

Michelle Obama

Image: Tim Pierce from Berlin, MA, USA, CC BY 2.0

Following her graduation from Princeton University, a young lawyer by the name of Michelle LaVaughn Robinson started working in a Chicago law firm, focusing on marketing and intellectual property law. During her time in this office, she met another young lawyer named Barack Obama. Did any of them know that they were meeting their future spouse?

Let’s now jump to the year 2009: Barack Obama was the first African-American President of our country, and Michelle Obama became the First Lady of the United States. During her time in the White House, Michelle took a stand against many difficulties, like poverty, childhood obesity, and illiteracy.

10

Betty Ford

Image: Image courtesy of Betty Ford Center, Attribution, via Wikimedia Commons

Elizabeth Anne "Betty" Ford holds the unique distinction of being the only person on this list to have been both the First and Second Lady of our country. She acted as the latter while her husband Gerald Ford served as Vice President to Richard Nixon, and she became the First Lady when Nixon resigned from the presidency.

However unexpected her rise to the role was, Betty Ford is fondly remembered as one of the most courageous First Ladies of our country; she was not afraid to speak her mind and get involved in politics. During her time in the White House, she became known as a passionate defender of the Equal Rights Amendment, as well as a public spokesperson for breast cancer awareness.

1

The original plan included full-body figures

Image: Thomas Shockey

Mount Rushmore was supposed to be even more colossal than it already is. Sculptor Gutzon Borglum envisioned the four presidents carved from the waist up .

He even made plaster models showing Abraham Lincoln's coat folds and Teddy Roosevelt’s hand clutching his lapel. But as costs went up, Congress said: "heads only, please."

2

Charles Rushmore was just a curious New Yorker

Image: Maarten van den Heuvel

Back in 1925, when the mount was about to be carved into a monument, Charles Rushmore wrote a letter explaining why the peak bore his name. He recalled that in the 1880s he was a young New Yorker working in the area, and fell fond of that particular granite peak .

When he asked the locals about it, they informed him that it had no name, but that if he wished so, they would just start calling it Rushmore Peak, or Mount Rushmore, or the likes. Years later, that very name had been inscribed in the public domain to designate the peak.

3

Yes, there’s a hidden room behind Lincoln’s head

Image: Laura Nyhuis

Behind Abraham Lincoln’s hairline lies a hidden chamber, part of Borglum’s lofty idea for a "Hall of Records." This room was meant to house foundational American documents like the Constitution or the Declaration of Independence.

Instead of that, in 1998, a titanium box was placed inside, filled with copies of important documents and biographies, as a time capsule to preserve the treasure of knowledge for future generations.

4

Thomas Jefferson was moved

Image: Dave Baraloto

Jefferson was originally supposed to go to Washington’s right, but after 18 months of chiseling , the granite betrayed them. Cracks and flaws made the site unworkable.

Borglum made the painful decision to blast Jefferson’s half-formed face clean off and start anew on Washington’s left.

5

The mountain was almost a monument to western heroes

Image: Timberly Hawkins

Before presidents took over, the mountain was pitched as a giant tribute to the Wild West . South Dakota historian Doane Robinson wanted to see frontier legends like Lewis & Clark carved into the Black Hills.

But when Borglum came aboard, he had a grander (and more politically bankable) idea: four presidents to symbolize national unity and expansion.

6

A woman’s face was almost added

Image: Tom Fournier

In the 1930s, there was serious talk of honoring Susan B. Anthony alongside the Founding Fathers, as a nod to the women’s suffrage movement.

Borglum wasn’t opposed to the idea, but Congress quickly nixed it, stating that only U.S. presidents could be included.

7

The workers were mostly local miners and loggers

Image: Pixabay

They were neither sculptors nor artists. Most of the workforce came from nearby Keystone, South Dakota: miners, loggers, and hard-up laborers looking for work during the Great Depression.

Borglum trained them himself. There were no safety harnesses, and yet, remarkably, no one died on the job.

8

Dynamite did 90% of the work

Image: Alexander Paramonov

To carve the faces of Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt, and Lincoln, workers used carefully timed dynamite blasts to remove over 450,000 tons of rock. They got so precise, they could blast within inches of where the final surface would be.

The last details, like wrinkles, pupils, or Roosevelt’s glasses, were done with jackhammers and chisels.

9

The noses are disproportionate

Image: Dudubangbang Travel

Standing in front of the mountain, the faces seem alright. But that’s a trick of perspective. Each presidential nose is a whopping 20 feet long .

If the sculptures had included full bodies as planned, each figure would have stood 465 feet tall. That’s taller than the Statue of Liberty and most downtown skyscrapers.

10

Teddy Roosevelt was the most controversial pick

Image: Dudubangbang Travel

Washington, of course. Jefferson, made sense. Lincoln, sure. And Teddy? Some critics raised their eyebrows at Borglum’s fourth choice. Roosevelt had only recently passed away in 1919, and many questioned whether he'd stood the test of time.

But Borglum defended the decision Roosevelt’s role in breaking up monopolies, conserving national parks, and engineering the Panama Canal. Plus, Borglum had met him personally and was a fan.

11

It was supposed to have inscriptions

Image: Dan Pick

Borglum had grander plans than just four giant heads. He wanted to carve a massive inscription next to them, a timeline of America’s most important milestones , chiseled straight into the mountain. In time, the idea was scrapped for practical and aesthetic reasons.

12

The visionary died before completion

Image: Lisa Reichenstein

Gutzon Borglum, the visionary behind it all, didn’t live to see his masterpiece finished. He died in March 1941, just as the construction was reaching its end. His son, Lincoln Borglum (yes, named after that Lincoln), took over the project.

Still, with WWII drawing resources elsewhere, funding was slashed, and Lincoln had to wrap things up quickly . Some features, like Lincoln’s ear, were never fully detailed.

1

House Size

Image: Esther Zheng

One of the very first things any prospective homeowner should ask themselves is what kind of house they want . Having a general idea of the size, as well as the amount and type of spaces needed, is considered basic information before starting to look for a property.

2

Roof Condition

Image: Andreas Weiland

For practical reasons, most people looking to buy a house don’t inspect the roof of a prospective home. However, that section of the house can present serious and costly problems if it has any kind of damage.

Asking about the condition of the roof is paramount. How old is it? What is it made of? Buyers can find this information on the seller’s disclosure or ask the real estate agent to find out. Asphalt shingle roofs last around 20 years, but other materials, like clay or metal, can last much longer.

3

Neighborhood Safety

Image: Alev Takil

It goes without saying: safety is a big thing. When searching for a home, make sure the neighborhood where a potential house is located is safe. It’s also highly advisable to check out the neighborhood from an insider’s perspective via social media, such as Facebook groups, where you can learn more about the area and ask locals questions.

If you’re truly interested in a particular home, spend some time in the neighborhood. Go for a walk and check out local businesses to get a feel for what it’s like to live in the area.

4

HVAC system

Image: Taylor Vick

The HVAC system heats and cools a house year-round. Anyone looking at houses should ask about the type of heating and cooling system each one has and, most importantly, how old it is. Asking for maintenance records is also a good idea.

Furnaces and AC units typically last anywhere from 10 to 25 years. If a unit is broken, repair costs vary based on the type of system and how big it is. Homeowners can spend an average of $7,000 to replace an existing HVAC unit—but don’t count on a home warranty to automatically cover that.

5

Property Taxes

Image: Recha Oktaviani

A commonly overlooked item for first-time homeowners when searching for a house is property taxes. When considering a potential home, always compare property tax amounts over several years to help you calculate the overall affordability of the property .

To find out a home's estimated property taxes, check with the county's appraisal board. Homeowners Association dues should be listed in the home's listing, or you can request them from the listing agent.

6

Plumbing

Image: PAN XIAOZHEN

The plumbing system in a house can be a mystery for a prospective buyer if they don't know how to inspect it properly. Pipe disintegration, obstructive tree root growth, and complicated clogs can all cause havoc on the system. Keep in mind that sewer line replacement can cost anywhere from $1,300 to $4,900.

Always check toilets for leaks, unstable bases, and discoloration . Look under the bathroom and kitchen sinks for signs of leaks. Turn on the hot water in the sink or tub to see if it gets hot. If it doesn’t, that could indicate a problem with the water heater.

7

Water damage and mold

Image: Hydra 4x

Water damage can cause numerous problems in a house, including structural issues, mold, and rot, especially in basements. Anyone inspecting a house should pay close attention to musty smells as well as water stains on floors, walls, or ceilings .

The cost of mold removal can be anywhere from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars, depending on the size of the affected area. And, because mold is a health hazard, it should be treated before moving in.

8

Proper ventilation

Image: Jelleke Vanooteghem

This one might be subtle, but it’s very important, especially when considering the mold issues mentioned earlier. Without adequate interior ventilation, moisture can't evaporate , which can turn a room into a breeding ground for mold.

Look for condensation on windows or slightly bubbled or peeling paint around windows, doors, or vents. These signs may indicate moisture within the walls or ceiling drywall.

9

Noise Level

Image: Rei Kim

Nobody wants to live in a noisy home. But, at the same time, this issue is often overlooked when searching for houses. Many showings are cunningly scheduled during quiet hours to disguise the noise issues.

If you are truly interested in a property, visit during high-traffic hours to assess this concern . Even if the house is perfect in every other way, the constant hum of passing cars, public transport, or other sources of noise can become a serious problem.

10

Foundation and home exteriors

Image: Aiden Craver

Foundations matter. Bulging or bowing foundation walls are signs of structural weakness that can be expensive to repair. Always check for cracks in the foundation, drywall, or ceiling ; gaps above doors and windows ; sunken stairs or porches; and sloping or uneven floors or tiling.

Of course, not every crack means the home is about to collapse. Every home experiences some degree of settling, so some cracks are to be expected.

11

Electricity issues

Image: Mila Albrecht

The electrical system in a house can be compared to the nervous system of a human being: every part must work properly, and issues can sometimes be difficult to spot. From the power outlet next to the bed to other electrical systems in the house, like the garage door opener, everything is important and contributes to your safety and comfort. Bring a phone charger and plug it into random sockets to check if they work properly .

12

Room for improvement

Image: Daniel McCullough

Buying a house is a big investment and you can be living in it for a very long time. Therefore, it is always important to take into consideration any future plans and whether these plans make sense in that particular house.

Is there a wall you could knock out to create more space if needed? A garage or attic you could potentially finish if you need an extra room? Having an easy-to-modify layout can provide more possibilities for the future.