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U.S. Grant Boyhood Home and Schoolhouse

Georgetown · Brown County · Southern Ohio

Where Ulysses S. Grant lived until he left for West Point

National Historic LandmarkOhio History Connection

Visiting information you can trust

Check before driving — this site is seasonal, approximate, privately run, or otherwise uncertain. Confirm hours and access with the official source above.

Content last reviewed: September 2026 — this is when Field Notes Ohio's content was last checked, not a live status.
Primary official source: Official page
Location confidence: Verified entrance or visitor center
US Grant Boyhood Home and Schoolhouse, 219 E Grant Ave, Georgetown
Seasonal access: May to October: Wednesday to Sunday, noon to 5 p.m.; closed Monday and Tuesday. Call 877-372-8177 to arrange a group tour or if it is closed.
Check current conditions: Official conditions or closures
Reservations or tickets: Tickets or admission info

Prices, hours, closures, campsite availability and trail conditions shown elsewhere on this page are not live — always confirm with the official source before you go.

The tannery-town house where the future general and president grew up, restored to the year he left for West Point.

Built: 1823 by Jesse Grant, a tanner
Lived here: Ulysses S. Grant, from age one until he left for West Point in 1839, longer than in any other house of his life
Restored: To its 1839 appearance in a $1.4 million project finished in 2013
Also on the grounds: The two-room Dutch Hill schoolhouse he attended and a granite statue in the courthouse square
Owned by: The State of Ohio since the Ruthven family donated it in 2002
Nearby: Ripley's Rankin House and the Ohio River

The story

Jesse Grant built the house in 1823 in Georgetown, where he ran a tannery, and Ulysses S. Grant lived in it from the age of one until 1839, longer than in any other house of his life. The rooms have been restored to their 1839 appearance, and visitors also tour the two-room schoolhouse he attended. Grant left for the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1839, when a clerical error at his nomination turned his name into Ulysses S. Grant.

In March 1859 he freed William Jones, a man he had inherited from his wife's family. In the Civil War his demand for 'unconditional and immediate surrender' of Fort Donelson in February 1862 made him famous as 'Unconditional Surrender' Grant, a nickname helped by his initials. That December, during the Vicksburg campaign, he issued General Order No. 11, expelling all Jews from his military district, which covered parts of Tennessee, Mississippi and Kentucky, in an effort to stop illicit trade in Southern cotton that he blamed 'mostly' on Jews and other traders. Jewish families were forced out of towns such as Holly Springs and Paducah, and the order caused such a protest that Lincoln rescinded it on January 4, 1863. Historians note that Grant was not otherwise known as antisemitic; he later admitted the criticism was deserved, and as president he named several Jews to high positions. He commanded all the Union armies from 1864 and served two terms as president, from 1869 to 1877.

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The Initials That Became a Nickname

When Grant's nomination reached West Point, a clerk wrote his name down as Ulysses S. Grant, and the cadet kept it. Two decades later, when he told the Confederate commander at Fort Donelson that only unconditional and immediate surrender would be accepted, the North read his initials as a war cry.

The boy from the tannery house in Georgetown became 'Unconditional Surrender' Grant.

Behind the legend

The 1823 build date, the 1839 departure, the restoration and the ownership are from the Ohio History Connection. The name error at his West Point nomination is in the Wikipedia article on the birthplace. The nickname and the Fort Donelson demand are from Ohio Civil War Central, HistoryNet and the Abraham Lincoln's Classroom site, and HistoryNet notes the nickname was inspired in part by his initials. General Order No. 11, Lincoln's rescinding of it, Grant's later admission and his appointments of Jews as president are from Wikipedia and HistoryNet. William Jones's freedom on March 29, 1859 is from American History Central and Ohio Civil War Central.

If you go

Tour the house and schoolhouse, walk to the statue on the courthouse square and add the Rankin House in Ripley for the antislavery side of the same region.