mr. joseph drexel, decided that this place would be memorial to u.s. grant. so things were left just as they were when the grant family left. and it's been kept that way for the last 132 years. that is why i think this cottage is so important to keep the way it is, and to maintain it, because it is such a compelling story, and it really gives you that wonderful insight into a relatively misunderstood figure history, ulysses s. grant. our visit to saratoga springs, new york, is an american history tv exclusive. we showed it to introduce you to c-span's cities tour. years we've traveled to u.s. cities bringing the literary scene and historic viewers. our you can watch more of our visits c-span.org/citiestour. weekend, c-span's cities tour takes you to newport, rhode island. of our coxlp communications cable partners, we'll explore newport's rich scene and historic sights. watch c-span's cities tour of island, nexte weekend on book tv on c-span2 sunday afternoon at 2:00 on american history tv on c-span3. working with our cable affiliates as we explore america. [

mr. drexel. these chairs did come up from new york city with the grants. these from new york city on the train. because mr. drexel left this to become a memorial, grant's son left his personal belongings here. we have some very personal items that show that grant was here. he was at homehe was at home he. he went through some very tough times here as well. we have his food bowl and spittoon. we have hairbrushes, stockings. wearing inhead he iswe the photograph taken here. we have the food mashing equipment so he could take his nourishment. what is a really interesting item is grant's original medicine, the original bottle and the original substance. wearing in the photograph takenmost peoplet they were using for medication was morphing, -- morphine, or some heavy sedative. grant could not take medicine like that because he would not be able to concentrate on his book. doctors settled on a controversial substance of the time. it was cocaine. they would stir that up and apply that on his throat topically, so he could finish the work of the book for the sake