Over the weekend I got to visit the President Woodrow Wilson House (www.woodrowwilsonhouse.org) in Northwest D.C. Story goes that Wilson really is the only president to stay in Washington after his term in office, though he died only three years after doing so. Mrs. Wilson lived in the house until 1961, after which she bequeathed the house and its furnishings to the National Trust for Historic Preservation. (Somebody had obviously taken the good stuff, though. I looked through the pantry and all the boxes were fake.)

I’m sure Mrs. Wilson got a pretty good tax advantage for turning the house into a museum, though she probably wishes her heirs could sell the place today. It’s located on S Street along a swanky strip of mostly foreign embassies and other “non-profit” shelters. (Did I say shelter?)

When the Wilsons bought the place I’m pretty sure they didn’t know Washington real estate would be what it is today. Actually, no, they probably did. Many historians now look to Wilson as the first president to bring the kind of money and power to D.C. which later executives took for granted.

It’s sure not the swamp they built the place on.

Or maybe it still is.