17. Andrew Johnson
Andrew Johnson was born December 29, 1808, in Raleigh, North Carolina, although his exact birth site is disputed. According to some accounts, Johnson was born in a log cabin that no longer exists, but another tradition holds that Johnson was born in a small cabin that served as the kitchen of Casso’s Inn. This latter building has been relocated multiple times, and the restored structure now resides at Mordecai Historic Park in Raleigh. Johnson’s family was of humble means, and after Johnson’s father died suddenly when the future president was three, his mother supported the family by sewing and laundering. Johnson never went to school, but he managed to teach himself to read. Formally apprenticed to a tailor at the age of fourteen, Johnson broke his contract and fled after two years of his indenture and eventually settled in Greeneville, Tennessee.
-Andrew B. Leiter
We stopped at the Johnson birth site on the way back from a trip to the Outer Banks. With two tired kids and a long drive ahead, it was a brief stop. We managed to find the historic marker in downtown Raleigh and then the home itself in a park nearby. Since it was not in its original location, I worked closer in to the structure, finding original textures and details. I managed to catch the light just right in the top windows to reveal the accumulated effects of gravity over 200 years on original glass panes.
-Matthew Albritton