Five historic structures are preserved at the site, including the childhood home of Ulysses' wife, Julia Dent Grant.

Due to a financial panic in 1857, along with bad weather that destroyed many farmers' crops, Ulysses worked for a short time in the city of St. Louis in real estate and as an engineer.

In the southeastern Bootheel area and along the fertile Missouri River valley known as "little Dixie," large, single-crop plantations predominated, with an intensive use of enslaved labor.

A portion of the wage was sometimes paid to enslaved people, allowing a measure of self-determination and in rare cases the opportunity to purchase their freedom.

Naming the property "White Haven" after his family home in Maryland, Colonel Dent considered himself a Southern gentleman with enslaved people whom he could force to do the farmwork.

The wide variety of foods prepared in her kitchen were highly praised by Julia: "Such loaves of beautiful snowy cake, such plates full of delicious Maryland biscuit, such exquisite custards and puddings, such omelettes, gumbo soup, and fritters."

Julia thought Bob was careless to allow the embers to die out, as this forced him "to walk a mile to some neighbors and bring home a brand of fire from their backlog."

Using the "best improvements in farm machinery" owned by Colonel Dent, field hands plowed, sowed and reaped the wheat, oats, Irish potatoes, and Indian corn grown on the estate.

More than 75 horses, cattle, and pigs required daily attention, while grounds maintenance and numerous remodeling projects on the main house and outbuildings used the skills of enslaved people.

Corn shuckings provided one opportunity to come together as a community to eat, drink, sing, and visit, often including slaves from nearby plantations.

[4] In Mary Robinson's July 24, 1885, recollections, during an interview for the Missouri Republican's memorial to Grant following his death, she noted that "he always said he wanted to give his wife's slaves their freedom as soon as he was able."

Missouri's constitutional convention abolished slavery in the state in January 1865, freeing any enslaved people still living at White Haven.

The current superintendent is Nathan Wilson [citation needed] Media related to Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site at Wikimedia Commons