NORTH BEND, Ohio – President William Henry Harrison is buried in North Bend. His grandson and the country's 23^rd President Benjamin Harrison was born here.

• The gravesite of President William Henry Harrison sits on a hill in the small, southwest Ohio town.
• The Harrison-Symmes Memorial Foundaiton Museum takes care of the gravesite with assistance from the Ohio History Connection
• North Bend is home to more than just U.S. Presidents

Of Ohio's claim to eight U.S. presidents the small town of North Bend claims two.

The town of roughly 800 people is 15 miles west of Cincinnati and about five miles east of the Indiana border. Nestled on the northern banks of the Ohio River it is home to some important figures in U.S. History.

Four generals hail from the North Bend area.

John Cleves Symmes, a judge of the Northwest Territory called North Bend home after leaving New Jersey as a member of the Continental Congress. Symmes helped found North Bend and was the father-in-law of President William Henry Harrison.

President William Henry Harrison, actually born in Virginia, moved to North Bend in the 1790s while still serving in the military. He met his wife, Anna Tuthill Symmes, and they had ten children.

Harrison died just one month after taking the Oath of Office. His gravesite sits on a hill in North Bend that was once a part of his large estate.

His grandson, Benjamin Harrison, was elected president and took office in 1889. After living parts of his childhood in North Bend, he attended Miami University in nearby Oxford. After studying law in southwest Ohio he eventually moved to Indianapolis. President Benjamin Harrison was buried in Indianapolis at the Crown Hill Cemetery.

North Bend is a small town. There is no grocery store or gas station. The adjoining town of Cleves is home to the Harrison-Symmes Memorial Foundation Museum. It has been run by a group of volunteers since the mid-90s to assist the Ohio History Connection with preservation of Harrison's tomb.

“There's 11 people in the tomb, but they're all relatives of the Harrison's,” said Beverly Meyers, president of the foundation. “President Harrison's there, Mrs. Harrison is there, John Scott Harrison is there. Some of them are in unmarked graves. Some of them are grandchildren.”

The foundation museum only receives about $10,000 a year in funding from the Ohio History Connection. Enough to keep the lights on and undertake light maintenance projects. Bigger projects are handled by the state, but those are far-and-few between.

Meyers said the group of volunteers is beginning to explore what it might take to get federal designation.

As for the museum, it contains artifacts the group purchases around the country. It contains historic information, pictures, and information about not just President William Henry Harrison, but other famous residents of Miami Township – for which North Bend is a part of.

“We see a lot of visitors. We have probably 2,500 people that come to the tomb a year, they sign in. And most of them probably don't sign in.”

Throughout North Bend, there are subtle signs of its presidential history.

American Flags wave in the wind perched outside a number of homes. The Presidential Community Park boasts colorful flowers, a picnic area, and a playground. Appropriately named streets like Washington and Taylor carry drivers to-and-from the post office or the village offices.

Another interesting historic note about North Bend (and Cleves) is the Cincinnati and Whitewater Canal.

“It's the longest canal tunnel built in the United States west of the Allegheny Mountains,” Meyers said. “It was 1,700 feet long and it was an engineering feat.”

The North Bend end of the canal, once on the property of President William Henry Harrison, is no longer visible. On the Cleves end, tucked away in the woods, is a peek of the canal.

The opening is overgrown with weeds and trees and filled with silt.

It was used to transport goods into Cincinnati. After the canal was built in 1838 it was only operational until 1856. The railroad used it until 1884 but it has been abandoned ever since.

“It's on the national historic register,” Meyers said. “But it has never been cleaned out.”

North Bend is also home to the Congress Green Cemetery, once on the Harrison property. It contains rare Buffalo Clover, according to the town's website.

Sara Piatt, a famous 19^th century poet, lived in North bend.

So did John Aston Warder, a Brigade Surgeon of the First Brigade during the Civil War. His love of horticulture saw him appointed as the U.S. Commissioner to the Vienna World's Exposition and his experience helped launch the American Forestry Association, now known as American Forests and the longest-serving forest conservation non-profit group in the U.S.

North Bend was also the birthplace of Eliza Hendricks, the wife of Vice President Thomas Hendricks.

Meyers said every year on President William Henry Harrison's birthday a wreath is sent to the town by the current President of the United States. A tradition that started with President Gerald Ford.

A U.S. military general accompanies the wreath and there is usually a stop at the nearby Three Rivers schools followed by a ceremony at the tomb.