Hello, I’m David Bruce Smith, and I thank you for taking time to learn more about the Grateful American™ Foundation, which produces an interactive, multimedia educational series designed to restore enthusiasm in American history for kids, and adults.

On July 4, 2014, my team and I launched our new website, GratefulAmericanFoundation.com. Each month, we’ll be updating it with articles, radio podcasts, and TV episodes based on the interviews we are conducting with the directors of the nation’s most popular presidential and historic homes—from George Washington’s Mount Vernon to Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello. I’ll be your host, as will Hope Katz Gibbs, president of Inkandescent Publishing, and the executive producer of the Grateful American™ Series.

In the coming years, our goal is to feature all 44 presidents and their first ladies, as well as people through history who have made a tremendous impact on who we are as a nation.

We begin with the era from the Revolutionary War through the Civil War  (1775-1865). Since the goal of history is to provide us with a look back, we start at the end of this era with a tour of President Lincoln’s Cottage at the Soldiers’ Home, located in Washington, DC, just three miles from the White House. The executive director of Lincoln’s Cottage, Erin Carlson Mast, shares a glimpse of some of the lesser-known history about the nation’s most beloved president.

We look forward to sharing the stories and adventures of the people who created our history. — David Bruce Smith