Hotels and motels named after U.S. Presidents

Nothing adds more panache to an out of the way motel than naming it after the President of the United States. For some Presidents, such as Teddy and Franklin D. Roosevelt, the hotel naming business turned out to be good for them. The Roosevelt hotels dotting the world are pretty swank. But not all Presidents were lucky enough to be the namesakes of hotels with five star ratings. Many are party to more, shall we say, humble surroundings. In their honor, here is a tour of motels, hotels and inns named after our former — and often forgotten — heads of state.

The James K. Polk Motel, 1111 Nashville Highway, Columbia, Tennessee. Our beloved head of state from 1845-49, Polk is best known for adding California and New Mexico to the United States. His contributions to Westward Expansion are memorialized in this vintage hotel just off Interstate 65. Room prices: $35 to $39.

The Fillmore Motel, 55 N. Main Street, Fillmore City, Utah. Millard Fillmore, who was President for a mere three years then became a member of the Know Nothing party, is a very lucky duck! The whole town and, by default, the hotel are named after him. Room Prices: $49.

The Zachary Taylor RV park, 2995 Highway 441 S.E., Okeechobee, Florida. This camping and RV resort is named after Zachary Taylor, who was President for one measly year because he fell ill and died after eating cherries and milk on July 4, 1850. The site is a 250 spot RV park with shuffleboard, horseshoes and a bus to the nearby Native American Casino, which is ironic considering Taylor spent his one year in office fighting off Indians along the frontier. Your only allowed to camp there if you are over age 55. Taylor was 64 years old when he was President. Price: $35.

The Chester Arthur Bed and Breakfast,13th Street at Logan Circle, Washington D.C. This 1883 townhouse was built by an undersecretary in Chester Arthur's cabinet. Maybe if the undersecretary had passed the Pendleton Act, which makes it illegal to fire civil servants who don't belong to your political party, the hotel would have been named after him instead. Room rates: $115

The Jefferson Davis Motel, 3314 Jefferson Davis Hwy, Richmond, Virginia. Okay, so he's not technically a president, but hey, the guy did bear the title and there are 12 states full of Southerners ready to disagree with anyone who says otherwise. And, he has a motel. The president of the defunct Confederacy is buried in Richmond, the former capital of the Confederate States of America. Room Rates: Cheap.

The James Buchanan Hotel, 15 N. Main Street, Mercersburg, Pennsylvania. Mr. Buchanan is the only bachelor who has ever been president. In fact, the guy best known as the "President right before Abraham Lincoln" never tied the knot and his neice, Hannah, tagged along to perform all of the White House hostessing duties normally reserved for the First Lady. Buchananan may have been sans wife all his life, but they did turn his boyhood home, built in 1796, into this hotel. Room Rates: $110 to $150

Hotel Coolidge, 39 South Main Street, White River Junction, Vermont. Calvin Coolidge, the President who saw America through the roaring 20s then high-tailed it out of office in 1929 right before the stock market crash, actually stayed here in Parlor Room A. Apparently he was superstitious and didn't like to stay in numbered hotel rooms. Now, it's a hotel as well as a hostel. Room rates: $69 to $89; $29 to $49 for hostel rooms.

The Andrew Johnson Inn, 2145 E. Andrew Johnson Highway, Greenville, Tennessee. President Johnson is the guy who took over when Lincoln was assassinated and immediately issued pardons to all Confederates who said "Oops, sorry. I didn't really mean to secede." No surprise he was a one-termer, but at least he has a hotel with a pool. Room rates: $42.

The Thomas Jefferson Inn, 6 Renaissance Lane, Route 2, Jefferson, New Hampshire. Built in 1896, the Victorian hotel — and the town — are named after President Numero Tres. The rooms are decked out in antiques such as four poster beds and claw foot bathtubs. Apparently you get pretty swank digs if you sign the Declaration of Independence. Room rates: $90 to $190.

The Garfield Suites Hotel, 2 Garfield Place, Cinncinnati, Ohio. James A. Garfield, one of America's forgotten assassinated presidentsm, is an Ohio-native most famous for, well, getting shot in the tummy by an embittered political rival and then dying a slow, miserable death for three weeks afterward. At least he has a hotel in his native Ohio. Room rates: $140 and up.

The U.S. Grant Hotel, 326 Broadway, San Diego, California. Apprently, Ulysses S. Grant deserves some pimped-out digs for his subjugation of the South as a heavily-drinking civil war general. The U.S. Grant Hotel was actually built in Grant's honor by his widow, Frannie Grant, in 1910. How very sweet. Frannie lived in the hotel until her death in 1942. Since then, 13 Presidents have slept here. The quite luxurious motel is now being renovated for a mere $48 million. Room Rates: $239 to $1,500.

The McKinley Grand Hotel, 320 Market Avenue South, Canton, Ohio. The 166 room hotel is modeled after the architecture and furniture popular when McKinley, who is best known as the guy who acquired Puerto Rico as an unofficial American state, was President. Room rate: $149.