presidential seal  
white house easter egg roll

president hayes saves the day
white house easter egg roll image

 
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In 1878, Easter Monday celebrants who were not allowed to roll eggs on the grounds of the U.S. Capitol headed up Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House. The children knew about the low hills on the South Lawn, and hoped their egg rolling games would be permitted there. President Rutherford B. Hayes instructed his guards to let the youngsters through the gates. It proved to be a very popular change of venue. By Easter Monday 1880, an article in the Evening Star reported that eager egg rollers had taken “absolute possession of the grounds south of the White House.”

  


1887-1900: Library of Congress, White House Historical Association

 
Source Credits: C.L. Arbelbide, "With Easter Monday You Get Egg Roll at the White House,"  Prologue, Volume 32, Spring 2000; White House Curator's Files, and the White House Historical Association Files