Lakeside Inn, overlooking beautiful Lake Dora in Mount Dora, Florida, brought former President Calvin Coolidge and his wife, Grace, the lovely former First Lady, to stay as guests in January-February 1930. Manager Archie Hurlburt and his wife, Margaret, long-time friends of the Coolidges since their days in Massachusetts, coordinated to bring the famous couple out on their first cross-country trip following the White House. Having so enjoyable a stay in the state, their time in Florida ran longer than initially planned but by doing so they found the region restful, the people welcoming, and the whole experience one worth repeating again, if they could. The President dedicated the new Terrace Building in a remarkable parade and ceremony and even intimidated some of the lake bass with rod and reel. Mrs. Coolidge played piano in the front lobby and picked oranges from the yard (a delightful luxury for any New Englander). Together they walked and window shopped, and occasionally enjoyed a quiet rock on the front porch.

They stayed in the newly dedicated Terrace Building, adjoining rooms 135-137 (now Room 619), before departing for New Orleans and points west. Lakeside’s current owners, the Gundersons, have made the landscape and a stay at the Inn a truly restorative experience, however long one plans to be there. Nor is it surprising that their love and regard for the Coolidges yields an occasional sighting of Cal on the grounds. Such a sighting includes this one of the former President, leaving their room in The Terrace. He is seen, in this photo by Lakeside guest and Lexington, Ohio, businessman Sidney Lynn Earhart (1889-1973), walking beyond the front porch of the Lakeside, crossing the driveway beside The Gables and, perhaps, toward the Verandah, where Grace may be waiting for lunch or tea. An informal snapshot, to be sure, as Cal — a private citizen at last — is moving at his own pace, unaccompanied by any security, clearly on a mission, facing away from the camera, and leaning into his destination. Enjoy the fresh Florida air, Mr. Coolidge.

“Food plays an important role in the destiny of man. A successful meal engages all the senses – music and conversation are as important as visual appeal and flavor.” — Lee Ping Quan (pronounced Chew-ahn)

With the arrival of the lunar new year this February 10th, we are reminded here of Lee Ping Quan’s twenty years of service in the U. S. Navy, preparing the cuisine of President and Mrs. Coolidge through the decade a century ago. With the retirement of the USS Mayflower following their departure from public life, Lee Ping Quan launched a restaurant at 28 W 51st Street in New York City, nestled beside Rockefeller Center and just up the street from St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Designed to evoke the dining room of the Mayflower, Quan’s restaurant offered an exquisite range of dishes from the menus that appeared before the guests of Presidents and First Ladies more than one hundred years ago.

Appetizers included the small sandwiches of which John, the President’s oldest son, once ate an impressive 44 in a single sitting, as Quan delighted in sharing. The Coolidges wrote their beloved chef their highest praises and wishes of success on his venture. Quan eventually found his way to Maine, serving his patrons the increasingly forgotten fare New York guests once enjoyed, from the chop suey Mrs. Coolidge wanted to learn to make to the veal and curry that Mr. Coolidge savored. While running a tight ship with a “crew” of four, Quan regaled his many guests with stories of distant ports, Presidential remembrances, and the food that unites all palates. Naval regulations applied at the threshold of his establishments and no alcohol was allowed past Quan’s door. This hardly meant he was a joyless taskmaster. This masterful entrepreneur worked daily marvels in the “galley” while furnishing diners with countless memories from the diminutive gentleman but towering force that was Lee Ping Quan.

Ever ready to show his love for the kind and generous Coolidges, he baked the wedding cake for John Coolidge and Florence Trumbull, who married in September 1929. Quan later published some of these cherished recipes and memories in book form. With the beginning of World War II in 1941, Quan sought once more to offer his services to the Navy. Though he never reentered active duty, citizen Quan remained the ebullient optimist he always was and continued to love the nation he had adopted as his own to the end. As the Chinese New Year begins, we are reminded that Lee Ping would be commemorating the occasion with the style and grace with which he labored and lived.

“To the People of the United States:

“The death of Woodrow Wilson, President of the United States from March 4, 1913, to March 4, 1921, which occurred at 11:15 o’clock today at his home at Washington, District of Columbia, deprives the country of a most distinguished citizen, and is an event which causes universal and genuine sorrow. To many of us it brings the sense of a profound personal bereavement.

“His early profession as a lawyer was abandoned to enter academic life. In this chosen field he attained the highest rank as an educator, and has left his impress upon the intellectual thought of the country. From the Presidency of Princeton University he was called by his fellow citizens to be the Chief Executive of the State of New Jersey. The duties of this high office he so conducted as to win the confidence of the people of the United States, who twice elected him to the Chief Magistracy of the Republic. As President of the United States he was moved by an earnest desire to promote the best interests of the country as he conceived them. His acts were prompted by high motives and his sincerity of purpose can not be questioned. He led the nation through the terrific struggle of the world war with a lofty idealism which never failed him. He gave utterance to the aspiration of humanity with an eloquence which held the attention of all the earth and made America a new and enlarged influence in the destiny of mankind.

“In testimony of the respect in which his memory is held by the Government and people of the United States, I do hereby direct that the flags of the White House and if the several Departmental buildings be displayed at half staff for a period of thirty days, and that suitable military and naval honors under orders of the Secretary of War and of the Secretary of the Navy may be rendered on the day of the funeral.”