Two men who served as the nation's chief executive visited Lake Tahoe and Nevada in the late 1800s: President Ulysses S. Grant, who was not a sitting president at the time of his visit, and President Rutherford B. Hayes. Both men were transported across the breathtaking, alpine lake by the steamboat Meteor. There is no indication another sitting president saw Lake Tahoe until President Bill Clinton's official visit in July 1997. Contrary to popular belief, President John F. Kennedy's visits to Lake Tahoe occurred before he was elected president in November 1960.

This column first appeared in the Reno Gazette Journal on Feb. 16, 2003.

Grant was the first chief executive to visit Lake Tahoe and Nevada. The former president and Civil War general had left office in 1877 after serving two ter

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