The Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum (303 Pearl St. NW, 616/254-0400, www.ford.utexas.edu, 9 a.m.–5 p.m. daily, closed on major holidays, $7 adults, $6 seniors, $3 children 6–18) honors Michigan’s only native-born president in this triangular building on the west bank of the Grand River.

The nation’s 38th president—named to the post on August 9, 1974, after the infamous resignation of Richard Nixon—Ford grew up in Grand Rapids and represented the Fifth Congressional District in Michigan from 1948 to 1973, when he became the nation’s vice president.

Renovated in 1997, the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum portrays both the private life and public challenges of Ford, president for just two years. The most popular attraction is the full-size replica of the Oval Office as it looked while Ford was president and the holographic tour of the White House.

Other exhibits include a surprisingly moving section on Nixon’s resignation and Ford’s subsequent pardon, the events surrounding the fall of Saigon, and a multimedia re-creation of 1970s pop culture. Visitors can also see President Ford’s burial site.