By Liz Oakes
The Cincinnati Enquirer

MOUNT AUBURN - More than 450 visitors trekked to William Howard Taft's boyhood home Sunday for an open house at the national historic site, a family tradition begun more than a century ago by the parents of the 27th U.S. president.

When the Tafts lived at the house in the 1850s, "that was their big thing, the New Year's reception with their neighbors," said Margery Leis of Friends of the William Howard Taft Birthplace, which works to preserve the site and has had the open house every year since 1988. "And each year, it gets bigger and bigger," Leis said. Last year, about 300 people visited, she said.

The site is also open to the public through the year.

Cindy Geer of Blue Ash said Taft's Cincinnati connection drew her family to the open house.

Although they've lived in the area for 20 years, they had never been to the birthplace, and at first drove to the Taft Museum of Art, downtown, she said.

It's a common mistake, said local historian Dan Hurley.

"The driving question is, how do you tell all these Tafts apart?" he said, explaining the family lineage - which includes a chief justice of the United States, a U.S. senator and an Ohio governor - to visitors in the parlor of the circa 1840 Greek Revival house.

The open house attracted curious newcomers, as well as long-time Greater Cincinnatians.

Karen Adams of Kings Mills said she moved to the area from suburban Philadelphia in July.

She wanted to learn "what makes Cincinnati 'Cincinnati,' and obviously the Tafts played a big part here in Ohio," Adams said.

Coming up: An exhibit on the World War II Tuskegee airmen opens at the site Jan. 15 and runs through Feb. 29.

For more information, call (513) 684-3262, or visit www.nps.gov/wiho.

What to see

Things not to miss at the William Howard Taft birthplace and education center at 2048 Auburn Ave.:

 An animatronic figure of the president's son, Charles P. Taft, that tells stories about the family.

 An oversized chair used by William Howard Taft when he was secretary of war for President Teddy Roosevelt.

 A small Christmas tree suspended over a child's bed. The original was hung from the ceiling for Frances, William Howard Taft's sister, when she was ill with diphtheria as a girl.

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E-mail loakes@enquirer.com