One of America's highest ranked military officers, Gen. John J. "Black Jack" Pershing, spent most of his childhood years in the small town of Laclede. Pershing was born Sept. 13, 1860, and moved into the Gothic nine-room house in Laclede with his family at age six. He taught at Prairie Mound School, and in 1886, graduated from the U. S. Military Academy at West Point, thus beginning his military career. Between 1886 and his military retirement in 1924, Pershing fought his way up through the military ranks. In 1917, Pershing was sent to France as Commander-in-Chief of the American Expeditionary Forces in World War I and two years later was named General of the Armies of the United States by a special act of Congress. Today, visitors can tour Gen. Pershing's boyhood home. A statue of "Black Jack" stands next to the home surrounded by granite tablets naming war veterans. Inside Prairie Mound School, an exhibit gallery allows visitors to walk through the many doorways Gen. Pershing passed through during his childhood life, military career, and numerous accomplishments.

The site offers a short film, exhibits, and tours.

The Grant Boyhood Home was the home of Ulysses S. Grant, 18th president of the United States, from 1823, when Grant was one year old, until 1839, when he left to attend West Point. Ulysses Grant lived in this home longer than any other during his lifetime. Jesse and Hanna Grant, the parents of young Hiram Ulysses Grant, built the original two-story brick section of the Grant Boyhood home in 1823, when they moved to Georgetown from Point Pleasant in Clermont County, where Ulysses had been born the year before. Grant attended the Schoolhouse from the ages of about six to 13. The building, built in 1829, consisted of only one room at that time.

The site offers tours.