Presidential Homes Open Their Doors to Public : From Washington’s plantation to Nixon’s bungalow, historic sites welcome visitors.

As a nation, we have honored many of our Presidents by preserving their homes. Some have been designated national parklands, a few are state historic sites and others are maintained by private societies or foundations. But some homes are not heavily visited, and their visiting hours are limited, so check ahead. Besides the Truman Home, presidential homes open to the public include:

* Mount Vernon. George Washington’s elegant plantation on the Potomac River in Virginia is maintained by the Mount Vernon Ladies Assn., which bought it in 1858. Washington’s grave site overlooks the river.

* Adams National Historic Site. On eight acres in Quincy, Mass., are the house, library, garden and stables of John Adams and his son John Quincy Adams, the only father-son presidential duo.

* Monticello, home of Thomas Jefferson, in Charlottesville, Va. Our third President was literally the architect of his own memorial. He designed his home and posterity has seen fit to preserve it.

* Two other presidential residences are near Charlottesville. Ash Lawn (formerly Highland), the home of James Monroe, is owned by Monroe’s alma mater, the College of William and Mary. Montpelier, James Madison’s estate four miles west of Orange, Va., is maintained by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

* The Hermitage is an elegant, columned home in Nashville, Tenn., built by Andrew Jackson. It is managed by the Ladies Hermitage Assn. and is surrounded by 625 acres of farmland.

* Martin Van Buren National Historic Site. Lindenwald, the 36-room home of Van Buren, is about 25 miles south of Albany, N.Y. Van Buren lived there for 21 years until his death in 1862.

* Berkeley Plantation, birthplace of William Henry Harrison, is on the James River a few miles northwest of Williamsburg, Va. Nearby is Sherwood Forest Plantation, home of John Tyler. The house and the original 1,600 acres remain in the Tyler name.

* James K. Polk Memorial. The 21-acre farm site in Pineville, N.C., where young Polk grew up, is an open-air museum of local 19th-Century structures. It is a state historic site.

* Franklin Pierce Homestead. The Federal-style house in Hillsboro, N.H., was Pierce’s boyhood home and is operated by a private foundation.

* Wheatland. The Federal-style mansion of James Buchanan in Lancaster, Pa., is operated by the James Buchanan Foundation.

* Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historic Park in Hodgenville, Ky. The Lincoln family lived for only 2 1/2 years on their Hodgenville farm after young Lincoln’s birth.

* Andrew Johnson National Historic Site. Johnson’s tailor shop and his final home are both in Greeneville, Tenn.

* U.S. Grant Home State Historic Site. The two-story brick home in Galena, Ill., was a gift to Grant by the townsfolk when he returned victorious following the Civil War.

* Hayes Presidential Center, Spiegel Grove. The summer home in Fremont, Ohio, of Rutherford B. Hayes while he was governor of the state and the place to which he retired. It is maintained by a private foundation.

* James A. Garfield National Historic Site. In suburban Cleveland, Ohio, stands Lawnfield, the Victorian-style mansion of Garfield, who was fatally wounded by an assassin four months after his inaugural in 1881.

* Grover Cleveland Birthplace State Historic Site. The parsonage of the Presbyterian Church in Caldwell, N.J., where Cleveland’s father was pastor when the future President was born.

* President Benjamin Harrison Memorial Home. Harrison’s 16-room residence in Indianapolis from 1874 until his death in 1901 is operated by a private foundation.

* William Howard Taft National Historic Site. Taft’s birthplace and childhood home in Cincinnati.

* President Harding’s Home and Museum. The Marion, Ohio, home where Warren G. Harding lived for about 30 years. It is maintained by the Ohio Historical Society. Also in Marion is the Harding Memorial, a temple-like structure enclosing his burial site.

* Plymouth Notch Historic District. The tiny hilltop hamlet and homestead in southern Vermont where Calvin Coolidge was born, took the oath of office and is buried. It is maintained by the Vermont Department of Historic Preservation.

* Herbert Hoover National Historic Site. Hoover’s birthplace home, boyhood neighborhood and grave site are in West Branch, Iowa.

* Home of Franklin D. Roosevelt National Historic Site. The birthplace and lifetime residence of Roosevelt in Hyde Park, N.Y.

* Eisenhower National Historic Site. The retirement home and farm of Dwight D. Eisenhower in Gettysburg, Pa.

* John F. Kennedy National Historic Site. The Kennedy birthplace and childhood home in Brookline, Mass.

* Lyndon B. Johnson National Historic Park. On two sites west of Austin, Tex., are Johnson’s birthplace, boyhood home, ranch and grave site.

* Richard M. Nixon Presidential Library and Birthplace. The modest bungalow in Yorba Linda, where Nixon was born.

* Jimmy Carter National Historic Site. The Carters still live in their home in Plains, Ga., so there are no tours. But the Presidential Campaign Headquarters and the town’s historic district can be explored.

* Ronald Reagan’s Boyhood Home. Reagan’s two-story home in Dixon, Ill., is maintained by a private foundation.