It's Presidents Day: Here is a look at a few of NNY's past presidential visits

Feb. 20—U.S. Presidents and those who have later became president have visited the north country since before this publication began in 1861. Whether visiting the wilds of the Adirondacks or the battlefields of Sackets Harbor, or in more recent times, Fort Drum, it's rather rare to see the head of state in our neighborhood.

President Joseph R. Biden has not yet visited since his inauguration, but he has been here while vice president. He welcomed members of the 2nd Brigade Combat Team home from Iraq. The homecoming at Fort Drum was one of many during that summer as the United States wound down the Iraq combat mission drawing down to 50,000 troops from 145,000 when the Obama-Biden administration took office.

President Donald J. Trump visited Fort Drum in 2018, signing the defense authorization act.

This is a list of visits compiled for the Times in 2018. It has been updated.

Sitting presidents

James Monroe visits Malone via 'execrable' Chatagua Road from Plattsburgh & orders repair by U.S. soldiers, July 1817

Monroe inspects construction progress at U.S. Army's Madison Barracks, Sackets Harbor, July 1817

Martin Van Buren and his son John visit Jefferson County on a 'tour of the state,' 1838

Martin Van Buren & son cross corners of the Adirondacks to visit Jefferson County on a 'tour of the state,' 1839

Martin Van Buren travels to Canton, St. Lawrence County, to consult with protégé Silas Wright, 1840

Ulyses S. Grant et al. visit Jefferson County; he gives his longest speech to that time at Watertown, Aug. 2, 1872

U.S. Grant travels from Sackets Harbor eastward through Malone to New Hampshire, August 1872

U.S. Grant intervenes to save Madison Barracks at Sackets Harbor from closure, 1876

William H. Taft attends Indian pageant & inspects Fort Ticonderoga ruins (Champlain Tercentennial), July 6, 1909

W.H. Taft visits Cliff Haven, Plattsburgh Barracks and Hotel Champlain, Bluff Point, Plattsburgh, July 8, 1909

Calvin Coolidge inspects Sunmount VA hospital & American Legion Camp at Tupper Lake, Sept. 2, 1926

Franklin D. Roosevelt came to the Alexandria Bay area to join Canadian Prime Minister William Lloyd Mackenzie King in officially opening the Thousand Islands International Bridge, Aug. 18, 1938

Roosevelt returned in 1940 with Secretary of Defense Henry Lewis Stimson and Canadian Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King to inspect the army at Ogdensburg airport in 1940.

Bill Clinton thanks 10th Mountain Division soldiers at Fort Drum for their actions in Somalia and Florida, March 1994. Clinton returns to Watertown in January 2014 to campaign for U.S. Rep. William L. Owens, and again April 16, 2016 campaigning for his wife Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential run.

George W. Bush visits Fort Drum to praise the 10th Mountain Division and to call for higher salaries for military personnel, July 19, 2002

Barack Obama visits Fort Drum after declaring troop reduction in Afghanistan to say they were still needed, January 2011

Donald J. Trump visits Fort Drum to sign National Defense Authorization Act (budget) for 2019, Aug. 13, 2018

Future or former presidents

George Washington (1789-97) visits Fort George at south end of Lake George on way to Crown Point, July 1783

Washington, Gov. Clinton, Alexander Hamilton et al. inspect 'His Majesty's Fort at Crown Point,' July 1783

Thomas Jefferson (1801-09) and James Madison (1809-17) tour Lakes George & Champlain, 1791

2nd Lt. U.S. Grant (1869-77) and his wife, Julia Dent Grant, are stationed at Madison Barracks, Sackets Harbor, 1848-49

2nd Lt. U.S. Grant races horse from Sackets Harbor to Watertown to play checkers, Saturday nights, 1848-49

Capt. U.S. Grant, wife and son Frederick return to Madison Barracks, Sackets Harbor for a second tour, 1851, 1884

Assistant Secretary of the Navy Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933-45) visits Sackets Harbor to dedicate a monument, 1913

Vice presidential candidate Richard M. Nixon visited Watertown on Oct. 17, 1952, campaigning on Public Square for himself and Dwight D. Eisenhower who would both go on to be elected president.

Richard M. Nixon also visited as vice president, attending the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway in Massena in June 1959.