When members of the Secret Service swarmed Charley Stewart’s plot of land in the middle of California's Sonoran Desert, he wasn’t confused or worried — he knew what they had come for."They have representatives, the Secret Service, and the secretaries, and all those people come by," he told Fox News Digital."It’s like a circus."Stewart owns and operates Haven for Pets, a pet cemetery in Desert Hot Springs.
When one of the nation’s most famous dogs — former President Gerald Ford’s golden retriever, Liberty — was set to be buried there, Secret Service agents visited the cemetery to inspect the grounds ahead of the burial, Stewart said.DISCOVERIES THAT RESHAPED WHAT HISTORIANS KNEW ABOUT AMERICA'S FOUNDING FATHERSLiberty and Misty, two of former President Gerald Ford's dogs that lived at the White House, are buried at a pet cemetery in the California desert.(Nora Moriarty)"Before she got buried out there, the Secret Service had to go out and look for mines and walk around," said the cemetery owner.
"I mean, Gerald Ford was the President of the United States."The female golden retriever arrived at the White House as a puppy and became the nation’s first dog, later giving birth to nine puppies in 1975 on the third floor of the White House. Liberty was the first dog to give birth in the White House.The frequently photographed canine enjoyed the White House life.She posed on the North Lawn, lounged beside the commander in chief in the Oval Office, swam in the pool at Camp David and even received fan mail from Americans across the country.The Fords kept one of Liberty’s puppies, a female named Misty, who is buried alongside her mother at Haven for Pets.
Their grave sites leave an unexpected piece of presidential history tucked away in Stewart’s pet cemetery.RONALD REAGAN'S GRANDDAUGHTER, KEVIN MCCARTHY HONOR LATE PRESIDENT'S LEGACY ON HIS 115TH BIRTHDAYPresident Gerald Ford and his pet dog Liberty in the Oval Office.(CORBIS/Corbis)Stewart’s Haven...