During one of his daily strolls about Washington, D.C., in the spring of 1878, President Rutherford B. Hayes came upon a group of unhappy children, upset that they had nowhere to roll their Easter eggs.
Rolling Easter eggs was a popular children’s game of the day, so President Hayes and First Lady Lucy decided to help the kids. They struck upon an idea for an event that’s made thousands of children happy for nearly 140 years — the White House Easter Egg Roll.