The cheese was not some political power move or campaign tie-in—it was a marketing stunt dreamed up by one Colonel Thomas S. Meacham, a resident of Sandy Creek, New York. He had no particular affinity for President Jackson (quick reminder that Jackson was “a slaver, ethnic cleanser, and tyrant” and all-around awful guy) but he did happen to own one of the largest dairies in the United States, which would soon cover one thousand acres. The economy of upstate New York was flourishing, thanks in large part to the Erie Canal, which had opened in 1825, and Meacham wanted to bring more attention to the region. Giant cheese seemed like the perfect whey to generate headlines. (Let me have this one pun, okay?)
As it happens, this was neither Meacham’s initial foray into the mega-cheddar game nor the first chonky cheese gifted to a president. In fact, the colonel was already locally famous for his huge wheels, including a 700-pounder donated to the City of Rochester on July 1, 1835, and he was surely aware of the cheese sent by a Baptist congregation in Cheshire, Massachusetts to President Thomas Jefferson in 1801. (According to historians at Monticello, “a Republican newspaper in Rhode Island reported that the cheese utilized the milk of 900 cows, was formed in a cider press that measured six feet in diameter, and had engraved on it the motto, ‘Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God.’”)
But this time around, Meacham had grander ideas, aiming for an even larger cheese for the president—four feet in diameter and two feet tall—and, just to maximize the attention, five more big cheeses, each weighing between 700 and 850 pounds, for other political luminaries, including one to Vice President Martin Van Buren, New York Governor William L. Marcy, and Daniel Webster, according to The Utica Democrat. Meacham began work in September 1835, using four days worth of milk from 150 cows and a giant cheese press. Around the edge, the finished product was decorated with what Meacham called “a National Belt … presenting a fine bust of the President, surrounded by a chain of twenty-four links, representing the twenty-four States united and linked together.”
There’s a historical marker in Sandy Creek today commemorating the “Big Cheese” and the local history center’s website has a long remembrance, which includes a description of the massive snack-to-be heading out on its journey to the capital, starting in the canals that the cheesemaker was so eager to celebrate:
With a flare for the dramatic, [Meacham] selected a large wagon which he had brightly painted and selected a team of forty-eight gray horses. The local residents joined the procession the day it started on its eventful journey. The procession reached Port Ontario by way of Pulaski and on November 15, 1835 it was loaded on a sailing vessel. As the Colonel stood on deck, a band played and cannons were fired. The trip to Washington began by way of Oswego, Syracuse, Albany and New York and the enthusiasm did not wane along the route.