(CNN) -- The White House may be the official residence of the U.S. president, but it's only a temporary address. The former homes and libraries of presidents offer an inside look into the lives of the select few who served as the nation's leader. 

Nearly 80 million visitors have toured Mount Vernon, George Washington's home in Virginia. 

From simple log cabins to expansive estates, hundreds of presidential homes and historical sites are open to the public. Visitors can read the love letters between Harry Truman and his wife, Bess, examine hand-drawn maps by Herbert Hoover or eye the tintype photograph of young wife Lucy that Rutherford B. Hayes carried with him daily on Civil War battlefields and later in the White House. 

As we witness a new leader take office and celebrate past commanders-in-chief on President's Day this month, CNN asked William Clotworthy, author of "Homes and Libraries of the Presidents," to recommend five places for travelers to see a very human side of history's presidents. 

Lincoln's birthplace 

There's more than split rails at the Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historic Site in Hodgenville, Kentucky. The site, run by the National Park Service, offers exhibits and walking tours so the visitor can experience a little of the frontier life that shaped the nation's 16th president. 

The centerpiece is the large marble and granite Lincoln Memorial Building, which houses a small and humble log cabin. The cabin is not actually Lincoln's birth cabin -- that has been lost to history -- but it does try to replicate as closely as possible the tiny and primitive surroundings that sheltered the future commander in chief. 
What did he suggest to the interviewer?
 CNN asked William Clotworthy, author of "Homes and Libraries of the Presidents," to recommend five places for travelers to see a very human side of history's presidents. 