How many American presidents are not buried in the United States? Six. Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.

Donald Samull, a retired Bloomfield Hills elementary school teacher, can answer that question and many more about U.S. presidents. Samull has visited every presidential burial site -- from the simple Vermont grave of Calvin Coolidge to Lyndon B. Johnson's family ranch in Stonewall, Texas.

The 62-year-old Dearborn resident's rather morbid hobby has lasted roughly 40 years and has led him all over the country. He shares his adventures through presentations to clubs and library patrons and other groups in southeast Michigan.

But his favorite president is Thomas Jefferson, "because he was a Renaissance man -- gardening, architecture, writing. I have an interest in a lot of things, like Thomas Jefferson," he said.

And his favorite grave is that of Chester A. Arthur, which features a statue of a standing angel placing a palm frond on the raised stone tomb. Arthur, who was president from 1881-1885, is buried in Albany, N.Y.

"There's something about Chester Arthur's," he said. "Just the way it looked, a weeping angel on it. He's one of the forgotten presidents that no one ever knows."

Samull visited the graves randomly. His most recent trip was to the Richard Nixon Library and Birthplace in Yorba Linda, Calif. He visited about a year after Nixon's death in 1994.

Many of the early presidents are buried at their homes. Jefferson is buried at Monticello, his estate in Virginia, and Andrew Jackson is buried at the Hermitage in Tennessee.

Two presidents are buried in Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, Va.: James Monroe, who opted for an ornate, gothic-style iron cap atop his sarcophagus, and John Tyler, the Whig vice president who took over when William Henry Harrison died after a month in office. Confederacy President Jefferson Davis is also buried there.

Some presidential burial sites are clearly marked, like John F. Kennedy's in Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. Others require a query or two, according to Samull, who said that at some cemeteries, he had to question staffers or use a cemetery map to find graves. Six graves, including the tomb of Ulysses S. Grant in New York City, are under the care of the U.S. Parks Department, according to department historian Dwight Pitcaithley.

But tending to presidential graves on private property is the responsibility of the property owners. So if, for instance, George Washington's grave were overrun with weeds, there's nothing the government could do.

However, all presidential graves are formally remembered by their most important peer once a year. According to Samull, the sitting president has a wreath placed on the grave on the anniversary of its occupant's death.

Calvin Coolidge, known for being taciturn and appreciating simplicity, has a simple grave marker. Abraham Lincoln, who came from simple country roots, is buried in a little cemetery in Springfield, Ill. Warren G. Harding, who some considered one of the most handsome presidents, has a grave of equal beauty, a resting place designed to evoke Roman-style architecture with regally elegant pillars, in Marion, Ohio.

Some presidents are interred not in the state of their birth but in the state to which they felt the most allegiance. For example, James K. Polk was born in North Carolina but is buried in Tennessee.

"Basically, they're buried in the state most people associate them with," Samull said. "And usually now, a lot of presidents are being buried where either they have their library or their museum."

Michigan's only president, Gerald R. Ford, was born in Nebraska, but will be buried in Grand Rapids.

"It's where he spent a vast majority of his time growing up," said Jim Kratsas, deputy director of the Gerald R. Ford Museum in Grand Rapids. "There is a burial site here at the museum."

Kratsas would not reveal the plot's location or how it would be marked.

Samull's travels have resulted in lots of photos and books about U.S. presidents and first ladies. He has also published a booklet about presidential graves.

GRAVE FACTS:

1. Most-visited presidential grave: John F. Kennedy's in Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va.

2. The only other president buried in Arlington: William Howard Taft.

3. The only president buried in Washington, D.C. proper: Woodrow Wilson, who was laid to rest in the National Cathedral.

4. The only president buried on the grounds of a state capitol: James Polk in Nashville, Tenn.

5. The only presidents buried together: John Adams and his son John Quincy Adams are in a basement crypt in Quincy, Mass.

6. The two presidents who died on the same day: John Adams and Thomas Jefferson died July 4, 1826.

7. The states with the most presidential burial sites: Ohio and Virginia (tie).

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