American summer: the summer of Adams
This post has been sitting in my drafts since September, waiting to be completed. I really regret the delay, especially since one of the people who I thought would especially appreciate it passed away unexpectedly in December. But here it is, with some updates.
At the end of summer 2015, I mentioned in a blog post Brigid's fascination with John Adams. Of all the Founding Fathers, Adams (and his wife Abigail, of course) really appeals to Brigid. I think this is because he is portrayed as stubbornly committed to Liberty and Independence. Having a wife who was spirited (and portrayed in the film 1776 as a bit sassy) probably helped. Anyway, he is among Brigid's favorite historical figures.
In the summer of 2016, we had the opportunity to visit a few places connected to John Adams, much to Brigid's delight. Randy had a meeting near Framingham, and we were able to spend a few days touring around some Massachusetts sites. We hit the Freedom Trail in Boston with my cousin Denis, Lexington and Concord, and Quincy (with all the Adams family sites) with the Bettinelli family (!!)
More after the jump
I think there must be a law that first-time tourists to Boston must walk the Freedom Trail. I did it when I was in high school with my parents. And this past summer my cousin Denis graciously walked it with us. It involved all the usual sites, like the Massachusetts State House and King's Chapel. It was when we hit anything related to the Declaration of Independence and John Adam that Brigid really perked up on that summer day.
Like the site of the Boston Massacre, the defense of which tested John Adams as both a lawyer and a Patriot.
And the Old State House, where from the balcony the Declaration of Independence was read to the public on July 18, 1776.
Later that week we planned to go to Quincy for a day. I had messaged Melanie that I thought we would be near where they lived and we were up for lunch or playtime or whatever. Much to our delight, the Bettinelli family was up for a tour of the Adams National Park.
On the tour of Adams National Park, we were taken by bus to the three homes in Quincy associated with John Adams. The first two, his boyhood home and his first residence after marriage, were one stop on the tour.
Photographs are not permitted inside the Adams houses, so we had to do without pictures of ourselves and the kids in any "room where it happened." The first house was the home of John Adams' parents, built in 1681 and purchased in 1720 by Deacon John Adams and his wife. There was not much to see in the house as it was furnished in the simple style of the President's parents. It was, however, amazing to be in the house where John Adams spent his boyhood.
Next to John Adams' birthplace is the birthplace of John Quincy Adams. This home, built in 1663, was part of the property Deacon John Adams purchased in 1720. For years it had been occupied by tenants until John Adams and his new wife Abigail, moved into to it to make it their first home. Again, the interior was decorated in the style of the young John Adams family, but not with the exact pieces (those we would see later). In this house were several "rooms where it happened," like the kitchen hearth, where Abigail famously melted her own pewter dinnerware to make bullets, and the front room where John Adams stood at his desk and wrote the Massachusetts Constitution.
The guides in the National Park system really are a treasure. At Adams National Park they were no exception. At the two adjacent Presidential birthplaces, one guide took great care for us to notice the differences between the two homes. One, simply furnished and just weathered shakes on the outside. A home of a farmer. The other, outfitted with more chairs, tables, and desks as well as having a painted exterior. A home of a lawyer with aspirations.
The birthplaces were incredible to see, but the highlight of the Adams National Park tour is Peacefield, the home John and Abigail purchased when they thought they were retiring from public life in 1787. Of course, this is not quite how the years unfolded for them after their return from London. However, this is where they made their home, even with Adams serving as Vice-President and then President in Philadelphia and, briefly, Washington. Here their furnishings of their marriage were assembled and still cared for by the National Park Service. Their art collection. The chairs in which they welcomed distinguished visitors, like the Marquis de Lafayette (Lafayette!). The upstairs study where John Quincy Adams in his life would read daily from the Mendi Bible. Many of the rooms were roped off, permitting only glimpses inside, but we even got to see Abigail Adams' bullet-mold, collected among other family jewelry. How did the Adams descendants know how important that would be historically to preserve it, I had to wonder.
Randy and I both choked up once a piece on the tour. For Randy, it was seeing in an upstairs hallway at Peacefield a printer's proof copy of the Declaration of Independence. It had been given to John Adams. This particular proof had been made by pressing against the dampened original. Randy was in awe of seeing this, original ink in the forms signed by the original hands. For me it was when the guide described the gardens around Peacefield, and that the box hedges were at least from the time of John and Abigail's occupancy, and the Yorkist rose bush she brought from London thrived yet. That caused me to gasp audibly, much to my embarrassment. I had been so wrapped up in my kids' sense of the day that I forgot that I, too, might have a stake in this visit as well.
The Adamses of the early founding days of our country were voracious readers. John Adams read everything he could get his hands on, especially during his years in Europe where he could access such a wider variety of writing. His son, John Quincy Adams, was even greater read than his father, since he was literate in at least a dozen languages. Books were valuable to the Adamses so, at his father's request for fire-proof protection of the books, Charles Francis Adams built a separate Stone Library away from the wood frame house. This library houses a collection of 14,000 volumes, many of them priceless and rare.
At the end of the Quincy tour, we had to say good-bye to the Bettinellis. Myles and Brigid enjoyed their company so much; other homeschooled kids who like history and can sing along with Hamilton.
Later in the summer, we would see even more things associated with the Presidents Adamses. We spent a few days in Washington, DC, somewhere I knew we would find more Adams.
The White House, for instance, was only briefly occupied by John Adams at the end of his term. John Quincy Adams, of course, also lived there.
At the Smithsonian, we found a few more Adams artifacts in the First Ladies exhibit.
Both Abigail Adams' and Louisa Catherine Adams' china service sets are represented there.
We also spent a morning at the National Archives. While we enjoyed the exhibits there, our main goal was to see the "Charters of Freedom."
John Adams signed both the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights. The Declaration of Independence is, as many are aware, so faded that it is difficult to make out many of the words and the signatures. I had looked at an image of the document online to get an idea where Adams signed his name, so Brigid and I were able to find it. On the Bill of Rights it was much clearer, and Brigid was ecstatic to see John Adams' own signature. Myles was likewise impressed, and laughed at my Alexander Hamilton references when we were looking at the Constitution. Like, by the time Hamilton signed this, he still had 843,690 things he hadn't done (but just you wait).
At the end of summer 2015, I mentioned in a blog post Brigid's fascination with John Adams. Of all the Founding Fathers, Adams (and his wife Abigail, of course) really appeals to Brigid. I think this is because he is portrayed as stubbornly committed to Liberty and Independence. Having a wife who was spirited (and portrayed in the film 1776 as a bit sassy) probably helped. Anyway, he is among Brigid's favorite historical figures.
In the summer of 2016, we had the opportunity to visit a few places connected to John Adams, much to Brigid's delight. Randy had a meeting near Framingham, and we were able to spend a few days touring around some Massachusetts sites. We hit the Freedom Trail in Boston with my cousin Denis, Lexington and Concord, and Quincy (with all the Adams family sites) with the Bettinelli family (!!)
More after the jump
I think there must be a law that first-time tourists to Boston must walk the Freedom Trail. I did it when I was in high school with my parents. And this past summer my cousin Denis graciously walked it with us. It involved all the usual sites, like the Massachusetts State House and King's Chapel. It was when we hit anything related to the Declaration of Independence and John Adam that Brigid really perked up on that summer day.
Like the site of the Boston Massacre, the defense of which tested John Adams as both a lawyer and a Patriot.
And the Old State House, where from the balcony the Declaration of Independence was read to the public on July 18, 1776.
Later that week we planned to go to Quincy for a day. I had messaged Melanie that I thought we would be near where they lived and we were up for lunch or playtime or whatever. Much to our delight, the Bettinelli family was up for a tour of the Adams National Park.
On the tour of Adams National Park, we were taken by bus to the three homes in Quincy associated with John Adams. The first two, his boyhood home and his first residence after marriage, were one stop on the tour.
Photographs are not permitted inside the Adams houses, so we had to do without pictures of ourselves and the kids in any "room where it happened." The first house was the home of John Adams' parents, built in 1681 and purchased in 1720 by Deacon John Adams and his wife. There was not much to see in the house as it was furnished in the simple style of the President's parents. It was, however, amazing to be in the house where John Adams spent his boyhood.
Next to John Adams' birthplace is the birthplace of John Quincy Adams. This home, built in 1663, was part of the property Deacon John Adams purchased in 1720. For years it had been occupied by tenants until John Adams and his new wife Abigail, moved into to it to make it their first home. Again, the interior was decorated in the style of the young John Adams family, but not with the exact pieces (those we would see later). In this house were several "rooms where it happened," like the kitchen hearth, where Abigail famously melted her own pewter dinnerware to make bullets, and the front room where John Adams stood at his desk and wrote the Massachusetts Constitution.
The guides in the National Park system really are a treasure. At Adams National Park they were no exception. At the two adjacent Presidential birthplaces, one guide took great care for us to notice the differences between the two homes. One, simply furnished and just weathered shakes on the outside. A home of a farmer. The other, outfitted with more chairs, tables, and desks as well as having a painted exterior. A home of a lawyer with aspirations.
The birthplaces were incredible to see, but the highlight of the Adams National Park tour is Peacefield, the home John and Abigail purchased when they thought they were retiring from public life in 1787. Of course, this is not quite how the years unfolded for them after their return from London. However, this is where they made their home, even with Adams serving as Vice-President and then President in Philadelphia and, briefly, Washington. Here their furnishings of their marriage were assembled and still cared for by the National Park Service. Their art collection. The chairs in which they welcomed distinguished visitors, like the Marquis de Lafayette (Lafayette!). The upstairs study where John Quincy Adams in his life would read daily from the Mendi Bible. Many of the rooms were roped off, permitting only glimpses inside, but we even got to see Abigail Adams' bullet-mold, collected among other family jewelry. How did the Adams descendants know how important that would be historically to preserve it, I had to wonder.
Randy and I both choked up once a piece on the tour. For Randy, it was seeing in an upstairs hallway at Peacefield a printer's proof copy of the Declaration of Independence. It had been given to John Adams. This particular proof had been made by pressing against the dampened original. Randy was in awe of seeing this, original ink in the forms signed by the original hands. For me it was when the guide described the gardens around Peacefield, and that the box hedges were at least from the time of John and Abigail's occupancy, and the Yorkist rose bush she brought from London thrived yet. That caused me to gasp audibly, much to my embarrassment. I had been so wrapped up in my kids' sense of the day that I forgot that I, too, might have a stake in this visit as well.
The Adamses of the early founding days of our country were voracious readers. John Adams read everything he could get his hands on, especially during his years in Europe where he could access such a wider variety of writing. His son, John Quincy Adams, was even greater read than his father, since he was literate in at least a dozen languages. Books were valuable to the Adamses so, at his father's request for fire-proof protection of the books, Charles Francis Adams built a separate Stone Library away from the wood frame house. This library houses a collection of 14,000 volumes, many of them priceless and rare.
At the end of the Quincy tour, we had to say good-bye to the Bettinellis. Myles and Brigid enjoyed their company so much; other homeschooled kids who like history and can sing along with Hamilton.
Later in the summer, we would see even more things associated with the Presidents Adamses. We spent a few days in Washington, DC, somewhere I knew we would find more Adams.
The White House, for instance, was only briefly occupied by John Adams at the end of his term. John Quincy Adams, of course, also lived there.
At the Smithsonian, we found a few more Adams artifacts in the First Ladies exhibit.
Both Abigail Adams' and Louisa Catherine Adams' china service sets are represented there.
We also spent a morning at the National Archives. While we enjoyed the exhibits there, our main goal was to see the "Charters of Freedom."
John Adams signed both the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights. The Declaration of Independence is, as many are aware, so faded that it is difficult to make out many of the words and the signatures. I had looked at an image of the document online to get an idea where Adams signed his name, so Brigid and I were able to find it. On the Bill of Rights it was much clearer, and Brigid was ecstatic to see John Adams' own signature. Myles was likewise impressed, and laughed at my Alexander Hamilton references when we were looking at the Constitution. Like, by the time Hamilton signed this, he still had 843,690 things he hadn't done (but just you wait).
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