One of our favorite places in MA was the town of Quincy, home of John Adams, a great man and one of the Founding Fathers. We learned a lot about his life, family, and the way they lived. Here is a statue of his wife, Abigail, and son John Quincy Adams.
Here is a photo of the front of the house John Adams was born in. It is not as big as it looks, but is as old as it looks. It is really a shame you cannot take pictures inside as the living accommodations were remarkable.
This house has obviously received some remodeling, but on the inside it was still authentic. Here is where John & Abigail lived after they were married. While John was away Abigail climbed a hill less than a mile to the east of this house and watched the Battle of Bunker Hill some miles away on the other side of the river in Charlestown. She wrote that it was that experience that convinced her that there was no turning back, that they were indeed at war. By the way, the house above faces this side of this house. I took both pictures virtually standing in the same spot, just turning.
This is a great library, holding all the books of three+ generations of Adams'. It is a lot of wood and a whole lot of books inside. Very nice!
This is the west side of the Adams' place that they moved into upon their return from Europe. Only the very front (on the right) is original, the middle and the back (on the left) were added on later. Everything inside is original - some of the furniture, which is very fancy, was brought by the Adams family from France and was the first furniture in the new White House. Oh, and by the way, it was purchased second-hand in France.
This is the southeast view of the house. The original house stopped where the porch does, so you can see that even though the house at the time was one of the most spacious in town, it really wasn't that big.
And finally, here is a video of the grounds on the west side of the house. They are beautiful. One of the things we really loved about our visit to Quincy, and indeed, everywhere we went back East, was the blooming lilac bushes that seemed to be everywhere.
Here is a photo of the front of the house John Adams was born in. It is not as big as it looks, but is as old as it looks. It is really a shame you cannot take pictures inside as the living accommodations were remarkable.
This house has obviously received some remodeling, but on the inside it was still authentic. Here is where John & Abigail lived after they were married. While John was away Abigail climbed a hill less than a mile to the east of this house and watched the Battle of Bunker Hill some miles away on the other side of the river in Charlestown. She wrote that it was that experience that convinced her that there was no turning back, that they were indeed at war. By the way, the house above faces this side of this house. I took both pictures virtually standing in the same spot, just turning.
This is a great library, holding all the books of three+ generations of Adams'. It is a lot of wood and a whole lot of books inside. Very nice!
This is the west side of the Adams' place that they moved into upon their return from Europe. Only the very front (on the right) is original, the middle and the back (on the left) were added on later. Everything inside is original - some of the furniture, which is very fancy, was brought by the Adams family from France and was the first furniture in the new White House. Oh, and by the way, it was purchased second-hand in France.
This is the southeast view of the house. The original house stopped where the porch does, so you can see that even though the house at the time was one of the most spacious in town, it really wasn't that big.
And finally, here is a video of the grounds on the west side of the house. They are beautiful. One of the things we really loved about our visit to Quincy, and indeed, everywhere we went back East, was the blooming lilac bushes that seemed to be everywhere.
Thanks for your visit and your appreciation of Quincy. I, too, like the statue of Abigail and little Johnny. I am puzzled by the quill in Abigail's hand and have concluded that it is a ball point quill. Abigail's left hand rests on little John Quincy Adams' shoulder. Based on my understanding of the family the mother's hand was most often pushing her eldest son.
ReplyDeleteDid you stop in to visit the Church of the Presidents? Most Mondays, I lead tours, there. It a Unitarian Universalist Church.
Your side bar references the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Do you know why there are no great Unitarian Choirs? I'll tell you: They are always looking ahead to the next verse to see if they will agree with it.
Thanks for the comment Jim. Unfortunately, we were trying to pack 2 day's of excitement into 1 and had to skip the Church of the Presidents. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but we have been told more than once it was a mistake to bypass that. A mistake we won't make again.
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