Jun 26, 2010 - the farm of a Patriot

Paying respects to John and Abigail Adams Four years ago Madolyn bought me David McCullough’s Pulitzer Prize winning biography of John Adams. Last year I finally opened it. By the end of the first chapter I couldn’t put it down. John Adams was one of the most heroic and influential leaders of the American Revolution, yet for years his contributions found little space in the history books. Adams knew that Washington, Jefferson and Franklin would overshadow him, and he told them at the time that they were the ones who would be remembered....

May 16, 2010 - Arriving in Quincy, Massachusetts

Arriving in Quincy, Massachusetts After leaving Washington and driving around NYC, we made our way to Quincy in a day and a half. We arrived at Scott and Kiti's house on Sunday afternoon in time for Scott and Bill to go to a baseball game. These are shots of the first couple of days after arriving. We needed to relax a little before getting settled in to help with the new house. We are staying at the new house in the backyard up on a hill. Behind our campsite is a woods and behind that is an old abandoned quarry. Turkeys come out of the...

Jul 11, 2008 - Quincy, MA

On Friday we completed our whirlwind tour of historical sites by visiting Quincy, the city where both John Adams and John Quincy Adams were born. The city actually has several other “claims to fame”, including being home to John Hancock, home of the first commercial railroad which was founded to transport Quincy granite to Charlestown for the construction of the Bunker Hill monument, birthplace of Dunkin’ Donuts and Howard Johnson, and birthplace of the phrase “Kilroy was Here”. James Kilroy worked at the Bethlehem Steel Shipyard in Quincy...

Jun 19, 2008 - John Quincy Adams National Historic Site

Today we drove into the town of Quincy, MA, suburb of Boston. We went to the birthplace of John Quincy Adams and the homes he lived in until his death. The house he grew up in was a quaint little house, but a little too primitive for my taste. Then after his term as president, he had a house that was much larger and quite opulent for that era. He had his son build him a library made of rock, so that it would not burn and destroy his collection of books. It is still standing, of course, and still houses his books. We really should admire...