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Presidential roots
By MICHAEL SCHUMAN © St. Petersburg Times,
John Adams, second president of the United States, was short, fat and prematurely bald. He felt unappreciated by his contemporaries, and, for the most part, he was. For a politician, he let too many of his feelings show: He was honest almost to the point of rudeness. And he was proud. His political enemies nicknamed this pudgy, pompous man "His Rotundity." John Quincy Adams, the sixth president and son of the second president, was an austere, corpulent figure. Calvinistic in his attitudes, he was exceedingly demanding of himself, fiercely independent and anti-social. He lost many supporters by refusing, continuously and without conscience, to vote his party line. You can get a sense of the men and their times by visiting Adams National Historical Park in Quincy, Mass. The property comprises three buildings: the family mansion and the two men's birthplaces. Both Adamses now are regarded as two of the country's most proficient and learned statesmen. David McCullough's current best-selling book John Adams has been at the forefront of the Adams revival. Why this change in attitude? Consider that John Adams was one of the first leading colonists to call for a permanent break with Britain in the days leading up to the revolution. Later, he played an integral part in the negotiation of the Peace Treaty of Paris in 1783. His role was unfairly minimized due to the charm of his compatriot Benjamin Franklin. Perhaps Adams' greatest accomplishment as president was the avoidance of a war with France in 1799. This deed is admired mainly in retrospect; with the majority of Americans at the time calling for war, it likely cost Adams a second term. John Quincy Adams, president from 1825 to 1829, was the only chief executive to win an election while not receiving a majority of either popular or electoral votes. Four candidates split the 261 electoral votes in the election of 1824, and Adams, who had finished second to Andrew Jackson, was chosen by the House of Representatives to be the sixth president. With little support from either Congress or the citizenry, he accomplished little as president and, like his father, left office disappointed. But also like his father, John Quincy Adams was a commendable statesman whose credits are underrated. He was not entirely dismissed by his constituents: After his presidency, he spent 18 years in the House of Representatives, from 1830 to his death in 1848. Adams won election to the House without campaigning and later wrote, "No election or appointment conferred upon me ever gave me so much pleasure." The family mansion was known informally as the Old House -- its official name, Peacefield, never stuck. Visitors now can discover a connection between the family furniture and the Monroe administration: Two gold Empire-style chairs, known as the Monroe chairs, sit in the drawing room, or formal parlor. They were bought at a White House auction in 1861 by John Quincy's son, Charles Francis Adams, and remain in the house because Charles Francis' will stipulated that no Adams heirlooms were to be removed. Like the chairs, many of the objects in the Old House have a story to tell, some specifically of the Adamses, others of their times. For instance, the screen around the fireplace in the drawing room was used to reduce the heat of the fire, lest it melt women's makeup made of beeswax. The big, airy cushions on the chairs by the fireplace were put here to accommodate women's voluminous skirts. There is a 14,000-volume library, testifying to the family's scholarly interests, while art is found in almost all of the dozen and a half rooms. Numerous depictions of John and Abigail Adams, John Quincy and Louisa Adams, their contemporaries and relations depict them at various stages in their lives. Our guide told us that John Adams, subject to vanity and pride, placed the portrait that he felt least flattering in the butler's pantry, the darkest part of the house. John Adams' favorite room was the upstairs study. Here sits the escritoire where he wrote his memoirs, and here also is the upholstered wing chair where he died on July 4, 1826, at age 90. No president of the United States has lived longer. When he knew his life was about to end, Adams reportedly sighed, "Thomas Jefferson lives" -- his last words. There was no way the second president could have known that Jefferson had died earlier that same day -- July 4, 1826, the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Across town are the houses where both John and John Quincy Adams were born. The two saltbox homes that sit side by side were built in 1663 and 1681 and stand as the oldest U.S. presidential birthplaces. Both birthplaces are furnished with reproductions of original pieces that sit in the Old House. In the John Quincy Adams birthplace, John Adams wrote the Constitution for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. A reproduction of his desk is inside. If you missed the original painting of the two birthplaces in rural Quincy that hangs in the Old House, take a glance at the copy here. A stone wall marking the property line still exists as seen in the painting, but the dirt road and pastoral setting are long gone, replaced by the paved Franklin Street and the sprawling city of Quincy. - Michael Schuman is a freelance writer who lives in Keene, N.H. If you go
GETTING IN: All three houses are open 9 a.m.-5 p.m. daily, April 19-Nov. 10; first tour begins at 9:15 a.m., last full tour begins at 3:15 p.m. Admission to the park is $2 for adults; those under 16 are admitted free. Nearby, at 1306 Hancock St., is the United First Parish Church, final resting place of both presidents and first ladies. Admission to the church is $2. STAYING THERE: Lodging in Quincy includes the Presidents' City Inn, 845 Hancock St., (617) 479-6500, doubles, $95-$115; Adams Best Western, 29 Hancock St., (617) 328-1500, doubles, $119-$124; and Boston Quincy Marriott, 1000 Marriott Drive, (617) 472-1000, doubles, $179-$279. FOR MORE INFORMATION: Adams National Historical Park, 135 Adams St., Quincy, MA 02169-1749; call (617) 770-1175. The Web site is www.nps.gov/adam.
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From the Times Travel page
From the AP |
GETTING THERE: Adams National Historical Park is about 8 miles south of Boston. The National Park Service Visitor Center is at 1250 Hancock St., in the center of Quincy. All tours begin at the visitor center; a minibus provides transportation to the houses.
