Adams Houses
Jen V.
This is a picture of Anna, Erin, Katelyn, and Jen in front of John Quincy Adams birthplace.
The Adams' houses have beautiful architecture. John Adams was born in 1735 in a salt box house. John Quincy Adams' birthplace is located 75 feet from his fathers birthplace. John Quincy Adams started a family in that house with his wife Abigail Adams. John Quincy built his law office in his house. Samuel Adams and James Bowdoin and John Quincy Adams wrote the Massachusetts Constitution at John Quincy's house.
The "old house" was built in 1731. John Quincy and Abigail bought
the house. The mansion was occupied from 1788 to 1927. It was the residence
for four generations of the Adams. The "old house" is known
as the Adams mansion. The mansion never passed from the hands of the Adams.
The "old house" is the most historic house in the United States.
The people who lived in the "old house" were President John
Adams, John Quincy Adams, the First Ladies Abigail and Louisa Catherine
Adams, civil war minister to Great Britain Charles Francis Adams and literary
historians Henry and Brooks Adams.
This picture contains some of the china found in the Adams mansion.
The "old house" consists of 78,000 artifacts inside. The house had an 18th century style formal garden, which contains thousands of annual and perennial flowers. The garden has 40 acres of land, a variety of fruit trees, and an Orchard. Neither the architecture nor the contents of the house represent any single period of time. The mansion has mixtures of styles of furniture, china, rugs, pictures, books, and kitchen equipment. The "old house" was altered and added over the decades, to accommodate the family's needs during their missions and travel to all parts.
This is a picture of the kitchen, which is in the first floor of the Adams mansion.
When Abigail and John Quincy Adams bought the house
it was already an old house. It had been built as a country Villa. When
Leonard Vassall Borland built the house it consisted of only the present
paneled room, west entry, and a dinning room on the ground-floor, two
bedrooms on the second floor, and several rooms in the attic. In the back
was the kitchen, which was detached. At first the ceilings were very low
and the rooms were very small. When John Quincy Adams went away to Washington,
he left Abigail in charge of the house. She enlarged his library and constructed
the east wing. The east wing consisted of a wide hallway, a long room,
and bedrooms on the third floor. This house became the permanent house
for the Adams. Abigail felt as if she was in a "wrens house."
In the main house the rooms seemed so small and the ceilings were so low.
Abigail enlarged the house without her husband's knowledge. John Quincy
Adams added the second story passage at the back of the house. Charles
Francis Adams, who was the civil war minister of Great Britain, thought
it would be better to demolish the whole house and build a new one. Charles
improved the kitchen facilities and hired the best architects that Boston
could afford and built a Stone Library. This caused the new street and
railroad to be backed up. The Stone Library contained their books, their
papers documenting their personal and public lives.
The United First Parish Church was constructed in 1828. Alexander Parris
designed the Church. Beneath the sanctuary is the crypt, which is the
final resting-place of President John Adams and John Quincy Adams, and
the First Ladies Abigail and Louisa Catherine Adams. The United First
Parish Church is now an active parish.
Each generation added new additions to the house and altered it in many
different ways. The last generation didn't want to add anything and didn't
want to live there so they made the "old house" into a museum.
The "old house" is visited by many people everyday. The artifacts
are original The "old house" is a very luxurious house.
Bibliography
Adams National Historical Park Quincy Massachusetts: National Park Service
U.S. Department of the Interior
Brown, Richard.Massachusetts: A History.New York; WW Norton & Company;
1978
Drinker, Catherine. John Adams the American Revolution; Boston Atlantic
Monthly Press Book, Little Brown and Company; 1950
http://www.nps.gov/adam/
http://www.southshoreserver.com/adamsmansion/