Abigail Adams Grave Site

I recently took a 30 minute train ride from Boston to Quincy where I enjoyed a sunny Saturday in the town of Quincy and a look around Adams National Historical Park. Located 10 miles south of Boston, the park includes the birthplaces of two presidents, the “summer White House,” Stone Library, the Adams Carriage House, and 13 acres of a historic landscape that reflects the lifestyles and values of four generations of the Adams family. It was here too that I learned a bit more about Abigail Adams, the namesake of our Abigail’s Tearoom.

The Old House at Peacefield was the home of John Adams (1735–1826), his son John Quincy Adams (1767 –1848), his wife Louisa Catherine Adams, their son Charles Francis Adams (ambassador to the UK during the American Civil War), and Charles’ sons Brooks Adams and Henry Adams (friend of Okakura Kakuzo, author of the Book of Tea). Located just down the street in the town center is the United First Parish Church.

First gathered in 1636 as a branch of First Church in Boston, this congregation was established in 1639. This magnificent building was completed in 1828 and is the fourth meeting house of the Church. The present church building, considered the finest existing Greek Revival church in New England, is a National Historic Landmark. It was designed by noted architect Alexander Parris, who also designed Quincy Market in Boston.

Located in the crypt below the front vestibule, are the remains of two United States presidents, John Adams and John Quincy Adams. Buried beside their husbands are the two former first ladies, Abigail Adams and Louisa Catherine Adams (the only First Lady to have been born outside of the United States).

The White House honors these two presidents each year on their birthdays by sending an honor guard to the crypt for the Presidential Wreath Laying Ceremony.

Read more about the Adams National Historical Park.  Photographs by Bruce Richardson.