John Adams

John Adams was born and raised in this house in Massachusetts, a few miles south of Boston. Built around 1650, it is the oldest presidential birthplace still standing. Adams was born in 1735, and he lived in this house for 26 years.

The house is located at 133 Franklin Street, across from a funeral home and a diner.

When his father died in 1761, he inherited the house next door, at 141 Franklin Street, and moved into it. He converted the kitchen into his law office, and added a separate entrance for clients.

Though it is on a busy typical street today, the houses at that time were on rural farmland, on the old coast road between Plymouth and Boston.

The house is immersed in historic events–revolutionary soldiers marched past it, and the Constitution of Massachusetts, which preceded the US Constitution, was written inside by John Adams, Samuel Adams, and other patriots.

John Adams’ son, John Quincy Adams, who became the sixth president of the USA, was born in the house, in 1767.

John Adams bought his birthplace house next door from his brother in 1774, and kept them both for a while.

When his mother died in 1780, the old house was rented out, but Adams stayed on next door, at 141 Franklin, until 1783, when he left to live in Europe, and it too was rented out.

In 1788, after returning from Europe, John Adams became Washington’s vice president, and moved his family to a larger farm house he bought a few miles north, a place he called Peacefield.

He was living here when he became the second president of the USA in 1797, and continued to live here after his four years of the presidency.

He died at Peacefield in 1826, on the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

The National Park Service owns and operates both Adams locations–the old houses on Franklin Street, and Peacefield.

The park service operates a visitor center in between the two locations.

The visitor center is inside an office building in downtown Quincy (a town, incidentally, named after John Quincy, the grandfather of John Adams' wife Abigail).

The visitor center contains a gift shop and educational material about John Adams and John Quincy Adams.

Visitors can travel to the two Adams family locations by a trolley, which stops outside.

Across the street is the church where John Adams, John Quincy Adams, and their wives, are entombed.