Adams National Historical Park
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Former U.S. National Historic Site
U.S. National Historical Park
John Adams birthplace
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Location	135 Adams St.,Quincy, Massachusetts
Coordinates	42°15′23″N71°0′41″W / 42.25639°N 71.01139°W /42.25639; -71.01139
Area	8.5 acres (3.4 ha) (NRHP listing) 13.82 acres (5.59 ha) (9.17 acres (3.71 ha) federal)
Built	1681
Architectural style	Georgian, Federal
Visitation	12,848 (2022)[2]
Website	Adams National Historical Park
NRHP reference No.	66000051[1]
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	October 15, 1966
Boundary increase	November 26, 1952
Designated NHS	December 9, 1946
Designated NHP	November 2, 1998

Adams National Historical Park, formerlyAdams National Historic Site, inQuincy, Massachusetts, preserves the homes ofUnited States presidentsJohn Adams andJohn Quincy Adams, U.S. envoy toGreat Britain,Charles Francis Adams, and of writers and historiansHenry Adams andBrooks Adams.

Thenational historical park's eleven buildings tell the story of five generations of the Adams family (from 1720 to 1927) including presidents,first ladies, envoys, historians, writers, and family members who supported and contributed to their success. In addition toPeacefield, home to four generations of the Adams family, the park's main historic features include theJohn Adams Birthplace (October 30, 1735), the nearbyJohn Quincy Adams Birthplace (July 11, 1767), and the Stone Library (built in 1870 to house the books of John Quincy Adams and believed to be the firstpresidential library), containing more than 14,000 historic volumes in 12 languages.

There is an off-site Visitors Center less than a mile (1.6km) away. Regularly scheduled tours of the houses are offered in season (April 19 to November 10) by guided tour only. Access toUnited First Parish Church, also called the Church of the Presidents, where the Adamses worshipped and are buried, is provided by the congregation, for which they ask a small donation. TheChurch of the Presidents is across the town square from the Visitors Center and provides tours on a regular basis.

This house is aNational Historic Landmark, the birthplace ofJohn Adams. In 1720 it was purchased by DeaconJohn Adams, Sr., the father of the future second president. The younger Adams lived here until 1764, when he marriedAbigail Smith. It is a few feet from theJohn Quincy Adams Birthplace home, where John and Abigail Adams lived

The house where John and Abigail Adams and their family lived during the time he was working on theDeclaration of Independence and the Revolutionary War is also the 1767 birthplace of their son, John Quincy Adams. The younger Adams grew up in the home, and he and his family lived in it for a time later in life.

The Old House was originally constructed in 1731 for Leonard Vassall, a sugar plantation owner, and was used as his summer house. The house stood empty for some time before it, along with 75 acres (30 ha), was purchased by Adams on September 23, 1787, for 600 pounds. The Adams family renamed itPeacefield, moved in the next year, and various generations occupied it until 1927, whenBrooks Adams, the last occupant, died. That year, it was sold to the Adams Memorial Society.

TheNational Park Service acquired it in 1947, and it has been aNational Historic Site ever since.^[3]

The Stone Library, completed in 1870, stands next to Peacefield and houses personal papers and over 14,000 books that belonged to John Adams, John Quincy Adams, Charles Francis Adams,Henry Adams, andBrooks Adams. In his will, John Quincy Adams requested that the library be built out of stone so that it would be fireproof.

The Library holds John Adams' copy ofGeorge Washington's Farewell Address as well as theMendi Bible, a Bible presented to John Quincy Adams in 1841 by the freedMendi captives who had mutinied on the schoonerLa Amistad and whom Adams had successfully defended before the United States Supreme Court.^[4][5]

Henry Adams wrote his nine-volumeThe History of the United States of America 1801–1817 in the library.

On the evening of November 11, 1996, one or more thieves used a chainsaw to gain access to and rob the building.^[6] The break-in triggered the site’s alarm system; however, the perpetrators fled before police arrived.^[7]

Four priceless books were stolen: a 1772 English Bible which belonged toLouisa Catherine Adams (John Quincy Adams's English-born wife), a 1611King James Bible, an 18th-century copy ofMarcus Elieser Bloch'sIchthyology (which contained hand-painted illustrations), and the 1838Mendi Bible (which was presented to John Quincy Adams by the group of 53 Mendi tribes people whom Adams defended for at the Supreme Court).^[8] With the help of the FBI, the books were returned to Adams National Historical Park undamaged. Kevin P. Gildea, 42, was indicted on two counts of theft and one count each of concealing objects of cultural heritage and concealing government property.^[9]

The church where both presidents and first ladies are entombed in the Adams Crypt is in close walking distance to the park visitor center but is not and has never been run by the National Park Service. It is owned by the active congregation ofUnitarian Universalists. In the past ten years, the congregation has used almost $2 million of its own resources to preserve the building. Church volunteers regularly give tours of the crypt, and the church is a popular second destination among park visitors.

• February 13, 1927 —Brooks Adams, the last owner of the house, dies.
• December 9, 1946 — The Old House at Peacefield was designated theAdams Mansion National Historic Site
• 1948-Wilhelmina Harris, Brooks Adams's former secretary, is hired to work at the park.
• 1950 — Wilhelmina Harris is promoted to become the park's first superintendent
• November 26, 1952 — The site was renamedAdams National Historic Site and an adjoining parcel of land was added.
• December 19, 1960 — the birthplaces of both presidents were designatedNational Historic Landmarks.
• October 15, 1966 — The entire historic site was listed on theNational Register of Historic Places (as are all historic areas administered by theNational Park Service).
• December 30, 1970 — The privately owned United First Parish Church was also designated a National Historic Landmark.
• November 2, 1998 — The historic site was redesignatedAdams National Historical Park.^[10]

• National Register of Historic Places listings in Quincy, Massachusetts
• Presidential memorials in the United States

• Hugh, Howard; Roger Straus (2007).Houses of the Founding Fathers. Artisan.ISBN 978-1-57965-275-3.
• Luey, Beth (2019). "First Families: Adams National Historical Park, Quincy".At Home: Historic Houses of Eastern Massachusetts. University of Massachusetts Press.ISBN 978-1-62534-419-9.
• See Publications and Books onWilhelmina Harris page. Harris was the National Park Service Superintendent for the Adams Historical Park for 37 years, and worked ten years as social secretary toBrooks Adams until his death.

Wikimedia Commons has media related toAdams National Historical Park.

• Official NPS website:Adams National Historical Park
• Cultural Landscape report for the Adams Birthplaces, Adams National Historical Park, 2014
• "Life Portrait of John Adams", fromC-SPAN'sAmerican Presidents: Life Portraits, broadcast from Adams National Historical Park, March 22, 1999
• "Writings of Henry Adams", broadcast from Adams National Historical Park fromC-SPAN'sAmerican Writers

• Adams National Historical Park
• Adams family residences
• National Register of Historic Places in Quincy, Massachusetts
• National Historical Parks in Massachusetts
• Protected areas established in 1946
• Parks in Norfolk County, Massachusetts
• Museums in Quincy, Massachusetts
• Presidential museums in Massachusetts
• 1946 establishments in Massachusetts
• National historical parks of the United States
• Women in Massachusetts

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