The Adams Family

Just outside of Boston is where John and John Quincy Adams were born and lived much of their lives. How could I pass that up? I guess its because of harsh winters, but a lot of historical sites back east just close up for about 5 months of the year. I knew this was going to be the last day the Adams' site would be open until about April. Since I was here, I had to go. Plus on my quest to see all of the Presidential burial sites, this was a two-for-one.

John Adams is fairly popular because David McCollough wrote a best selling book about him and then there was a mini-series on HBO. John Quincy Adams is not as well known. They say he might be the smartest President we ever had. He spoke several languages. He was successful in just about everything he did except in being President. The Monroe Doctrine was basically written by him when he was Monroe's Secretary of State. He negotiated a treaty that got us Florida and he got the peace agreement that ended the War of 1812. He beat out Andrew Jackson to be President, which Andrew whined about for the next four years. Andrew and his buddies made sure John Q. didn't accomplish much as President. But after being President he went into the House of Representatives where he fought against slavery and got a starring role in the movie Amistad.

Their house is delightful.We had a nice tour of it. Every time the tour guide said "The Adams Family" I snapped my fingers twice just like the theme song. I, but now one else, found this hilarious. They said you could go to their nearby church and might be able to see where they are buried. I thought hopefully they'll show me or I'll have to find a way to break in. Luckily, there were people at the church that took us down to the basement to a tiny room. They, and their wives are in four granite (?) tombs behind a metal gate. We could see in, but no. They actually unlocked the gate and let us walk into the room. We could actually walk around and touch them. It seemed wrong somehow. Especially when I hugged John and John Quincy's tombs, but no one was watching so it's cool.