History
The home, itself, was bought by his father, John Coolidge, who expanded the home from a simple 1 1⁄2-story farm house to its present size and appearance today.
Despite living most of his life in Northampton, Massachusetts, Coolidge often returned to the homestead to visit his family and was staying there when President Warren G. Harding, died. Coolidge was sworn in by his father in the family parlor after taking the Oath of Office for the presidency. Due to his father's refusal to modernize the house, it remains to this day in the same condition, and in some cases with the same furnishings, as it was the night Coolidge took the oath. The Inaugural Room itself is behind glass, but a visitor can stand in an alcove and see the lamp, Bible, and table that were used in the ceremony, all placed in their historic positions.
The Homestead District includes:
- Visitor Center
- Coolidge Homestead
- Farmer's Museum
- Wilder House
- Wilder Horse Barn
- Old Coolidge Farmhouse/Florence Ciley General Store/Coolidge Hall
- Coolidge Farm Shop
- Plymouth Cheese Factory (cheese making museum upstairs)
- One-Room Schoolhouse
- Azro Johnson House
- Union Christian Church
- Carrie Brown Coolidge Garden (begun by the President's stepmother)
- Aldrich House
- Top of the Notch Cabins (1927 tourist accommodations)
- Brown Family Farmhouse
- Plymouth Notch Cemetery
The district was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1965.
Today, the Coolidge Homestead is part of the Calvin Coolidge State Historical Site overseen by the state of Vermont. As far as possible the buildings have been returned to the conditions they were in when Coolidge was president. A simple video and picture display of his life is shown in the barn. The rooms in Coolidge Hall that he used as a Summer White House in 1924 have been restored and a video of contemporary newsreel film added.
It is located west and north of Vermont Route 100A in Plymouth Notch, and open daily from 9:30 A.M. to 5:00 P.M, late May to mid-October. Directly across the road from the buildings are the Coolidge family graves. Four generations of the family, including the President, are buried here. The Calvin Coolidge State Park, a developed part of the Coolidge State Forest, is also close by.
Read more about this topic: Coolidge Homestead
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“What you don’t understand is that it is possible to be an atheist, it is possible not to know if God exists or why He should, and yet to believe that man does not live in a state of nature but in history, and that history as we know it now began with Christ, it was founded by Him on the Gospels.”
—Boris Pasternak (1890–1960)
“All objects, all phases of culture are alive. They have voices. They speak of their history and interrelatedness. And they are all talking at once!”
—Camille Paglia (b. 1947)
“In every election in American history both parties have their clichés. The party that has the clichés that ring true wins.”
—Newt Gingrich (b. 1943)