AmericanHeritage.com article

I had a post last week on sites related to John Adams around Boston. The second president is a hot topic with the premiere of the HBO miniseries. As I mentioned in last week's post, the best place to learn more about John and Abigail is the Adams National Historical Park in Quincy, Massachusetts, right outside of Boston. I have an article on the Adams National Historical Park now posted on AmericanHeritage.com. You can check it out here. At the moment it's also on the front page of the web site.

The Adams National Historical Park includes the birthplace of John Adams and his son, John Quincy Adams. It also includes the family estate, which John Adams christened "Peacefield." Most Americans are very familiar with the presidential estates of Mount Vernon and Monticello, but few know much about Peacefield. Visitors flock to the treasured presidential mansions of Washington and Jefferson and snap up items from their licensed product lines such as the Mount Vernon furniture collection or the Monticello wine collection. In contrast, there are no fancy Peacefield gift catalogs, and the only alcoholic beverage you'll find bearing the name of an Adams is the beer named after John's second cousin, Samuel Adams.

Peacefield served as a summer retreat for John Adams while he was president. If you think current presidents spend too much time away from the White House in summer months, consider that John Adams in 1799 spent nearly seven months away from the capital of Philadelphia at Peacefield from late March to September.