adams national historical park

Nice day trip that was fun and educational. We enjoyed seeing the homes and hearing the history. Also very affordable!

We thoroughly enjoyed our visit to the Adams homestead and the trolley tour of other historic landmarks in Quincy. I found amazing what the founding fathers and their wives sacrificed to establish our nation.

The Adams Historical site consists of several buildings that are not close together. Visitors take a van from place to place. We plugged the site into our GPS and ended up at the second home John Adams lived in. While there is a visitor center there and the people were very helpful, a better place to start is the main visitor center, separate from the Adams' homes, where there is an introductory film, which we didn't get to see since we started on what should have been the second stop. Make sure you go to the right place.The homes are interesting to see and the staff offer historical highlights, but for anyone who has read about the Adams ' family and even for those who haven't, the information was pretty elementary. I'd strongly suggest raising the level. The most impressive part of the tour was the beautiful library building, which houses John Quincy Adams' amazing collection and shows the incredible breadth of his interests and intellect. It's an interesting tour, but with a bit more tinkering and better information, it would be even better.

Great history lessons!! There are cemeteries, old churches, historic homes, and much more that go right back to the founding of our Country.

I've found that people travel all over to see historic sites but never check out what is right in their own backyard. Born in Boston,as a young child I would go with the summer program at the community center to the Freedom trail. We would visit the Old No Church, Burial grounds, Bunker Hill ,USS Constitution. We were never brought to Quincy which would have been a 10" drive I now live in Quincy, walking distance from "Peacefield" I made it a point to bring myself and my son to visit Peace Field and found it quite interesting to walk through the old house and library. Also visited the tombs of Abigail and John Adams, whom I never knew were in the basement of this church that I had gone by thousands of times as a child and adult.. There are a few other historic spots in the area that I've always said I would visit but have not. I highly recommend a visit to the Adam's historical park and the Thomas Crane Library ( also historic )Quincy center itself is not " touristy " (,which can be a good thing ). There are a few good restaurants and coffee shops. It is on the Red line (train ) so it is easy access from Boston approx 20 mins. Hopefully in the next decade after some redevelopment, it will be a a city of presidents that will servre the Adams' proud.They are talking about raising admission prices.

We thoroughly enjoyed our visit to the library. Having visited both Mt. Vernon and Monticello, it was amazing the difference of the lifestyles of the Adams' compared to Washington and Jefferson. The library was in a separate building and was quite impressive. If your every in the Boston area and want to see what life was like for President and Abigail Adams, be sure and take the tour.

This is a first rate experience. There is a shuttle which takes you from the visitor's center to the houses. A ranger walks you through each house. This was one of America's most remarkable families and I hope you will put it on your list of places to see with your children.

If you like history, this is a great spot. You can almost make a day of it and tour several Adams family sites in Quincy. If only time for one, you'll want to go to the main house. The tour is about an hour and our guide was friendly and knowledgeable. You can go to a nearby church and see where John and John Quincy and their wives are buried. Their birth places are also in Quincy. There is also a visitor center. You can even see the spot where Abigail and John Q. hiked up to view the Battle of Bunker Hill. All the people were very friendly and helpful. If you don't like history, it's still kind of interesting.

With a guided tour of three historic building by knowledgeable members of the park service who pointed out interesting facts about both John Adams and John Quincy Adams. An excellent experience

We are a British couple who are great fans of tbe HBO series on John Adams.This 2 hour visit was really interesting. The very entertaining docents put a great deal of flesh on our superficial knowledge. They brought the family to life and were able to answer any question thrown at them. Even the 30 min intro video at the visitor centre was interesting.So this was a 5 star experience for us, possibly 3 stars if you have no particular interest in the subject.We arrived mid Oct and had to wait 1 hour for the next available tour. The 30 min video covered half of this. During peak periods this could get verybusy.

Really enjoyed our tours and the guides were really well informed. As a John Adams fan it was really impressive to walk in his footsteps. Whilst the artefacts are limited it's the power of the presence that is exciting. The guies were really informative and passionate about their presentations. Well worth the trip.

Spent the morning in Quincy touring Adams National Historical Park. This was part of our family's Boston/Philly Revolutionary History trip. Enjoyed seeing the birthplaces and homes of 2nd and 6th presidents. Tour guides were very informative and knowledgeable. We learned so much behind the scenes history during our 2 hour tour through their homes. Free parking (ticket validated at NPS visitor vented) at Presidents Place parking garage was a nice surprise too.

Tours start at 15 minutes past the hour and are booked through the National Park Service Visitor Center located on Hancock Street at the Galleria. The trolley picks you up and transports you to the various sites of the former residences of the Adams' families. There is a fair amount of walking on this tour and there are steps involved at each location. The guides are very knowledgeable and friendly. They happily answered all of the group's questions. Tour takes about two hours from the time you step onto the trolley at the Visitor Center till your return there. You can take the Red Line T to Quincy Central and walk across the street to the Visitor Center. Parking is available but check the NPS site to see which lot they validate parking for. There are public bathrooms and snacks available at the Visitor Center but not on the actual tour. No photography within the buildings. The tour itself flows from one building to the next and moves easily from one generation of the Adams family to the next with each generation adding their own personal influence to their homes. The women who marry into the family are also discussed on the tour and not left out of history. The Library is an especially nice building with a wonderful collection containing the Mendi Bible and the 12 languages represented within the collection.

We booked tickets onto the $5 tour and were lucky to get one for just over an hour later. When we came back to the visitor centre to start it the rest of the day was sold out. We were even luckier that the other 4 people of our tour had got stuck in traffic and so we have a personal tour for just our group of four! Brilliant trolley ride to the houses, although some narration would have been good along the way.The first two birthplace houses were well restored and David the Ranger was knowledgeable and friendly. Spent about 45 minutes there , before heading to join Jim at Peacefield who was all dressed in period costume. The house was lovely, totally authentic and just brimming with history. The whole tour was fascinating, even for us Brits! And all at a bargain price.

A friend recommended the visit and said they liked it better than the JFK Library. I remember thinking, well I won't feel the same. But I became curious and decided to see for myself. This National Park is easily accessible from Boston by car. I will have to agree that this was an amazing historic site and at $5 one of the best values around. Start at the visitors center where you will see an excellent film and then take the bus. You will return here, so buy your souvenirs at the end. The journey takes about 2 hours and you will first see the John Adams and John Quincy Adams birthplaces. These two homes are just a few yards apart and now are on a busy thoroughfare in Quincy. The National Park Rangers were excellent docents and able to answer every odd question. At "Peace Field" which is the later Adams home, you will see "the first sofa" and "the first desk." You will also see the dining room table where President Monroe asked John Quincy Adams to be Secretary of State. You will also see John Adams favorite chair and the room where he died on July 4, 1826 exactly 50 years after Independence Day.