Nearby: Peacefield

My lovely mother visited this weekend and in honor of her love for colonial history, we visited John Adam's Peacefield, also known as the Old House. We left Somerville while it rained but the clouds-very appropriately- broke upon our arrival at Peacefield. The place is quite idyllic, even surrounded by 21st century bustle. The house was actually built a few years before John Adams was born and the family did not move there until 1788. But once they settled, they stayed. In fact, four generations of Adamses stayed, until 1927. What you see is not what originally was there, however. Like any house, Peacefield underwent renovations several times and each generation left their own mark. But for the most part, the rooms are what John and Abigail would have remembered. 

They would not, however, notice the Stone Library, what lies adjacent to the house and what is considered the country's first presidential library. It was built in 1873 to hold John Quincy Adams collection of 14,000 volumes-scores and scores of books in dozens of languages and on hundreds of subjects. Of course, no photographs allowed in the library or the house, but the gardens, the orchard and the exterior of these buildings were enough to delight this amateur....