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Saturday, October 05, 2013

A Day at Plymouth Notch, Vermont

It was just the beginning of foliage season when Geo and I took a drive to Plymouth Notch, the birthplace and boyhood home of our 30th President Calvin Coolidge. This historic site is unique among Presidential sites because it has changed very little since the time he grew up here. The buildings are restored and preserved with original furnishings. There is no other development in the area except for the new museum and education center.


The surroundings are rural and very scenic. 


The home where Calvin was born was attached to a general store.




Here's the first floor bedroom where he was born.


When he was four years of age, the family moved to the residence across the road.






The views from inside the home were especially beautiful on this early autumn day.

















When Vice President Calvin Coolidge was visiting his father in early August 1923, news came that President Warren Harding had unexpectedly died. At 2:47AM on August 3, Calvin's father administered the Presidential Oath of Office to his son who then became President. It all happened in the dimly lit sitting room of a country home in the little state of Vermont.

The room is preserved to look just as it did at the time.








Across the road is the church where the family 
worshiped.





A very short walk took us back to the general store. The upper floor of the store - a multipurpose room for storage, Grange meetings and dances - became the "summer White House."








Across the road from the store are cottages where President Coolidge's staff would stay. The cottages were very simply furnished, each one with a bed, a table and a chair. (The outhouse can be seen on the left.)






Before leaving, we drove a short ways to the cemetery to visit the gravesites of President Coolidge and his family.





President Calvin Coolidge, 30th President of the United States.

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