Coolidge Homestead
{{short description|Childhood home of the 30th President of the US}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2023}}
{{Infobox NRHP
| name = Calvin Coolidge Homestead District
| nrhp_type = nhld
| nocat = yes
| image = Coolhouse.jpg
| caption = The Coolidge Homestead, 1976.
| location = Plymouth Notch, Vermont
| locmapin = Vermont#USA
| area = {{convert|130|acre|ha}}
| built = {{start date|1872}}
| added = October 15, 1966{{NRISref|2007a}}
| refnum = 66000794
| nrhp_type2 = cp
| designated_nrhp_type2 = December 12, 1970
| partof = Plymouth Historic District
| partof_refnum = 70000084
}}
The Coolidge Homestead, also known as Calvin Coolidge Homestead District or President Calvin Coolidge State Historic Site, was the childhood home of the 30th president of the United States, Calvin Coolidge and the place where he first took the presidential oath of office. Located in Plymouth Notch, Vermont, Coolidge lived there from age four in 1876 to 1887, when he departed for Black River Academy for education. He is buried in Plymouth Notch Cemetery not far from the home.
History
File:Plymouth Notch Vermont USA birthplace of Calvin Coolidge.JPG
The home was bought by his father, John Coolidge, who expanded it from a simple {{frac|1|1|2}}-story farm house to its present size and appearance today.
file:First inauguration of Calvin Coolidge.jpg
Despite living most of his life in Northampton, Massachusetts, Calvin Coolidge often returned to the homestead to visit his family, and he 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 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:
- A Visitors 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.{{Cite journal|title=National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: Calvin Coolidge Homestead District|url={{NHLS url|id=66000794}} |format=pdf|date=July 25, 1975 |author=Polly M. Rettig and S. Sydney Bradford |publisher=National Park Service}} and {{NHLS url|id=66000794|title=Accompanying 10 photos, from 1974, c.1880, 1924, and undated.|photos=y}} {{small|(1.53 MiB)}}
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. Four generations of the family, including the President, are buried in nearby Plymouth Notch Cemetery. The Calvin Coolidge State Park, a developed part of the Coolidge State Forest, is also close by.[http://www.vtstateparks.com/htm/coolidge.cfm Coolidge State Park] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303232625/http://www.vtstateparks.com/htm/coolidge.cfm |date=2016-03-03 }}
Images
Image:15_23_0546 coolidge homestead.jpg|The Tool Room
Image:15 23 0677 coolidge church.jpg|Union Christian Church
Image:15 23 0578 coolidge homestead.jpg|Calvin Coolidge Birthplace
Image:15 23 0695 coolidge homestead.jpg|Top of the Notch Cabins
Image:15 23 0700 coolidge homestead.jpg|Florence Ciley General Store / Coolidge Hall
;Coolidge Hall
Image:15 23 0607 coolidge homestead.jpg|Coolidge Hall
Image:15 23 0616 coolidge homestead.jpg|detail of instruments
;Wilder Barn
Image:Calvin Coolidge Homestead District barn in Plymouth Notch Vermont.JPG|exterior
Image:15 23 0628 coolidge homestead.jpg|interior
;Wilder Horse Barn Exhibits
Image:15 23 0658 coolidge homestead.jpg|19th century carriage
Image:15 23 0667 coolidge homestead.jpg|1923 Model T Ford
See also
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20090430112852/http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/presidents/calvin_coolidge_homestead.html National Park Service site on the Coolidge Homestead]
- [https://historicsites.vermont.gov/calvin-coolidge President Calvin Coolidge State Historic Site] - official website
- [http://www.c-span.org/video/?151626-1/life-portrait-calvin-coolidge "Life Portrait of Calvin Coolidge"], from C-SPAN's American Presidents: Life Portraits, broadcast from the Coolidge Homestead, September 27, 1999
{{Calvin Coolidge}}
{{National Historic Landmarks in Vermont}}
{{NRHP in Windsor County, Vermont}}
{{coord|43|32|09|N|72|43|20|W|type:landmark_region:US-VT|display=title}}
Category:Vermont State Historic Sites
Category:Presidential homes in the United States
Category:National Historic Landmarks in Vermont
Category:Organizations based in Vermont
Category:Houses completed in 1872
Category:Historic house museums in Vermont
Category:Museums in Windsor County, Vermont
Category:Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Vermont
Category:Biographical museums in Vermont
Category:Presidential museums in the United States
Category:Houses in Windsor County, Vermont
Category:Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Vermont
Category:National Register of Historic Places in Windsor County, Vermont