PLYMOUTH NOTCH, Vt.--The 30th president of the United States – who also served as mayor of Northampton and governor of Massachusetts – was one of those “indomitable” Vermonters.
Born in Plymouth Notch, Vt., on July 4, 1872, Calvin Coolidge was sworn in as president by his father at his boyhood home during the summer of 1923 after the death of President Warren G. Harding.
A graduate of Amherst College who had practiced law in Northampton, Coolidge loved Vermont and its people, famously saying, “I love Vermont because of her hills and valleys, her scenery and invigorating climate, but most of all because of her indomitable people.”
A visit to the President Calvin Coolidge State Historic Site – considered one of the best preserved presidential sites in the country – provides an opportunity for visitors to drive through some of Vermont’s most beautiful hills and valleys and experience the Green Mountain state’s scenery and “invigorating” climate.
The homestead remains just as it was the night Coolidge took office.
“Plymouth Notch is a perfectly-preserved, early 20th century Vermont hill town,” said William W. Jenney, regional historic site administrator. “People come not just for the president’s association but to see what an early Vermont village looked like.”
In addition to the homestead, visitors may tour the Plymouth Cheese Factory, established by the president’s father and four area farmers in 1890, and sample the traditional granular curd cheese produced there.
Other buildings open to the public include the Cilley General Store, the post office, the Wilder Restaurant, the church, several barns with farming tools of the era, the dance hall that served as the 1924 Summer White House office, the home where the future president was born, the Aldrich House former tearoom and the President Calvin Coolidge Museum and Education Center.
The center features a new, interactive exhibit, “More Than Two Words: The Life and Legacy of Calvin Coolidge.”
The exhibit, Jenney, said, “is really exciting, state-of-the-art and appeals to folks of all ages.”
A large section of the new permanent exhibit is devoted to Coolidge’s Massachusetts years – from Amherst College, becoming a lawyer and then up the political ladder to the governorship. A few items for this exhibit were borrowed from the Calvin Coolidge Presidential Library and Museum at Forbes Library in Northampton.
After Oct. 14, the President Calvin Coolidge State Historic Site has winter hours but welcomes visitors to the Aldrich House exhibits and to walk, cross-country ski, snowshoe and snowmobile following the Vermont Association of Snow Travelers’ trail system.
There generally are a variety of winter events at the historic site including a holiday open house in December and a Presidents’ Week program in February.
The site will open for the summer on May 25, and events are to include a Coolidge birthday celebration in July, Plymouth Old Home Day and the 90th anniversary of the president’s swearing in during August and a folk and blues concert in September.
“Silent Cal,” as he was sometimes called, died suddenly of a heart attack at the age of 60 at his home, “The Beeches,” in Northampton in 1933; his body is buried in the Plymouth Notch cemetery with seven generations of Coolidges.