BIOGRAPHY HOMESPUN INAUGURAL TOUR PLYMOUTH NOTCH VERMONT'S BRIGADOON

Plymouth Notch has been called one of the best-preserved presidential sites in the nation. Birthplace and boyhood home of Calvin Coolidge, this small Vermont hill town is virtually unchanged since August 3, 1923. It was then that Vice President Coolidge was visiting his old family home, and the unexpected news of Warren Harding's death had just been received. Coolidge became the 30th President of the United States when his father, a notary public, swore him into office at 2:47 a.m. in the sitting room. A single kerosene lamp lit the scene.

The so-called "Homestead Inaugural," unique in American history, immediately brought Plymouth Notch to world attention. Without electricity or plumbing, old-fashioned Plymouth fascinated most Americans of the sophisticated "Roaring Twenties." Thousands of visitors descended, including one memorable day in 1924 when 4,500 cars were counted in the village, which normally numbered twenty-nine residents.

	"Coolidge Village" Artist: William Fisher. Oil on canvas, c. 1925

Plymouth Notch continued to be a major attraction through the 1930s, until gas rationing sharply curtailed Vermont tourism during World War II. Nevertheless, there was continued interest in the presidential site. In 1947, the Vermont Legislature established the Historic Sites Commission, now known as the Vermont Division for Historic Preservation (VDHP) (1). One of the primary charges to the Commission was that "special attention be given to the suitable development of President Coolidge's birthplace."

At that time, all the village buildings were privately owned, and none were restored and open to the public. In 1947 the State of Vermont purchased the Wilder House (the home of Calvin's mother) and began renovations to open it as an information center and lunchroom. Soon afterwards, the Wilder Barn was restored and a major agricultural collection was assembled to exhibit in the large structure. The State also made significant repairs to the Notch Cemetery, which improved public accessibility at the presidential gravesite.

Impressed by the State of Vermont's efforts at Plymouth Notch, and following the wishes of First Lady Grace Coolidge, John Coolidge (son of the President) and his wife Florence donated the Coolidge Homestead and its contents to the State in 1956. Over the next several decades, the State purchased major parcels of land and significant buildings in Plymouth Notch, and, in 1972, for the centennial of President Coolidge's birth, constructed a modern Visitor Center.

With the exception of the Union Christian Church (owned by the Calvin Coolidge Memorial Foundation), the Vermont Division for Historic Preservation now owns and maintains nearly the entire historic village - some two dozen buildings and 550 acres. (2) This complex, called the "President Calvin Coolidge State Historic Site," encompasses most of the Plymouth Notch Historic District, which is a National Historic Landmark. The state historic site includes the Coolidge Birthplace, Coolidge Homestead, Wilder House, Wilder Barn, Aldrich House (the home of Calvin's stepmother), Plymouth Cheese Factory, general store, dance hall, one-room schoolhouse, three early tourist cabins, and two prominent farmhouses with associated outbuildings. The U.S. Postal Service rents space in the general store building, continuing its nearly 150-year tenure in that structure. The site has a restaurant (serving breakfast and lunch) and three museum stores. Two walking trails, developed in 1994, allow visitors to explore the surrounding fields and forest.

Site interpretation focuses on Calvin Coolidge's boyhood years, as well as the pivotal years of 1923 and 1924. (1923 -- when Coolidge was sworn in as President in the family homestead; 1924 -- when he established his Summer White House office in the village dance hall.) A typical tour begins at the Visitor Center Museum where permanent and temporary exhibits examine the presidency and related topics. The historic tour includes 11 buildings, four of which have been restored and opened to the public since 1991. Museum guides are stationed in the principal buildings to assist visitors as they walk through the village -- a minimum of two hours is suggested. The site is open seasonally (late May - mid October), but the Vermont Division for Historic Preservation maintains a year-round regional office and exhibits in the Aldrich House.

Working closely with town organizations and the Calvin Coolidge Memorial Foundation, the VDHP has developed several special events including Plymouth Old Home Day (early August,) Plymouth Cheese & Harvest Festival (mid September), and Coolidge Christmas Open House (mid-December). The July 4th Coolidge Birthday Celebration is especially popular. (3) Other programs include on-site school activities, lecture series, and historic farming demonstrations and wagon rides.

The President Calvin Coolidge State Historic Site collects, preserves, manages, and exhibits materials associated with Calvin Coolidge, his family, and with the region of Plymouth Notch, Vermont from the late 18th to early 20th century. The VDHP owns and curates the principal collection of three-dimensional artifacts associated with President and Mrs. Coolidge, and many of these objects are on permanent display at the historic site. This collection numbers approximately 10,000 objects, and is continually expanding by donation (particularly, from the Coolidge family), purchase, and deaccession from other institutions. Remarkably, several of the state-owned buildings have their original early 20th century furnishings (e.g., the Coolidge Homestead, Birthplace, and 1924 Summer White House office).

	'Tumbling Blocks' This elaborate quilt top, made by ten-year-old Calvin Coolidge in 1882, is preserved in the Coolidge family homestead.

Artifacts include the President's medal collection, presidential gifts of state, Coolidge family portraits, decorative arts, household furnishings, Grace Coolidge's formal gowns and other personal accessories, and one of the country's finest collections of late 19th/early 20th century agricultural equipment. The VDHP works closely with the other "Coolidge collections" -- Calvin Coolidge Presidential Library & Museum at the Forbes Library (Northampton, MA), Vermont Historical Society (Montpelier, VT), Library of Congress, and Calvin Coolidge Memorial Foundation (Plymouth, VT) -- and regularly loans objects for exhibitions at other presidential museums and libraries.

The Division employs about 25 local residents as building interpreters and groundskeepers. In addition, a volunteer corps assists with collections management, trail maintenance, and caring for the period gardens.

The Vermont Division for Historic Preservation encourages the discovery and appreciation of the state's rich heritage through the stewardship and interpretation of historic sites that evoke an authentic sense of time and place. Plymouth Notch is significant to all Vermonters and the American people, and the Division is strongly committed to its preservation, protection, and enhancement. Short and long term goals include: expand the Visitor Center and improve its permanent exhibition, reconstruct the Wilder Horse Barn (the only major structure missing from the center of the historic village), modernize the cheese factory operation (recently purchased from John Coolidge) and design an exhibit that will feature the original 1890s cheesemaking equipment, develop an educational center in the one-room schoolhouse, and establish a working farm.

With each passing year, President Calvin Coolidge and his era are within the living memory of fewer Americans. One of Plymouth's greatest assets, however, is that it is far more than a presidential birthplace. Although visitor surveys indicate that the presidential association still draws many of the 40,000 annual visitors to Plymouth, an increasing number come to experience what Vermont and the rest of the country "used to be like."

One can almost imagine Cal Coolidge walking down the village street. All of the buildings are in their original locations and modern utility lines are buried underground. When the evening mist settles into the meadow below East Mountain, some are even inspired to call the village "Vermont's Brigadoon." Plymouth's survival is all the more remarkable given that three major ski areas are only a few miles distant.

Although school and career took Calvin Coolidge to Massachusetts and ultimately to Washington, D.C., he returned to Plymouth Notch throughout his life to rejuvenate body and spirit. He is buried with seven generations of Coolidges in the steep hillside cemetery that is just a short walk from the village green. Undoubtedly, the President was thinking of his boyhood home when he delivered one of his most eloquent speeches:

"Vermont is a state I love.
I could not look upon the peaks of Ascutney,
Killington, Mansfield and Equinox
Without being moved in a way that no other scene could move me.
It was here that I first saw the light of day;
Here I receive my bride;
Here my dead lie,
pillowed on the loving breast of our everlasting hills.
I love Vermont because of her hills and valleys,
Her scenery and invigorating climate,
but most of all because of her indomitable people.
They are a race of pioneers who have almost beggared themselves
to serve others.
If the spirit of liberty should vanish in other parts of the union
and support of our institutions should languish,
It could all be replenished from the generous store held by the people
Of this brave little state of Vermont." (4)

The President Calvin Coolidge State Historic Site is located 6 miles south of U.S. 4 on VT 100A, about midway across the state. The site is open late May - mid October (May 25 - Oct 20, 2002), daily, 9:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. For further information, write: PCCSHS, Plymouth Notch Historic District, P.O. Box 247, Plymouth, Vermont 05056. Telephone: (802) 672-3773 or visit our web site: www.historicvermont.org

William W. Jenney
Regional Historic Site Administrator
Vermont Division for Historic Preservation

ENDNOTES:

(1) The Vermont Division for Historic Preservation, part of the Agency of Commerce and Community Development, is commissioned to identify the state's historic and archaeological resources and to manage and interpret a statewide system of historic sites. These sites include: President Chester A. Arthur Historic Site, Bennington Battle Monument, Chimney Point Historic Site, Old Constitution House, Mount Independence, Hubbardton Battlefield, Senator Justin S. Morrill Homestead, Forestdale Iron Works, Hyde Log Cabin, Eureka Schoolhouse, William Czar Bradley Law Office, Kent Tavern Museum, Burtch-Udall Homestead, several historic bridges and underwater shipwrecks. The largest of the state-owned historic sites is the President Calvin Coolidge State Historic Site in Plymouth Notch.)

(2) The historic site is bordered by Vermont State Forests, State Parks, and land owned by the U.S. Forest Service. This protects an additional several thousand acres in Plymouth.

(3) Calvin Coolidge is the only U.S. President born on Independence Day.

(4) Calvin Coolidge delivered this speech in Bennington, VT on September 21, 1928. He was touring Vermont by train to see how the state had coped with the devastating floods of the previous year. It was reported that his comments were extemporaneous.