John Adams Peacefield

1250 Hancock St, Quincy, MA 02169, USA

Massachusetts

state

MA - Norfolk

county

MA - Boston

city

MUSEUM

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Peacefield, also called Peace field or Old House, is a historic home formerly owned by the Adams family of Quincy, Massachusetts. It was the home of United States Founding Father and U.S. president John Adams and First Lady Abigail Adams, and of U.S. president John Quincy Adams and his First Lady, Louisa Adams. It is now part of the Adams National Historical Park.

SITE FEATURES

Gardens, Gift Shop, Surviving Structures, Programs, Tours, Exhibits

On this site...

The oldest portion of the house was built in 1731 as a summer house for Leonard Vassall, wealthy owner of slave-labor sugar plantations in Jamaica. The two-and-a-half story frame house had a gambrel roof and separate kitchens. By Vassall's death in 1737, the estate included 60 acres of orchards, meadows, woodland, and farmland. The property passed to his second wife, Phebe Penhallow, who left it to their daughter, Anna Vassall Borland. A Loyalist, Borland leased the property during the Revolution. She reclaimed title in 1783 and sold it to her son, Leonard Vassall Borland. In 1787, he sold the estate for £600 to Boston agents acting for John Adams, then in England as the U.S. Minister to the United Kingdom.

HOME

EST. 1731

The Adamses returned in 1788 to occupy the house, farmland, and orchards. They were disagreeably surprised by the house, however, after their years in England. To Abigail Adams, it resembled a 'wren's nest' with all the comfort of a 'barracks.'" They would call it "Old House."

During the subsequent 12 years, with Adams resident in Philadelphia first as vice president and then as president, Abigail Adams attended to the house and farm. She greatly expanded it, adding what is now the right side of the front facade, with a fine hallway and large parlor on the ground floor and a large study above. The additions were built in the Georgian style with a gambrel roof creating a nearly full attic story.

Adams returned to the house full-time in 1801 after his defeat for a second presidential term. His son John Quincy Adams also returned to the house at that time, after completing his ambassadorial term in Berlin. Further extensions to the house were made by his son, Charles Francis Adams.