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CHAUTAUQUA--In part because of all of the history that fills Boston, it's a fun American city to visit.
If you're there from April through September, a baseball game at Fenway Park is also good to attend, unless perhaps you're a fan of a rival of the Boston Red Sox.
A short distance south of Boston is Quincy, Mass. It's far enough away from Boston not to feel like a big city, but close enough to be reachable via what in Boston is called "The T," which is short for MBTA, which is short for Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, which runs the public-transportation system.
Among the attractions in Quincy is Peachfield, the home of John and Abigail Adams, and later of their descendants.
Among what is fascinating about this beautiful home of America's second president and second first lady is that it has no period pieces. All of the furniture, all of the dishes, all of the silverware, and all of the stemware belonged to the Adamses and their descendants.
If a dish or a glass breaks, it's not replaced, so it's good to be careful while walking past the dining-room table.
Those ascending the stairs put their hands on the original railing and walk past a dresser that John Adams had when he lived overseas.
In Abigail Adams's bedroom is the bed where she died.
In the corner of a nearby room is the chair where John Adams was sitting when he died, during the evening of July 4, 1826, the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
Adams succumbed thinking that Thomas Jefferson, Adams's successor as president, had survived him. What Adams didn't know was that Jefferson had died during the early afternoon of the same day in Monticello, his home just beyond the boundaries of Charlottesville, Va.
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Two hundred years later, on Aug. 8, 2026, author and journalist Jim Rassenberger was the guest of the Chautauqua Women's Club for a Saturday-afternoon contemporary-issues forum. His books include A Perfect Coincidence: The Extraordinary Friendship and Astonishing Deaths of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson.
In his nice, personable, and unassuming way, Rassenberger said American exceptionalism makes the United States distinct--free, strong, smarter, and better.
Adams and Jefferson had different views of government, Rassenberger recalled. While Jefferson saw the growth of the federal government disfavorably, Adams--though not a party member--favored strong central government as Federalists did.
Rassenberger recalled that things between the two turned ugly while Adams was president and Jefferson was vice president. After Adams lost his 1800 re-election bid to Jefferson, there was no word between them until January 1, 1812, when Adams wrote to Jefferson.
That led to extensive letters, and a friendship, between the second and third presidents for the rest of their lives, Rassenberger said. Adams and Jefferson didn't see each other again after Adams left office.
Adams's son John Quincy Adams was America's sixth president during the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration, and called it "divine favor" that his father and Jefferson died on the same date, Rassenberger said. Five years later, James Monroe, the country's fifth president, died on Independence Day 1831.
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Rassenberger recalled that both Adams and Jefferson outlived their wives, and both were grief stricken: "It hit them hard."
Having lived a long life, especially by the standards of the early 19th century, Abigail Adams died in 1818, yet Martha Jefferson died 36 years earlier, in 1782.
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Monticello, the Jefferson home, is also worth visiting. It's built in an entirely different style than the Adams home, and it's nestled among hills in a beautiful corner of Albemarle County, Va.
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Randy Elf encourages reading David McCullough's book John Adams and the chapters on John Adams in Russell's Kirk's book The Conservative Mind.
COPYRIGHT © 2026 BY RANDY ELF