Adams National Historical Park — Attraction in Quincy

My tween daughter and I visited July 7 and had an excellent experience. But you do need to know some things in advance:

We arrived at 2:30pm. That's a tricky time period because a) the film is 30 minutes long b) the tours are at 2 1/2 hours long - and the one before us had left already, and then next (and last) wasn't until 3:15pm c) we also needed to get to the Burial Ground at the United First Parish Church, Quincy - which closes at 4pm We ended up buying the tickets - going right to the Church - coming afterwards to see about 10 minutes of the film - and then going on the tour. Obviously I wish I had done that all better.

In the rush I forgot to get our Parking ticket validated. You get a sticker that goes on the card. When you buy your ticket - get your parking sticker at the same time.

The film is very well done and I am going to search to see if it's online because I would have loved to see all of it.

There were about 20+ persons in our tour group - and we all got onto the trolley. There was a seat for everyone, but that's it - no extra room.

Our first stop was John Adams Birthplace - it seemed like it had barely been touched since Colonial Days it was very easy to imagine the time period. I particularly enjoyed being in the larger room where John Adams' father Deacon John Adams would host meetings that younger John sat in on and developed his own character.

Then we all walked over to John and Abigail’s Home: the John Quincy Adams Birthplace. I was happy to be in the place where the Massachusetts Constitution was written which became the cornerstone of our US Constitution. It was also quite easy to picture Abigail here raising (and nursing) her family alone while husband John was away at work and in Philadelphia starting the Nation.

Then it's back on the trolley and we drove a bit to John and Abigail's second home they named "Peace Field." This was a much more grander and modernized location as it served to be not only their homestead but continued to be a family location into the 20th Century. It is kept exactly as the family wants it to be displayed. Even though it was a notable historic location, as well as a political gathering place for the times - it definitely felt lived-in, warm and inviting.

From there we walked to The Stone Library - which I loved. Here Charles Francis Adams wrote many noteworthy histories of the Family and the country.

We then got on the Trolley again and returned to the Park Station, which was by then closed so plan your gift shop purchases ahead of time if you take the last tour.

If you love America - you will love this tour. I highly...

We visited this place, which is full of history and with old houses that display pieces of furniture, paintings, and other objects of important historical value. The place consists of two main locations, the birthplaces of the second and the sixth US Presidents, and the Peacefield property, home of four Adams generations. We took the extended guided tour, a 45 minute visit of the birthplaces and a 45 minute visit of Peacefield, with trolley transportation from the Visitors Center to one location, between locations and back to the visitor center. The tours of the interior of the three houses were very interesting but they did not allow for any time for outside visits, especially at Peacefield, where the gardens and the views of the house from various angles are beautiful and were very appealing to us. When the interior visits of the Peacefield house and of the Stone Library ended, we were literally rushed to the trolley, which had arrived in front of the property to bring us back to the Visitors Center. We just wanted to go around the property and I actually went to take a few photos of the house, which took only 2-3 minutes. However, I was simply annoyed and insulted by the tour guide's "quickly, quickly" calls and by another employee's call that, "everybody wants to get out of here." We understood that our tour was the last of the day and that it was 4:46-4:50 PM, but the trolley was not delayed as a result of my 2-3 minute outside tour of the house (people were still boarding the trolley when I arrived) and the employees certainly left immediately after our trolley's departure, before 5 PM. We found the rushing of the people at the end of the guided tour at Peacefield impolite and rude, and the calls (quoted above) condescending. It is unfortunate that this event placed a shadow over our visit of such a beautiful and important historical place. Recommendation: Be calm, kind, polite, and understanding! We are the visitors, the customers, and there is no need to be disrespectful. When I informed the Visitors Center about the episode I was told that they needed to observe the trolley schedule... This explanation doesn't stand since we didn't delay the trolley at all. Furthermore, as I advised the Center, the guided tours could be extended by 5-10 minutes and the trolley schedules adjusted accordingly to allow for short outside walks and photos. I wanted to give a 5 star rating to this place, but, since we cannot give one rating for beauty and historical value and one for services, I am forced to make a big deduction from a general rating in order to account for the unpleasant event described above; thus, a...

This park gets the award for the Most Frustrating National Park I've Ever Been To. As a couple other reviewers have said, the ticketing process is abysmal and the website is super confusing. When I mentioned our confusion to park staff, they apologized and said it had to do with a staffing shortage--one docent told us they don't have the staff to update the site continually as the hours change. But that answer doesn't explain why some very basic improvements can't be made.

It should be clear, on the website, that this "park" is scattered across 3 separate locations: the visitors center, the Adams birthplace homes (which are intact but have very little signage and NO original furniture), and the Peacefield home (which John & Abigail moved into after his presidency, I think--but which is very well preserved WITH original furniture). There should be one single "plan your visit" page rather than a bunch of options that take you different places. Parking for each of the three locations should be made clear on that same central page (parking was tough at times). And the current hours should be listed there, or at least some apologetic description of how the current hours often change.

As it stands, if you weed through the site you (hopefully!) discover that you cannot visit all Adams attractions in one day. Very disappointingly to us, they are short staffed and have to alternate, so you either see the inside of the birthplace houses or the Peacefield house, but not both on the same visit. The hours are somewhat regular, but they do fluctuate--and even the docents are not clear about them! (Maybe if they were listed clearly in just one place, there would be less confusion!)

We were pretty disappointed, since we may never come back to Boston and had limited time. It was unfortunate that so much of our time with Adams was spent figuring out how the heck to visit! Poor John Adams; he didn't deserve such shoddy treatment. I hope the park can get over its apparent apathy and fix these...