John Quincy Adams Birthplace

The house known as the John Quincy Adams birthplace was built by Samuel Belcher in 1663 and inhabited by his descendants until Deacon John Adams bought it in 1744. John Adams inherited this home when his father died in 1761. Here he brought his bride Abigail Smith on October 25, 1764. It was in this house that Abigail gave birth on July 11, 1767, to their second child, John Quincy Adams, the future sixth president of the United States.During the American Revolutionary War, while John was distinguishing himself in Philadelphia as the delegate at the second Continental Congress with "the clearest head and the firmest heart", Abigail supervised the education of her children, took care of the farm, and served as an inspiration to her husband during this critical period of United States history.Abigail penned many of her famous letters to her husband from this farm at the foot of Penn's Hill, In 1779, John Adams drafted the Constitution of Massachusetts in his law office in the northeast corner room of this home. After drafting the Massachusetts Constitution, John Adams traveled to Europe and ultimately negotiated and signed the Treaty of Paris which concluded the American Revolutionary War. With peace secured, John and Abigail Adams would never again live in their Penn's Hill cottage, John Quincy Adams resided in his own birthplace during the summers of 1806 and 1808 with his wife Louisa Catherine and their three young sons.