Calvin Coolidge State Historic Site
The birthplace and boyhood home of Calvin Coolidge, the 30th President of the United States. Coolidge was the only peacetime President in the 20th century to leave the federal government smaller than when he took office.
Site Details
Pin location is approximate.
3780 VT-100A
Plymouth, VT 05056
Family Friendly?
Yes
Visitors Per Year
25,000
Nested among rolling hills, this stunningly preserved and highly walkable village offers a glimpse of the America described by Alexis de Tocqueville in Democracy in America. Plymouth Notch also allows visitors of all ages to see what influenced the formation of a President who valued thrift and service above all. Open from late-May to mid-October, the site offers visitors both guided and self-led tours of the Coolidge Family Home, Plymouth’s Union Christian Church, Plymouth Cheese Factory, and the presidential resting place at Plymouth Town Cemetery.
- Guests can visit Plymouth Town Cemetery, where the President lies buried among his family. The only distinguishing mark of his low gravestone is the presidential seal. This modest grave contrasts with the grandiose monuments at the graves of other Presidents.
- Visitors can shop for maple syrup and Moxie drink at the General Store, where, as a young man, Calvin Coolidge personally laid the birdseye maple strips in the countertop. They can also visit the Plymouth Cheese Factory, a business originally started as a village collective by Coolidge’s father, “Colonel John.” Both the store and Cheese Factory taught the young boy much about business.
- Visitors can inspect the simple Summer White House, a room used as a presidential office early in Coolidge’s Presidency. During Coolidge’s boyhood, the same modest room served as the setting for the Plymouth Town Meeting. As a boy, Coolidge first saw democracy in action—and even sold apples to Town Meeting attendees. Here, the young Coolidge learned civility—and Robert’s Rules of Order.
The State of Vermont has perfectly preserved the Homestead Sitting Room in which the humblest inauguration of modern history took place. Here, at 2:47 a.m. on August 3, 1923, Coolidge was sworn to the nation’s highest office after the sudden death of President Warren Harding. Peer through the windows of the porch to see the kerosene lamp and table where Vice President Coolidge took the oath in a simple ceremony administered by his own father, a notary public.
The Calvin Coolidge Presidential Site distinguishes itself for both sheer beauty and historical accuracy, giving visitors a sense of the uniqueness of America, a land where even a boy from a rural village can become President. Though today we emphasize government at the top—Washington, Plymouth Notch reminds us that local government is the basis of our democracy.
The Museum and Education Center features an award-winning exhibit of Coolidge’s personal items, including the family cradle, with multimedia displays to trace his journey from rural New Englander to President. A short film shows how the principles that Coolidge learned in a small village came to inform his presidency. Coolidge himself likened his painstaking work trimming the federal budget to the “cheese paring” his father did at the cheese factory in Plymouth.
Plymouth Notch presents a historically accurate and well-researched account of the life of Coolidge, an emphatic federalist. The exhibits rely on primary sources and scholarly context to tell a balanced, factual story. There are no notable inaccuracies or distortions. The site is often referred to as America’s “best preserved presidential birthplace.” Coolidge’s crowning legacy of fiscal prudence gets thorough treatment in a film shown during open hours. Rich histories are available in the bookshop.
There is no evidence of political activism or ideological bias.
A Sturbridge Village or Colonial Village in miniature, Plymouth provides an optimal half-day for Americans of all ages. Guests picnic in the historic barn and walk to the cemetery. Children will enjoy running on the slopes of the hills around the village or walking the trails. In rain, visitors retreat into the Education Center, which displays exhibits about Coolidge. The Education Center features its own shop, boasting a healthy complement of Coolidge-themed books, jewelry, home goods and pewter made in New England, and other products. The Foundation publishes an edition of Coolidge’s short autobiography, recommended for readers above age 10.
Calvin Coolidge, who served from 1923 to 1929, is one of America’s most underrated Presidents. Coolidge was the only peacetime President who managed—and after a term and a half—to leave the federal budget lower than when he came in. Coolidge cut the federal debt by one-third and balanced the budget each year of his presidency. Coolidge’s tax cuts freed the economy to roar after the troubled World War I period. As a result, joblessness was low, and many Americans in the Coolidge Years got their first cars, washing machines, and radios.
Among modern Presidents, Coolidge demonstrated the greatest appreciation for the traditional principles of America’s Founding: federalism, restraint, respect for local life and commerce. The little village of Plymouth Notch, where Plymouth citizens labored from early spring into heavy winter snows, ingrained in the future President not only the principle of self-government, but also the truth that “self-government means self-support.”
To sit in the Coolidge Family Pew at Plymouth Union Church is to understand how Coolidge came to view respect for religious faith as important to good government, even the federal government. Coolidge understood the importance of the spiritual in America’s Founding, declaring “Men do not make laws, they do but discover them.” He recognized the futility of the progressive redistributionist impulse, saying “Don’t expect to build up the weak by pulling down the strong.” In an era when others rated the Founding documents passé, Coolidge showed how the Founders’ principles could be applied successfully to modern life. As a result, he is known as “the modern bridge to the Founders.”
It is valuable for fans of presidential sites to see the quality of a site that is maintained locally and largely without any federal subsidy.
Owned By: State of Vermont and the Calvin Coolidge Presidential Foundation
Operated By: Vermont Division for Historic Preservation and the Calvin Coolidge Foundation
Government Funded: No
Did you know?
Calvin Coolidge is the only President to share a birthday with the United States of America. This site was the location of the historic Homestead Inauguration, the unique middle-of-the-night swearing in of President Coolidge after the sudden death of President Warren Harding.
Recommended Reading
- Saratoga: Turning Point of America’s Revolutionary War by Richard M. Ketchum
- With Musket and Tomahawk: The Saratoga Campaign and the Wilderness War of 1777 by Michael O. Logusz
- The Turning Point of the Revolution by Hoffman Nickerson
Reviewed By
Amity Shlaes
Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Calvin Coolidge Presidential Foundation
Rena Rowe
Program Associate at the Calvin Coolidge Presidential Foundation
The opinions expressed above are those of the Reviewer who is providing a good-faith historical assessment to educate the public. Reasonable opinions can vary, and the Reviewer’s opinion is not necessarily the opinion of The Heritage Foundation or its affiliates.