2026 GREAT AMERICA 250 ADVENTURE - PRESIDENTIAL HISTORY

 

TUESDAY – JULY 7, 2026: I started today with breakfast at the Holiday Inn here in Manchester, New Hampshire. I enjoy the Holiday Inn Pancake roller way more than I enjoy the waffles that most hotels feature.

While I am on the subject of breakfast, in addition to the pancake roller, Holiday Inns now feature Costa Coffee with is a bean to cup automated machine that grid coffee beans and brew them by individual cup. This takes a little longer as the average brew time seems to be about 2 or two and a half minutes. So during busy mornings you may have to wait for that morning cup of coffee. But the fresh brewed coffee is far better than most other hotels.

Last night while I was putting the finishing touches on todays plan, I found that many of the historical sites and attractions in New England are only open seasonally and most are closed either on Monday’s and Tuesday's or Tuesday's and Wednesday's.

So today being Tuesday, several places are closed so I sort of had to do some rearranging. With that being said, today is going to be a little hit and miss.

I checked out of the Hotel at about 8:30 a.m. and made the 20 mile drive up to Concord, New Hampshire which is New Hampshire’s Capitol City.  Concord is a rather small city of only a little over 40,000 people.

Being a small city, I found metered parking right on the capital square in downtown Concord. The current State Capitol Building was built in 1819 and has been the seat of New Hampshire Government ever since.

I went in and got my state capitol passport stamp from the Visitor Center and then I was allowed to walk around both the building and the grounds.  Like most state capitals, the grounds are dotted with statues of some of their notable historical figures. New Hampshire is no different.

One of the more prominent statues is that of New Hampshire native Franklin Pierce who served as our 14^th President. Daniel Webster and Teacher/Astronaut Christa McAuliffe also have statues on the capital grounds.

I paid for an hour of parking and had 4 minutes left when I finished my visit to the capitol grounds. It was time to move about a mile up the street to the Pierce Manse.

Franklin Pierce and his wife Jane Pierce moved here after she persuaded him to resign his seat in the United States Senate and leave Washington, D.C. They owned the home from 1842 to 1848. Pierce resumed his law practice and served as district attorney and chairman of the Democratic Party. During this time, Pierce campaigned on behalf of James K. Polk's in his bid to become president. Polk appointed Pierce U.S. Attorney for the State of New Hampshire as a reward in 1845. The Pierce Manse is the only home ever owned and lived in by President Pierce.

This is one of the sites that is closed on Monday and Tuesday, so I was only able to walk around and view the home from the outside.

Franklin Pierce served as the 14^th President of the United States from March 4, 1853, until March 4, 1857.  One thing that I learned about President Pierce from talking to one of the ladies in the Capitol Visitors Center was that he was actually very good Friends with future Confederate President Jefferson Davis.

After leaving the Presidency, President Pierce remained active in democratic politics but was not particularly fond of his successor, James Buchanan. Pierce was known to drink to some excess throughout his adult life. In later years following the death of his close friend Nathaniel Hawthorn and his wife, his drinking worsened.

President Pierce died on October 8, 1869, from cirrhosis of the Liver which was attributed to his life of heavy drinking. He is buried in the Old North Cemetery here in Concord, which is my next stop here in Concord.

The Old North Cemetery was established in 1730. President Franklin Pierce is buried here along with his wife Jane and two of his three sons. The Cemetery was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2008.

After visiting the grave of President Franklin Pierce, I had one more stop in Concord. It was just a short drive to the Blossom Hill Cemetery where I wanted to visit the grave of Christa McAuliffe,

Christa McAuliffe was the New Hampshire Teacher who was to be the first civilian to fly into space.

In 1985 she was selected from more than 11,000 applicants to be NASA's Teacher in Space and was to fly into space on the Space Shuttle Challenger. On January 28, 1986, the Space Shuttle exploded and broke apart jut 73 seconds after lift off form the Kennedy Space Center.

Before leaving Concord, I stopped at a little coffee shop that was right near the capitol. While there, I plugged my next stop into Google Maps and almost immediately realized that I had a problem.

Upon leaving Concord, I had planned on making the two hour drive up to Montpelier, Vermont so I could visit the Vermont Capitol Building. But when I plugged the destination into Google Maps I saw that Interstate 93 about 10 miles south of Montpelier was red indicating that there was a severe traffic problem.

The travel time from Concord to Montpelier was usually about two hours. Today, it was show that it would take me a total of 4 hours and 35 minutes to make the drive. Before leaving the coffee shop I decided to head up toward Montpelier and see if the traffic issue cleared up.

If not then I would head toward what would have been my first stop tomorrow.  So I hit the road and headed north on Interstate 93. About an hour later I crossed into Vermont, and the backup had not subsided. So, I made the decision to turn south on Vermont Route 107 and head toward Plymouth Notch and the Calvin Coolidge Historical Site.

The 40-mile trip down Vermont Route 12, U. S. Route 9 and Vermont 100 took almost an hour. Vermont is rural and it was a very pretty and relaxing drive. I arrived at the Village of Plymouth Notch, Vermont which is the birthplace and family home of President Calvin Coolidge.

All of the Village of Plymouth Notch is part of the Calvin Coolidge Homestead Historic District and is designated a National Historic Landmark.

When President Warren G. Harding died in 1923, then Vice President Calvin Coolidge was visiting his parents here in Plymouth Notch. Vice President Coolidge’s father was the Justice of the Peace for the Village and administer the President Oath in the Kitchen of the Family Home.

In addition to the Coolidge Family Home the village includes a General Store where President Coolidge was born on July 4, 1872. While three Presidents have died on July 4, (John Adams and Thomas Jeffers both died-on July 4, 1826, and James Monroe died on July 4, 1831), President Coolidge is the only President to be born on the 4^th of July.  

The home where President Coolidge took the Presidential Oath was undergoing extensive repairs to it foundation and was closed during my visit. The rest of the village was open and I was able to visit the General Store where President Coolidge was born in a small bedroom in the back of the store. I was also able to visit the Cheese Factory that is still in operation today.

After spending a little over an hour an a half in the Village, I made my way down to the Plymouth Notch Cemetery where President Coolidge is resting with other members of his family.

The Coolidge Family Graves are located on a hillside above the road. It is a tradition that the sitting
president sends a wreath of flowers to past presidents on their birthday.  I visited President Coolidge on July 7, just 3 days after his birth day and the Presidential Wreath was still at his grave.

It was a little past three in the afternoon when I finished my visit to Plymouth Notch and it was time to make the 30-miles drive to Rutland, Vermont where I have reservations at the Hampton Inn.

My drive took me through the small ski town of Killington, Vermont and I stopped at a small coffee shop for a cup of coffee and a fresh baked pastry. Then it was on to Rutland where I arrived at the Hampton Inn just a few minutes before 4 p.m.

After checking in and getting settled in my room I decided that I would walk next door to the Taco Bell for supper. This Taco Bell has not counter service, you have to order using the kiosks. Service is nonexistent and it took almost 30 minutes to get my order.

Back my room it was time to once again reorganize my plans because I am two full days ahead of schedule. I picked up on day when I couldn’t get the train into New York to visit Grant’s Tomb.

My original Plan for today was to visit Concord, New Hampshire, and Then Drive up to Montpelier, Vermont and visit the Vermont Capitol Building and finish the day off with a drive over to Burlington, Vermont where I would spend the Night.

Tomorrow, I would have driven from Burlington down to Fort Ticonderoga and toured the historic fort in the morning before heading over and touring Grant’s Cottage in the afternoon. I had planned on returning to the Holiday Inn at East Greenbush and spending tomorrow night before heading down to visit the Baseball Hall of Fame at Cooperstown.

Well, all of that is pretty much gone by the wayside as I am having to rework the rest of the trip. We will see what tomorrow holds when I get things worked out.