A Tale of Two Presidents from Vermont
Vermont can claim two presidents that were born there, Chester A. Arthur and John Calvin Coolidge. Both men were born into rural upbringings, were Republicans, were lawyers, and both were noted during their presidencies for being good (more or less) presidents. Did you know both died? Of course, you did but do you know which president died quicker than these two?
(the answer is below)
Chester A. Arthur, Fairfield Vermont
President Arthur was born in a small farmstead in Fairfield Vermont (just east of St Albans in Franklin County) He is not buried there, but buried in a family plot in the Albany Rural Cemetery in Albany, New York State.
Getting on Chester A. Arthur road in Fairfield Vermont is fairly easy, and across the road from the homestead, is a dirt parking lot.
As far as visual interest this is a simple affair to photograph and once you have a shot of the building and the two historical markers, there is little more to capture your interest. I did launch my drone over the house and caught this wonderful image of the surrounding landscape.
Calvin Coolidge, Plymouth Vermont
Now, a more visually interesting homestead is the Calvin Coolidge Homestead In Plymouth Vermont. You will find traveling up and down Route 100, several spurs off 100 (100A, B, or C), and today we’re looking for Route 100A. Route 100A takes us towards Plymouth Center, but we’re going to stop short of there.
Once you are on 100A you are traveling through Plymouth Notch and you can look on the left for the Calvin Coolidge Memorial Road. You will come to an intersection and from there find a place to park. There was no designated parking when we stopped last fall. We got there late in the afternoon so there were very few others around.
You will quickly see what I mean by a more “visually interesting” homestead. There are many rustic buildings, and it seems to me they resurrected a small village instead of a single homestead.
Unlike Chester A. Arthur, Mr. Coolidge is buried nearby on the other side of 100A. You can read about Mr. Coolidge here on the Whitehouse website. Another interesting fact about both of these presidents is that they both died within a few years of leaving office. Arthur left office in 1885 and died in 1886. Mr. Coolidge left office in 1929 and died in 1933. Only James K. Polk died quicker after leaving office. He left office in spring 1849 and was gone on 5 June 1849.
Timing the fall colors
Here it gets tricky, you see Fairfield should be early October, but further south in Plymouth you’re looking at 13-16 Oct, depending on if the year is early or late.
So here is your tale of two presidents and how you can find anything of interest to give you an excuse to get out in the countryside. I’m working on a Route 100 article and when it’s finished you’ll find a link to it here!
Happy and safe foliage trails my friends…
Jeff Foliage Folger
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The Calvin Coolidge place is really good for photographing, but when the Presidential Visitor Center closes there are no Public Restrooms.. just an FYI !
We got there when they were closed so we didn’t even know there were restrooms…
The Calvin Coolidge place is really good for photographing, but when the Presidential Visitor Center closes there are no Public Restrooms.. just an FYI !
We got there when they were closed so we didn’t even know there were restrooms…