Who's Buried in Grant's Tomb__ A Tour of Presidential Gravesites - Brian Lamb [10]
Never at a loss for ideas, Thornton proposed to resurrect the body laid out in Mount Vernon’s handsome green banquet hall “in the following manner. First to thaw him in cold water, then to lay him in blankets, and by degrees and by friction to give him warmth, and to put into activity the minute blood vessels, at the same time to open a passage to the lungs by the trachea, and to inflate them with air, to produce an artificial respiration, and transfuse blood into him from a lamb.” Other friends intervened to permit Washington a peaceful departure.
On Wednesday, December 18, Martha remained inside Mansion House as a little procession, led by the dead man’s horse with its empty saddle, moved to the old family vault. A schooner anchored in the Potomac fired its minute guns and a Masonic band from Alexandria played a dirge. Local militia joined a handful of relations and friends in a brief service of committal. Later Martha consented to the removal of her husband’s lead-lined mahogany coffin to Thornton’s Capitol vault, on condition that she be allowed to share the space. Fortunately, the transfer was never made, thereby sparing the Father of his Country two centuries’ exposure to lobbyists and boodlers.
In 1831 Washington’s remains were moved a few hundred feet to the brick tomb that overlooks the Potomac. Having been embalmed while still living by a revolutionary generation in desperate need of a unifying icon, Washington of all people would understand why a million people a year are drawn to this place, hoping for inspiration with which to meet tests unimaginable to the Founders.
—RNS
John Adams
Buried: United First Parish Church (Church of the Presidents), Quincy, Massachusetts
Second President - 1797-1801
Born: October 30, 1735, in Quincy, Massachusetts
Died: 6:00 p.m. on July 4, 1826, in Quincy, Massachusetts
Age at death: 90
Cause of death: Heart failure and pneumonia Final words: “Thomas Jefferson still survives.” Admission to United First Parish Church: $4.00
In 1797, John Adams stepped into the historical shoes of the venerable George Washington. Though he succeeded a legend, Adams could lay claim to one notable “first” of his own: he was the first president to occupy the White House. He and his wife Abigail moved into the unfinished President’s House, as it was then known, in the new capital city called Washington in 1800.
The second president had another distinction as well: he was the father and namesake of our sixth president, John Quincy Adams.
As president, John Adams had little trust in the masses; in truth, he was a political party of one. Defeated by Thomas Jefferson in 1800, Adams had more time for his solitary pursuits: leisurely walks and books. He retreated to the family home in Quincy, Massachusetts, where he harbored animosity toward his successor. For the next twenty-five years, Adams consumed the written word. When his eyesight failed and he could no longer read, he found others to read aloud to him. After a time, he renewed active correspondence with Thomas Jefferson. Though the two men had bitter political differences during their careers, they reconciled in retirement. Fate dictated that any distance between them would be bridged in death.
Marker for John Adams outside the crypt in Quincy’s United First Parish Church (Church of the Presidents)
July 4, 1826 was an important day for the surviving founders—the fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Ninety years old and