Quincy, Mass. Blog #6: Into the Crypts of John, Abigail, John Quincy & Louisa Adams

This is the fourth and final blog about our visit to the Universalist Church in Quincy, Massachusetts, also known as the Church of the Presidents. In the basement of the church is the crypt that holds the bodies of the 2nd and 6th presidents and their wives. When you take a tour of the church, the last stop is in the basement. There you will find the crypt, some interesting facts about how they were placed in there, and a flag fact you may not have known!

(Photo: Tom and Rob in the crypts of the Adams'. Credit: R.G.) 

WHO IS BURIED IN THE CRYPTS BELOW THE CHURCH?  -  Abigail Adams and her husband John Adams, second U.S. President and son John Quincy Adams, sixth U.S. President, and his wife Louisa Catherine Adams are entombed there.

(Photo: John Adams (left) and Abigail Adams (right) tombs. Credit: R.G.) 

WERE THEY ALWAYS THERE? No. John and Abigail Adams were buried in the nearby cemetery (which will be featured in a later blog), and his son, John Quincy Adams asked they be moved and entombed under the church as a place of honor, where they could not be disturbed. 

HOW DID THEY MOVE THE HEAVY GRANITE TOMBS? - When the church was built, it had wooden floors. The wooden floors were removed, and the granite tombs were hoisted down into the small crypt (which is likely about 40 feet by 20 feet wide (my guess). After they were placed there, the floor above was replaced with Quincy granite, and that was covered by a wooden floor above in the church.

(Photo: John Quincy Adams (front) and Louisa Catherine Adams (back) tombs. Credit: R.G.) 

HOW WERE THE TOMBS OF JOHN QUINCY AND LOUISA MOVED IN? - The docent told us that there was a basement doorway to the right of the room, and they were moved in through there likely by a pulley system. That was later bricked up and painted white (like the inside of the entire crypt). You can see the bricks on the left differ from those on the right. 

FLAGS - There are flags on John Adams' crypt and John Quincy Adams' crypt- they are replicas of the American Flag from the dates of each man's birth. 

FLAG FACT- The original idea for the U.S. Flag was to have an equal number of stars and stripes per state. The stripes became unwieldy so they stuck with 13 for the original 13 U.S. Colonies!