The Traveling Wheelchair

Visitors Center
1250 Hancock Street
Quincy, MA 02169
Phone: (617) 770-1175
http://www.nps.gov/adam/index.htm
 

After reading a recent story in the Boston Globe about the Adams National Historical Park in Quincy and the new DVD Movie about the Adams Family of Quincy I thought it would be a good time to visit this place and do wheelchair accessibility review. Many from around the world are flocking here to Quincy to take the tour of the Adams National Historical Park. 

My mom, friends and I headed to the Visitors Center in Quincy, ‘City of Presidents’. I could see that Quincy is very proud of the Adams for there are flags on all the City’s Light Poles with a picture of President John Adams or Mrs. Adams and every flag  reads, ‘Discover Quincy – Celebrate Adams’. We got to the Visitor Center to begin our tour. 

The Visitors Center is located at 1250 Hancock Street in the Presidents Place Galleria. There is FREE parking in the garage at the Galleria if you get your ticket validated at the Visitors Center. There is an elevator in the garage that will take you to the first floor where the Visitors Center is located.

The entry door to the Visitors Center is not automatic so my friends held it open for me. The Visitors Center has a nice display of miniature houses of the Adams Historical Homes that are at a prefect height for me to see in my wheelchair. The restrooms located in the Center are large single rooms that are wheelchair accessible with the ADA required safety bars yet the pipes under the accessible sinks are exposed and not covered as is required now by ADA. The tours are offered in season from April 19 to November 10. The counter where you purchase your tickets is too high for a person in a wheelchair but has a side counter that is wheelchair accessible.

A very nice female Park Ranger asked me if I had a ‘Golden Access Card’. I asked what it was and she explained that the National Park Services offers a ‘Golden Access Card’ for persons who are permanently disabled and it allows the disabled and 3 companions to access all National Historical Parks for FREE. So I signed up and got my card she gave us our tickets and we all got to tour for FREE! I really think this is very nice of the National Park Service. The nice Ranger gave me a pamphlet that lists all of the National Historical Parks that I can get into for FREE. She also told us a list of all the parks are on their website at www.nps.gov.

We then headed out the side door where you get the Trolley. When we got out we realized that this exit is not wheelchair accessible for there is a step to get to the sidewalk. So we turned around and headed out the main entry door and then out the Galleria door to the area to get the Trolley. I was really excited about taking the Trolley for I’ve never been on one before.

The Trolley pulled up to the sidewalk and the driver opened the front and rear doors. Both doors have steps to get on this Trolley but the front steps convert into a ‘Wheelchair Lift’ when the driver pushes some buttons. I really thought this was cool. The driver asked the other tourists to enter the Trolley thru the rear door so he could convert the front steps to a wheelchair lift for my wheelchair to get on. He told us that he had only used this lift 2 other times and had a hard time figuring it out but a nice Park Ranger came out and showed him how it works.The nice driver pushed some buttons and the steps pulled out and turned into a wheelchair lift! 

Once inside the Trolley, the driver attached the Tie Downs to my wheelchair and explained this is for safety. It is just like the Tie Downs I have in my van. There are no wheelchair seatbelt or shoulder strap like I have in my van but they are not required by Law to have any wheelchair seatbelts. There is seating up front especially for the disabled and a sign on the Trolley that States ‘Priority Seating For the Disabled’. My wheelchair was tied down in the space for a wheelchair but other disabled who walk with a cane etc can sit up front too.

Our FIRST STOP was to the John Adams and John Quincy Adams Birthplace. These are the oldest Presidential Birthplaces in the United States. John Adams was born in 1735 in a Salt Box house located only 75 feet from the home where his son John Quincy Adams was later born. John Adams was married to Abigail Adams and John Quincy Adams was married to Louisa Catherine Adams.

Both Historical Homes are usually wheelchair accessible for they have a portable wheelchair ramp that they place over the steps leading to the doors. Yesterday I wasn’t able to access the home of the Birthplace of John Adams for there was an area of new grass that was growing in a large area in front of the door where a ramp would need to be placed was blocked off. The Park Rangers were told not to disturb the new grass.

There were two Tour Guides and one took the other tourists into both houses while another took my friends and me into the house where John Quincy Adams was born. The portable wheelchair ramp was a little steep but my friend Ric pushed my manual wheelchair up the ramp. Once inside the whole first floor is very wheelchair accessible and easy to wheel around. The first floor is the only floor all tourists see so I was not left out of seeing anything in this house.

I was really excited about being in this house where two Presidents both lived duing their lifetime.  The house was old but well maintained and looks very much like a modern day Salt Box house does today except it didn’t have any of the modern appliances in the kitchen. The Tour Guide explained much of the history of this house. The Adams owned much farmland for they loved to farm. I think he said it was over 100 acres that they owned but only 1/4 acre remain today where these Historical Homes are still standing.

John Adam’s career was in Law and Politics and his Law Office was in one of the rooms we saw. It was here that John Adams, Samuel Adams and James Bowdoin wrote the Massachusetts Constitution which is still used today!! This old Law Office has a replica of John Adams Desk and a copy of the Massachusetts Constitution.  The Tour Guide told us that the Federal Government used the Massachusetts Constitution for 3 years before they wrote their own and got many ideas from The Massachusetts Constitution. The idea of Three Branches of Government came from the Massachusetts Consitution which is still in place today and works well.

We got to see the Adams’ parlor, storage room, dining room and the kitchen too. There is a Fireplace in each room which was used to heat the house. The Tour Guide told us that the original furnishings and artifacts are located in ‘The Old House’ that we were to be taken to next. We then went back outside and the Tour Guide showed us the original area where the well for water was located. It is now covered with cement so no children would fall in.

We then joined the rest of the tourists and I got back on the Trolley and we headed to The Old House. It does take a little time for the driver to get my wheelchair on the Trolley and the Tour Guides apologized to the other tourists of whom many just ’stared at me’ like they never saw a person in wheelchair before. I’m used to this now and just stare back.

The SECOND PART of our Tour was of The Old House. The Tour Guide told us that The Old House was built in 1731 and was the residents for 4 generations of the Adams family from 1788 to 1927. It is located on Adams Street in Quincy. It was home to President John Adams and his wife Abigail as well as to President John Quincy Adams and his wife Louisa Catherine Adams. Later it was also home to Charles Francis Adams who was the Civil War Minister to Great Britain and later to Henry and Brook Adams who were literary historians. There are 78,000 artifacts in this house which are priceless.

The Tour Guide told us that the Adams are a very generous family and gave these Historical Homes and the Property to the US! Wow that is really nice!

Once we arrived we were separated from the other tourists for not all was wheelchair accessible at this old house. We were told that there is limited access to the first floor of the house and no access for me to the second floor and all other tourists would be able to see the entire house. The others went thru the main gate to enter the property and through the front entry door. There are steps at both Gate Entrances!

We were taken to a side Gate Entry. The Tour Guide got a 6 foot portable suitcase ramp for me to get down the step leading to the property. The Tour Guide told Ric that the safest way to wheel me down this portable ramp was to wheel me backwards! So backwards I went!  He then had to pick up the portable ramp and place it at the step that leads to the porch of this house. Then he had to pick it up again and place it at the side entry door for me to get into this house.

My mom asked him why they just don’t put in some permanent threshold cement slopes at some of the areas that have cement steps. He told my mom that no permanent changes can be made without the approval of the ‘Adams Historical Society’. My mom asked if anyone has ever asked this ‘Adams Historical Society’ if some permanent accessible thresholds can be built and he didn’t know the answer.

If any of our readers want to contact Adams Historical Society to ask them to make The Old House more wheelchair accessible you can contact them on their website at http://www.adamshistorical.org/contact_us.html.

My mom then asked why they didn’t purchase a few more portable ramps or small threshold ramps and the tour guide told her it was because there was not enough space to store them. We all found this hard to believe for the property had plenty of storage space. Well we finally were in The Old House but ONLY got to see the Parlor and that was great to see. We saw many beautiful pieces of furniture as well as beautiful portraits of many of the Adams Family. Above the Fireplace was a Portrait of the Adams Private Medical Physician. The Tour Guide told us that this Physician was a good family friend.

We headed out of the Parlor and down a hallway but realized I couldn’t get my wheelchair up the small step that lead to the other first floor areas of The Old House. My mom asked our Tour Guide if any members of the Adams family were ever physically disabled. He told us that Abigail Brooks Adams, wife of Charles Francis Adams did have severe Rheumatoid Arthritis and he thinks she was in a wheelchair and the family built a mechanical elevator that had to be manually rolled and craned to get her upstairs.

My mom asked if the elevator was still located in this home and he said he thought it was just a small empty shaft now. He asked my mom ‘Why she was interested in this elevator’. My mom said because she was thinking this shaft could have a permanent elevator built to help disabled access upstairs.  He asked my mom ‘Why” and my mom told him it is because we want everything to be ‘Accessible to All! By the look on his face, I know he didn’t understand any of this. My mom took notes of all the Tour Guide told us.

After leaving The Old House our Tour Guide took us to see the rest of the property. The paths on the outside of The Old House are all stone paths but manageable to get my wheelchair around. My Quantum Power Chair would have been easier to travel this terrain but it is still broken so Ric and Josh helped push me in my manual wheelchair. The Tour Guide first took us to see a beautiful Historical Garden located on the property on the side of the house. The Historical Garden is of the 18th Century style. It has thousands of perennial flowers and many were in full bloom. The Garden is very well maintained which must take much work.

We were then taken to see the Library. It was on a pathway in this beautiful Historical Garden. Our Tour Guide had to get the portable ramp again for me to enter the Library and he had to move it twice for me to get up two different steps. This Library is EXQUISITE! It was used as the Presidential Library when John and John Quincy Adams were in office! It is paneled in mahogany and very big inside. There are many books and a beautiful fireplace and the original desks of President John Adams and President John Quincy Adams.

Our Tour Guide told us that the Adams built this Library to protect their large collection of books from any possible fires. The building is Fireproof and made of stone. He pointed to a portrait on the wall of President John Adams and told us it was painted after  John Adams died and the artist painted the head of John Adams on the body of George Washington standing in a famous George Washington pose. It really did look funny!

From the Library our Tour Guide showed us some other parts of this beautiful property. There is a large Historical Orchid with many apple trees on a grassy hill. There is also a Green House at the bottom of the hill with two large hay stacks in a field of green grass and a large pond that we were told is man made. I think the hay stacks must have been food for the horses to eat.

We came upon a water pump along the stone path and Ric got up to see if he could pump it and get some water.  He pumped it really hard and for a long time but it didn’t work for him and he got no water!  I guess it was how the Adams fetched their water years ago. I realize how important plumbing is today for I love my morning warm water showers!

Our Tour Guide then showed us a beautiful Carriage House out back and told us that this used to be for horses and male servants. He also told us that the male servants stayed here for they were separated from the female servants. He told us that people can go inside and tour it on their own and look around.

The stalls for the Adams horses are still in this carriage House. The other part is now for Administrative Offices and for Ticket Sales for a tour of The Old House. Some tourists come to this house without first going to the Visitors Center. I would recommend going to the Visitors Center for then you can see both properties where the all the homes of where the Adams lived are located.

Well our Tour was over but the rest of our tour group was still touring the parts of The Old House that was not wheelchair accessible for me to see. I really feel that I missed out on hearing much of the great American History that the Adams family helped to make.

My friends and I strolled along the paths on the property and really did enjoy seeing the beautiful landscape. We then headed to the Trolley Stop and waited at least 30 minutes at the Trolley Stop to wait for the other tourists. The Trolley finally arrived as the other tourists were heading to the Trolley Stop and we finally got on the Trolley and headed back to get our car at the Visitors Center. It was a long day and even though I couldn’t get into see everything, I did enjoy my visit and the day I spent with my mom and friends.

I give the Adams National Historical Park ONE STAR for wheelchair accessibility. In order to earn the other Four Stars the Adams National Historical Park Visitor Center would need to: install an automatic entry door; cover the exposed pipes under the accessible sink; install a cement threshold slope in place of the step at the side door that leads to the Trolley; purchase some more portable suitcase ramps for The Old House and ask the Adams Historical Society for permission to place a few permanent accessible ramps or thresholds at The Old House gated entry and leading to the side porch and the side entry door.  

From what I heard today on my limited tour, President Adams and President John Quincy Adams were very intelligent and generous men and gave much to their country and I have to wonder what they would think of Wheelchair Accessibility and the ADA Regulations today. I think they would want everything to be Accessible to All.

I started my website in March in hopes “To help make the world more sensitive, respectful and accessible to all” and after my experience today at the Adams National Historical Park I realize that Kenny & Co have A LOT of WORK to do for many in our world have no clue what it means to be Sensitive, Respectful and Accessible to All.