Quincy, MA Summary

Settled in 1625 just a few miles southeast of Boston, on Quincy (pronounced QUINN-zee) Bay, this suburb of 85,000 people is immersed in the early political history of the United States. It was part of Braintree until it became a separate entity in 1792 and was named for John Quincy, a colonial legislator and resident. It was home to four generations of the Adams family, and was the birthplace of two presidents—the second, John Adams; and the sixth, his son John Quincy Adams. John Hancock, president of the Continental Congress and the first to sign the Declaration of Independence, was born here in 1737.

The 14-acre Adams National Historic Site encompasses 11 structures, including the house where John Adams was born in 1735 and where he wrote his first letters to his future wife, Abigail Smith; the couple’s nearby house, where John Quincy Adams was born in 1767 and where the Massachusetts Constitution was drafted; and the Old House (1731), home to four generations of Adamses. At the United First Parish Church, the remains of both presidents and their wives are entombed in the family crypt.

Passes for the Adams National Historic Site can be purchased at the National Park Service visitor center in town. A free trolley bus provides transportation to the site.

Quincy, a financial and industrial center, is known for shipbuilding, and was a major granite quarrying center in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. In 1826 the first commercial railroad in the country was built here to transport granite for the Bunker Hill Monument in Boston.

Boston’s Logan International Airport is the nearest airport with commercial airline service. By car, access is via I-93 and Hwy 128, or Hwy 3. Commuter train service is available from Boston.