In search of John Adams

Quincy tourism officials brace for crowds after HBO series

The presidential birthplace in Quincy (originally part of Braintree) as it looks today. (Adams National Historical Park)

Taking advantage of a one-time opportunity to raise the city's tourism profile, city leaders are making preparations to impress an anticipated wave of new visitors drawn to Quincy by the HBO film series "John Adams," which debuted last week.

Officials are expecting thousands of new visitors to Quincy's Adams National Historic Park and - hopefully - other attractions. They are making plans and raising money to expand the park's services, improve the city's appearance, and offer history-themed tours that will connect the park's historic houses to other underappreciated historic sites.

The HBO production, a seven-part miniseries produced by Tom Hanks and generating a buzz even before its first broadcast, is based on the best-selling biography of Quincy's native son by historian David McCullough published eight years ago.

McCullough's book reintroduced a neglected founding father to a nation which had largely forgotten that Adams pushed for independence before it was popular, wrote a state constitution still in effect, negotiated a peace treaty with the British, and served as the country's second president.

In the wake of the book's success, annual attendance at the Adams National Historic Park rose from 80,000 to 250,000. Given that many more people will see the film series than read the book, the city's tourism agency, Discover Quincy, predicted an increase that could double or triple the gains that followed the book. McCullough himself warned city leaders to expect a busy summer.

"You'd better be ready for what's coming," he told Quincy Mayor Tom Koch at a premier event this month.

In fact, officials worry that increases in the predicted range will stress the park's services. Tourists can visit the park's two sites through guided tours that leave from the park's visitor center in downtown Quincy, but the park lacks the staff to expand tours.

While city officials are seeking funds to expand services, they are also talking with park officials to spread the crunch throughout the city by encouraging visitors to walk to the nearby Church of the Presidents; visit historic Hancock Cemetery, where the National Park Service will post a ranger this year to share the cemetery's stories; and visit Adams Academy, the home of the Quincy Historical Society.

"We can tie it all together," said Mark Carey, who heads Discover Quincy.

Ed Fitzgerald, director of the Quincy Historical Society, said his society's permanent exhibit places John Adams in the local context, including Quincy's claims on leading Revolutionary figures John Hancock and Josiah Quincy.

Hancock, the merchant prince whose name became proverbial as the first signer of the Declaration of Independence, was born in Quincy on the site where Adams later endowed the Adams Academy, a preparatory school, at 8 Adams St.

Josiah Quincy, a brilliant legal mind who served as Adams's co-counsel in the defense of British soldiers tried for their role in the Boston Massacre, was a member of an important local family.

The society will also offer summer visitors a new exhibit carrying the Adams family's history into the next generations, including Charles Francis Adams senior and junior.

The elder served as a diplomat, and the son led the first troops into Richmond at the end of the Civil War, Fitzgerald said.

Other historic sites in Quincy connected to the Revolution include the house Josiah Quincy built in 1770 at 20 Muirhead St. in Wollaston, which served as a Patriot observation point on British shipping; and the Dorothy Quincy Homestead at 34 Butler Road, the birthplace of the woman who married John Hancock.

A sleeper is the stone monument known as the Adams Cairn, which marks the field where John Adams's wife, Abigail, and his son, John Quincy, watched the battle of Bunker Hill - a moment dramatized in the series. City officials are hoping to clean up the site in the expectation that some visitors may be looking for it.

Koch said the city will be intensifying beautification efforts this spring throughout Quincy to make a favorable impression on visitors. "It's a Quincy story," Koch said. "The city should look good. It should be clean."

City workers will repair the annual plague of late winter potholes, erect new welcome banners that include the name "Adams," make the city blossom with flowers, and improve signs, Koch said.

Short term improvements such as these should be accompanied by some long-term planning, Koch said.

The Adams park visitor center is not big enough to introduce the city properly, he said. A larger space shared by the park and the city could also direct visitors to other attractions.

Connections between Quincy attractions and neighboring Braintree and Weymouth can also be exploited and the city can benefit more from its closeness to Boston, he said.

The metropolis to the north, however, can sometimes cast a long shadow. It bothers him, Koch said, when confused visitors emerge from Quincy Center train station looking for Quincy Market.

"We have two presidents here," Koch said, referring to the Church of the Presidents (formally the United First Parish Church) on Hancock Street. Tours include a visit to the Adams Family Crypt where John Adams, John Quincy Adams and their wives are interred.

Though most city residents are already aware of the Adams connection, locals said the attention focused on it by a major film is good for the city's pride, too.

"It helps the city's sense of identity," Fitzgerald said. "It's kind of bracing."

Robert Knox can be contacted at rc.knox@gmail.com.