Est. 1872 · Presidential Birthplace · Presidential Oath of Office Site · Vermont Historic Preservation · National Historic Landmark
Calvin Coolidge was born on the Fourth of July, 1872, in Plymouth Notch, Vermont — a small village hidden in a valley of the Green Mountains in Windsor County. His father, John Coolidge, operated the general store and served as a local official. The family's roots in Plymouth Notch ran several generations deep.
Coolidge was serving as Vice President when President Warren Harding died suddenly on August 2, 1923. The news reached Plymouth Notch by telephone late that night. At 2:47 a.m. on August 3, by kerosene lamp in the parlor of the family homestead, John Coolidge administered the presidential oath of office to his son — the only time in American history that a father administered the oath to a president. The ceremony was witnessed by several journalists and officials who had accompanied the Vice President.
The site was developed as a historic district beginning in 1947, when the state of Vermont purchased the Wilder House and Barn. Following Grace Coolidge's wishes, John and Florence Coolidge donated the boyhood home and its contents to the state in 1956. The site now encompasses 12 historic buildings across 200 acres, including the birthplace, the general store, the church, a one-room schoolhouse, the Florence Cilley General Store, the Wilder Barns, and the cheese factory. The Plymouth Notch Cemetery on the hillside above the village holds Calvin Coolidge and six generations of his family.
The Calvin Coolidge Presidential Library and Museum, part of the adjacent Calvin Coolidge Foundation complex, holds the archival collection associated with the 30th presidency.
Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coolidge_Homestead
- https://historicsites.vermont.gov/calvin-coolidge
Apparitions
The paranormal tradition at the Coolidge homestead is sparse — a single account describing a woman in a wheelchair observed in the area of the historic buildings. No specific location within the site complex, no identity, and no recurring pattern of sightings has been documented in available sources.
The homestead's history does not immediately suggest an obvious candidate: Grace Coolidge, the president's wife, remained vigorous in her advocacy for the site's preservation into the 1950s and was not associated with a wheelchair. The president's mother, Victoria Josephine Moor, died before Coolidge reached adulthood.
Given the limited evidentiary basis, the Plymouth Notch Coolidge site is best understood primarily as a presidential history destination of exceptional quality — one of the most intact and evocative presidential birthplace complexes in the United States — with a minimal and unverified paranormal footnote that does not require elevation in the visitor's understanding of what makes the site worth visiting.
Notable Entities
The Wheelchair Woman
