| Interment Location | Visited | Sequence in Graves I Have Visited |
|---|---|---|
| Plymouth Notch, VT | August 9, 2007 | 32nd President visited; 13th Vice President visited |
In September 1928, President Calvin Coolidge toured Vermont to inspect its recovery progress since the catastrophic flooding of the previous November. Though typically tight-lipped, the man nicknamed “Silent Cal” was inspired to make an emotional proclamation about his birth state while he was in the town of Bennington. “Vermont is a State that I love,” he professed. “I could not look upon the peaks of Ascutney, Whittier, and Mansfield without being moved in a way that no other scene could move me. It was here that I first saw the light of day; here that I received my bride. Here my dead lie buried, pillowed among the everlasting hills. I love Vermont because of her hills and valleys, her scenery and invigorating climate, but most of all I love her because of her indomitable people.” A little over four years later, Coolidge joined his ancestors “pillowed among the everlasting hills” at Plymouth Notch Cemetery.
The 30th president and 29th vice president is interred in the second tier of graves, just up a short staircase. Here my father and I are shown sitting on the wall in front of his tombstone and that of his wife, former First Lady Grace Coolidge. Out of view on the right-hand side is the gravestone of Calvin, Jr., who died of blood poisoning at Walter Reed Hospital at age 16 after he developed a blister while playing barefoot on the White House tennis court. Also out of view, on the left, is the marker for the other Coolidge son, John — who lived to be 93 years old — and his wife, Florence. Other family members buried in the immediate vicinity include the president’s mother, Victoria, and his father, John, who in his capacity as a notary public swore-in his son as chief executive in the early hours of August 3, 1923 after Warren G. Harding’s death.
Coolidge’s headstone is plain compared to many of his White House brethren — it is distinguished only by four stars and the presidential seal. He was a no-frills minimalist in much of his personal life and his political career. Coolidge was a taciturn conservative who supported laissez-faire economic policies, small government, and self-reliance.
Fast Facts
Born: July 4, 1872 in Plymouth Notch, Vermont
Spouse: Grace Anna Goodhue Coolidge (m. 1905-1933)
Political Affiliation: Republican Party
Gubernatorial Tenure: 1919-1921
Vice Presidential Tenure: 1921-1923 under Warren G. Harding
Presidential Tenure: 1923-1929
Vice President: Charles Dawes (1925-1929)
Died: January 5, 1933 in Northampton, Massachusetts
Cause of Death: Coronary Thrombosis
Age: 60
Last Words: “How de do, Robert.”
Interment: Plymouth Notch Cemetery, Plymouth Notch, Vermont
"The public press under an autocracy is necessarily a true agency of propaganda. Under a free government it must be the very reverse. Propaganda seeks to present a part of the facts, to distort their relations, and to force conclusions which could not be drawn from a complete and candid survey of all the facts. It has been observed that propaganda seeks to close the mind, while education seeks to open it. This has become one of the dangers of the present day."
- Calvin Coolidge
January 17, 1925 in an address to the American Society of Newspaper Editors in Washington, D.C.
Sources Consulted and Further Reading
Coolidge, Calvin. “Address to the American Society of Newspapers Editors, Washington, D.C.,” January 17, 1925. Transcript. From UC Santa Barbara, The American Presidency Project. https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/address-the-american-society-newspaper-editors-washington-dc.
Coolidge, Calvin. “Vermont is a State I Love,” September 21, 1928. Transcript. From Calvin Coolidge Presidential Foundation. https://coolidgefoundation.org/resources/vermont-is-a-state-i-love/.
New York Times. “President’s Son, Calvin Jr., Dies as Parents Watch.” July 8, 1924. https://www.nytimes.com/1924/07/08/archives/presidents-son-calvin-jr-16-dies-as-parents-watch-end-comes-at-1030.html.
Watson, Morris. “Caretaker of Estate Last Person to See Coolidge Alive.” Reading Eagle. January 6, 1933. From Google News. https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=52IhAAAAIBAJ&sjid=pocFAAAAIBAJ&pg=5191%2C879766 (accessed January 5, 2022).
