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No, we are not running a dating service, besides the guys we’re talking about have been dead for years…

First, I’d like to introduce you to our man of letters, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. We “met” him through the Longfellow National Historic Site which is in Cambridge. The Park Service preserves, protects and interprets the house where Longfellow lived from 1837 until his death in 1882.

The house was built in 1759 for the Vassals, a wealthy Tory family. The Vassals vacated their house and returned to London at the outset of the Revolutionary War. In July of 1775 the house became the headquarters for the commander of the Continental Army that was laying siege to Boston, General George Washington. Washington stayed in the house until April of 1776, shortly after the British withdrew from Boston.

After the war Andrew Craigie purchased the house and vastly enlarged it. Unfortunately, Craigie spent so much money on lavish items that when he died he left his wife deeply in debt. To make ends meet the Widow Craigie took in boarders attending nearby Harvard University. In 1837 she took in a young Harvard professor by the name of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. When Longfellow married Fanny Appleton in 1843 her wealthy father purchased the house for them.

Don’t let the story of the house overshadow Longfellow, he was quite an interesting man. He was the first professional poet in America, he spoke eight languages fluently, could read in twelve, played the piano and several other instruments and he was the first American to translate Dante’s Divine Comedy. Longfellow adhered to the belief that with freedom, tolerance and education each generation could improve the world. As an abolitionist he monetarily supported the anti-slavery movement and the Underground Railroad. Currently, the Park Service is investigating new evidence that might prove that his house was once a safe haven for runaway slaves.

Also fascinating is the care the Longfellow family took in regards to the house; from Longfellow’s first days as a boarder he valued the historical importance of the building (as Washington’s headquarters). Thankfully that concern was shared by their daughter Alice Longfellow who made sure it would be preserved for the future by turning the house over to the National Park Service in 1972. Alice was a busy woman who did more than care for the house—she also helped found Radcliffe College in 1879 as a school where women could receive the same high quality education as their male counterparts at Harvard.

Briefly about Harvard. It was founded in 1636 and is America’s oldest college. Harvard partnered with Radcliffe for years before the two officially joined in 1999. When I was wandering around campus I popped into the Visitor Center and picked up an admissions packet. I almost fell over when I saw the annual fee of $48,550! Keep in mind that includes housing, books and fees and Harvard says it has an aggressive financial assistance program. They even go so far as to say that lack of funds will not prevent any qualified candidate from attending.

Here’s a short list of famous graduates: John Adams (1756), John Quincy Adams (1787), Ralph Waldo Emerson (1821), Oliver Wendell Holmes (1861), Theodore Roosevelt (1880), Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1904), T.S. Eliot (1910), Leonard Bernstein (1939), John F. Kennedy (1940), Bonnie Raitt (1972), and Natalie Portman (2003). Lance would like me to remind you of Harvard’s most famous (and richest) dropout, Bill Gates (‘nuff said).

Coincidentally, the next three men I’m going to share with you were Harvard graduates. In a classic case of age before beauty, let’s meet the oldest one first. John Adams, America’s second President was born in 1735 in Quincy, Massachusetts not far south of Boston. John’s father, John Adams, was not only a cordwainer (a maker of fine shoes, unlike a cobbler who “cobbled” together shoes and did repairs) and farmer but a prestigious member of the Puritan community, holding numerous titles such as lieutenant of the local militia, selectman, tax collector, surveyor and deacon of the church. It was through his father’s extensive connections and civic duties that young John was introduced to the world of politics. After graduating from Harvard with a law degree John, became increasingly involved in the colonists’ struggle against the tyranny of the crown.

John and his young wife Abigail moved into a house about 75 feet from his father’s and it was there that future President and statesman, John Quincy Adams was born in 1767. JQA is not best remembered for being our sixth President, or as ambassador to five different countries. Instead it was his strong career as a Congressman later in life that finally earned him respect. He was also the man that successfully defended the Mende people during their Supreme Court Case, at one point his argument was epic, over eight hours long! Many of you are probably familiar with their story from the Steven Spielberg movie, Amistad.

We became acquainted with these Presidents through the Adams National Historical Park which consists of eleven historic structures related to four generations of the Adams family. The three buildings we visited were John Adams’s birthplace, John Quincy Adams’s birthplace and Peacefield, the home where John and Abigail retired.

Tidbit time (you know I can’t resist these). Many things, such as glass were heavily taxed by the Crown but families of the time did their best to avoid (but not evade) taxes. The Adams family was no different, their large mirror, which still hangs in the family home, was made of two small pieces of glass instead of one big one because smaller pieces were taxed at a lower rate. Gee, some things never change… Abigail, like many other Revolutionary War era women, melted down her family’s entire set of pewterware to make musket balls for the cause. It is estimated these women made over 500,000 balls! And lastly, JQA’s wife, Louisa Catherine Adams is the only First Lady to have been born on foreign soil.

The town of Quincy is known as the City of Presidents since it has the oldest surviving Presidential birthplaces in America, that of John Adams and his son John Quincy Adams. It also has their remains in a crypt at the United First Parish Church where the men rest with their First Ladies. Quincy was also the birthplace of John Hancock and Howard Johnson’s and Dunkin’ Donuts.

Two last items before we leave Quincy. The famous Quincy granite which is quarried nearby was used to build the Bunker Hill Monument. Second, the famous WWII phrase, “Kilroy was here,” was started by an employee at Quincy’s Bethlehem Steel Shipyard. James Kilroy wrote it on ships that he inspected and it soon spread worldwide as American troops copied it everywhere.

On to the beauty part of the story: John F. Kennedy who was born in Brookline, Massachusetts in 1917. You gotta admit he wasn’t bad looking. As you probably know, JFK was our 35th President and at a mere 43 years of age he was the youngest man ever elected President. Now if you are a real history buff you will also know that he was not the youngest man to serve in that office. That record is held by Theodore Roosevelt who was 42 when he became President after McKinley was assassinated. Back to JFK: we got to know him through his Presidential Library and Museum in Boston.

The grand building was designed by I.M. Pei and towers over the waterfront at Columbia Point. The location seems to be especially pertinent since “Jack” spent so much time in the water. Growing up he was an avid sailor and during WWII he served in the Navy. The multi-media exhibits follow Jack through his early years in politics, the struggles and accomplishments of his administration, and of course, his assassination.

Highlights were his creation of the Peace Corps, his focus on the space race and his civil rights agenda. In that area, as in so many others, he was heavily influenced by his younger brother Robert Kennedy. Bobby, as he was known, had managed Jack’s Presidential campaign and served as Attorney General for Jack’s administration. Though the museum focuses on Jack, the library holds not only JFK’s papers but Bobby’s too.

On my way out of the building I perused the gift shop, which by no accident you have to walk through in order to exit the building. Nothing in the wide array of Kennedy related items appealed to me but something caught my eye because it seemed so out of place. On a bookshelf, surrounded by a huge assortment of books about the Kennedys and the Presidency was a book about Ernest Hemingway’s cats. That puzzled me all the way home.

Once back in the RV I hopped online and discovered that the JFK Presidential Library and Museum is the main repository for Hemingway’s papers. I was actually a bit peeved since nowhere in any of the literature did it mention Hemingway (and obviously, that was not the reason I was there). If I had only known!

Actually, it wouldn’t have made a difference if I had known since the Hemingway Room and his collection is only open to researchers who make an appointment. Why am I so worked up about him? Even though I often find his male characters to be chauvinist, womanizing, pigs there is something about Hemingway’s writing that really speaks to me. Maybe because it seems so real and honest, I feel like I know him, warts and all. Can’t really explain it…

The big question was how in the world did Hemingway’s papers get into JFK’s library? The two men never met although they seemed to mutually admire each other, as evidenced by a note Hemingway wrote to Kennedy and by Jack’s quoting of Hemingway at the beginning of his book, Profiles in Courage. Apparently the arrangements were made by Mary Hemingway and Jacqueline Kennedy in 1968. Perhaps it was because President Kennedy allowed Mary to return to Cuba to retrieve the last of Ernest’s papers after his death in 1961.

How could I talk about JFK and not mention the conspiracy theories that abound about his assassination? All I will say is this, while watching an old episode of Myth Busters, I learned that a prominent ammunition expert thinks the controversy could be put to rest once and for all if the National Archives could just find JFK’s brain. Apparently it was not buried with the rest of his body. Hmmmm…

Finally, I am tossing this in because so many of the men we talked about will be part of this program. Starting this year (2007) the US Mint has begun issuing $1 Presidential coins. They will release four Presidential coins a year, in the order they served (unless one of them is still alive at the time). Then that President would be skipped until two years after his death. So if Jimmy Carter lives until 2014 he would be the first one skipped.

Since John Adams’s dollar had already been released, we picked one up. I am not a big collector but I thought it was a neat piece to have. Which is odd because some of you know my feelings about seignoriage. That’s where the government tries to make money by making money that people collect instead of spend. Math help: it costs the US Mint 5 cents to mint a quarter. If a collector buys the coin at face value and never spends it, the US Mint makes 20 cents in profit. Which is why the government spends so much time making neat collections like the 50 states quarters. So far, the US Treasury estimates the profit from the quarter collection to be around five billion dollars!

So there you have it, a brief introduction to some of the men of Boston area.

Photos: View our photographs from our exploring and learning about the Men of Boston.