Homes of the U.S. Founding Fathers

Source: Builder Direct

July 4, 2011 By Rob Jones

 

Photo: David Robert Wright

It’s American Independence Day! It’s time for fireworks, picnics, time with family and friends, and time spent in those outdoor spaces you’ve been working on all Spring!

To help celebrate, I thought I’d explore what the homes of the American Founding Fathers looked like. Or, at least I thought I’d find some images of homes that are somehow connected with former British Colonists who sought to carve out an independent nation, which they achieved by July 4, 1776.

Let’s take a look!

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George Washington’s ancestral home

The roots of American independence of course can be connected to leaders who originally hailed from, or were descended from, Great Britain. George Washington, General of the Continental Army, and America’s first President had his roots in Northamptonshire. Here is his ancestral home there, originally built in 1539.

photo: Ell Brown

Washington’s ancestor John Washington left Britain for Virginia in 1656, where he established a lucrative tobacco plantation. Today, both the American flag and the British flag fly on the grounds to mark the friendship between the two nations, and the common history they share.

Benjamin Franklin’s house in London

Printer, thinker, discoverer, inventor, and promoter of learning for a growing democracy, Benjamin Franklin called this house his home in London, near Trafalgar Square. He lived here while  serving as the first American emissary abroad during the time of unrest between Britain and its ambitious colony. Franklin lived here from 1757 until 1775. And we all know what happened in July of the following year!

Photo: Ell Brown

Learn more at the Benjamin Franklin House site, which also includes a photo gallery.

James Madison’s home, ‘Montpelier’

Fourth President of the United States, Father of the Constitution, and author of the American Bill of Rights James Madison’s historic home is called Montpelier , located in Somerset Virginia.

Photo: Ben Peart

The house has recently been renovated and is a visitor’s attraction in Virginia. You can even explore it online at the Montpelier website.

John Jay’s ‘Homestead’

John Jay was the first Chief Justice of the United States, and one of the architects of the American Republic.  His historic home is located near Katonah, New York.

Photo: Daniel Case

You can learn more about the house at the John Jay Homestead site.

Alexander Hamilton’s “The Grange”

First Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton was barely twenty years old at the time of American Independence. He grew up in the West Indies until he came to live in America to study, eventually serve in the War of Independence, and onto a political career as one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. His house is now located in St. Nicholas Park (it’s been moved  – twice!) in New York City.

Photo: National Park Service, New York (Public Domain)

The Grange was the only home Hamilton owned and remained in his family 30 years after his death. Hamilton lived here from 1802 until his death (by duel!) in 1804. It was made a national historic landmark in 1960. The Hamilton Heights neighborhood in New York City is named after Hamilton and his historic house.

John Adams’s birthplace

This humble, yet dignified, home is located in Quincy, Massachusetts  is the site that saw the birth of America’s second President, John Adams in 1735.

Photo: Leon H. Abdalian (Boston Public Library)

As luck would have it, this home is also the birth site of John Quincy Adams, Adams’ son, and the sixth President of the United States. Does a home get more Presidential than this? Well, maybe one …

Thomas Jefferson: The first president to live in the White House Full Term

Of course, everyone is familiar with this famous abode.

Photo: cliff1066

It was an early ‘work from home’ solution for President Jefferson, the design connecting his living quarters to office spaces by way of connecting terraces. That design, of course, endures today! And in terms of Presidential residences and homes associated with the American nation, this one wins hands down!

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So, while you’re enjoying the festivities today in your own homes, remember too that even the Founding Fathers had an appreciation for a place to call home, even as they laid out the foundations for a home country.

Happy 4th of July! (cue fireworks and John Phillip Sousa music …)

Cheers!

Rob