My wife and I are tourists in our own state. We live in Vermont, and drove around leaf peeping today. We happened to find our way into Plymouth, the birthplace of former president Calvin Coolidge. And the home of the Plymouth Cheese Company.
Has anybody else ever visited the grave site of a former US president with their dog and bought cheese made in the same town?
It was tasty smoked cheddar, and the grave was very minimalist*. The dog just wanted to sniff around for chipmunks.
All in all, it was a very interesting part of a boring day driving around back roads. You never know what you are going to find when wandering, which is why I love doing it.
*Seriously, it was a very minimal tombstone for an American president. His name, dates of birth and death, a presidential seal, and a little American flag stuck in the ground. Almost lost in a field of other headstones in a cemetery on the side of a dirt road in the middle of nowhere. This guy was the president of our country for four years, and that’s all he gets? I dunno know, maybe that’s all he wanted. Vermonters aren’t very flashy and attention seeking.
You could’ve left out the President’s name, and maybe the state so that I don’t Wikipedia it, and I think many people could guess which President it is. After all, his most famous quote is “you lose.” An austere monument fits him. If the monument was of a stovepipe hat*, a grizzly bear**, or a giant penis***, it would be obvious as well.
*Lincoln, duh.
**Theodore Fucking Roosevelt
***LBJ of course. Clinton’s not dead to make that reference.
The only presidential grave I’ve visited was Kennedy’s, sans dog and cheese. It was some time in the 60s because it was a class field trip (maybe '65 or '66) and I think I have a black-and-white photo in an ancient album.
Makes me wonder now which president has the flashiest gravesite.
My trifecta in the neighboring state of New Hampshire was to visit Henniker. You could visit the winery, get a tour and wine tasting, then go back to town and get a (wonderful) pizza at the college dive and eat it on the patio looking out at the river, then go to The Book Farm for used books. A perfect Fall Day Trifecta.
Only now the winery’s gone, and there isn’t another really close by. Maybe you can substitute apple-picking on Pat’s Peak instead.
Upon reading the subject line, I had assumed that the story would be that the dog had eaten the cheese, and as a result, had befouled the presidential grave.
John Adams and John Quincy Adams are buried underneath a Universalist church in Quincy, MA and about 50 feet away is a tex-mex place that makes a queso dip that is phenomenal. Does that count?
Been there many times due to a odd fraternity tradition (went to school in Cleveland). Interfraternity sports bowling was always on Saturday morning. If we lost we always stopped at the cemetery and went to Garfield’s tomb, If we won we went to The Big Penny, a local greasy spoon for lunch. Don’t know why, we just did.
No pets or cheese was involved, but how many other people have been to a President’s tomb with a hangover?
