Kurt's Historic Sites
New Hampshire Day Trip
February 19, 2005
The next grave venture I went on was rather spontaneous. There was
little to no planning involved whatsoever, as the idea presented itself rather
suddenly. It was a cold February morning, and my family had just dropped off
my grandparents at the airport for their flight to Florida. With my grandparents
now on their way to warm weather and sunny skies, I was left preparing for a
presumably dull February vacation. On the way back from the airport, my dad
and I were contemplating what we could accomplish during the following week.
After about ten minutes, my dad came up with an idea that was definitely
appreciated: We could go to another president grave! I was very enthused
about this idea, as I had never been to a presidential burial site in the
winter. Having narrowed our options down to two, we chose to travel to New
Hampshire to visit President Pierce. Thrilled, we dropped my sister off at our
house, alerted my mom that we were leaving, and departed on our journey.
After an uneventful 140 mile drive, my dad and I arrived in downtown
Concord. It is a quiet and surreal place where drivers actually stop at
crosswalks. Concord's inhabitants seemed peaceful enough, and I was
impressed. After we drove around the city for several minutes, we found the
street where Old North Cemetery was located. Upon entering the cemetery, we
easily located Franklin Pierce's resting place. Despite the fact that the city was
covered in snow, it was not a hard task to find the granite marker, as it is at
least twelve feet high. The wreath placed at the site three months prior was
still there, adding a Christmasy touch to the burial plot. Before we took our
pictures, my dad and I cleared some snow off of the marker in order to show
its true form better. Not long after, the two of us exited the cemetery and went
off to lunch.
Once we had finished our meals, we walked a block or so away to a
history museum, located not too far from the State Capitol Building. Inside the
museum, we found ourselves looking at several articles from Pierce's life, such
as a desk of his and a sign from his days as an attorney. We stayed in the
building for approximately 45 minutes before we headed to the door. As we
were leaving, we were stopped by a museum employee who asked us what
brought us to the museum. We began to tell him how we visited presidential
burial sites all across the country. He said that was very interesting, and that
we should come back to Concord at some point to visit President Pierce's home,
which is closed during the winter. Before long, we ended up in a 20 minute
conversation and we found ourselves with tons of new knowledge about the
Pierce administration. Eventually we said our goodbyes and headed toward our
vehicle.
As we left to head back home, my mind began racing. It had not even
been two years yet, and we were almost halfway to reaching our goal. How
long would it take for us to visit the rest?
