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Besides its picturesque beauty, this West Quincy cemetery is singularly significant for its association with Solomon Willard, “the Father of the Granite Industry” and noted architect of the Bunker Hill Monument and Quincy City Hall. The land and funds to create the cemetery were donated by a wealthy Adams Street bachelor, James Hall. Solomon Willard laid out the cemetery and raised in it an enormous thirty ton column, quarried at Wigwam Quarry, which had been rejected for use in the New York Exchange. Before setting the column upright, Willard deposited a complete set of stonecutter’s tools in the top of the shaft.

The son of Massachusetts’ governor and one of the principal founders of Connecticut, John Winthrop, Jr. operated the first iron smelting furnace in the British colonies, one of the earliest industrial ventures in America (1645). You can view the excavated remains of the furnace, read about its history, and see artist’s renderings of the furnace in full operation.

This country estate overlooking Quincy Bay transports visitors to the Revolutionary War era and tells the story of a woman’s work to preserve her family’s history more than a hundred years later. Revolutionary leader Josiah Quincy built the house in 1770. Quincy and his family played key roles in the social and political life of Massachusetts for generations, producing three mayors of Boston and a president of Harvard.

One of America’s earliest garden cemeteries, the first two plots were ceremoniously purchased on May 5, 1856 by Charles Francis Adams, Sr. A two and one half mile long stone wall, erected for the perimeter in 1934-35 by the Works Progress Administration, is dedicated to the memory of Thomas Morton who in 1625 led the settlement here after the arrival of Captain Richard Wollaston. The variety of ornate gravestones and granite monuments beautify this outdoor museum honoring three Adams descendants whose lives were lost in service to our country, veterans, former Mayors and prominent granite industry leaders.

Part of the Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area, and one of the few accessible by land, this property offers stellar vistas of the Boston skyline and other Harbor Islands. A great place to watch the sunset, this location is popular for walking, picnicking, or fishing from the pier.

The Adams Academy, built of Quincy granite, is an early and important example of Gothic revival architecture in America. Endowed by John Adams as a preparatory school for boys, it was built on the site where the legendary patriot John Hancock was born. Now home to the Quincy Historical Society whose museum showcases the city’s history from Native American times up through the early 21st century and archives are a major resource for information on local and area history. The collection includes books, pamphlets, manuscripts, images, maps, audio and moving-image recordings covering the full range of Quincy history with particular interest in Adams family ephemera, the Quincy granite industry, Quincy shipbuilding, and genealogy.

Quincy’s proud shipbuilding history comes to life aboard this Cold War-era heavy cruiser. Berthed at her home port, the former Fore River Shipyard, the USS Salem also serves as home to the “Kilroy Was Here” catchphrase and the United States Naval Shipbuilding Museum.

Historic Preservation is underway at the Lyons Turning Mill on Quarry Hills Drive as it efforts to establish a museum to show the history of quarrying and stonecutting and its relationship to the industrialization of this industry as it relates to the history of Quincy. Built in 1894, the mill used giant lathes to turn granite and other kinds of stone into columns, spheres, and works of art. The Quincy Quarry Railroad, which was built at the same time, ran through its center and a 20-ton overhead crane inside the mill could handle the manufactured stone products that were made there. Visitors are welcome to tour the grounds of the mill and encouraged to view the virtual museum.

Open the 1st weekend of each month thru November. Saturday & Sunday 11AM – 3PM

Please call 617-472-1322 for special tour requests, check our website for special presentations at www.quincyquarrymuseum.org

A half-mile long self-guided nature walk, designed to showcase the major plant and animal species that find their homes in and around the Quincy salt marsh, leads to a cemetery with the remains of US Navy veterans housed at the National Sailors’ Home. The long rows of simple, shaped white marble stones set up a pleasing rhythm as they slope towards the marshland which overlooks Quincy Bay.