Plymouth Notch, Vt. – President Calvin Coolidge is the only U.S. President to be born on Independence Day. This year, to commemorate the Fourth of July, the President Calvin Coolidge State Historic Site in Plymouth Notch will host a day of festivities and events from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm. 

“Plymouth Notch on the Fourth of July is the perfect place to experience history where it actually happened,” says State Historic Preservation Officer Laura V. Trieschmann. “We invite everyone to explore the home where Calvin Coolidge was born, the homestead where he grew up, and the village that influenced this Vermonter to seek office as President of the United States.”

Start the day in the Union Christian Church at 9:00 a.m. for a reading of the Declaration of Independence with the Calvin Coolidge Presidential Foundation. At 11:30 members of the Coolidge family will judge the “Grace Coolidge’s Icebox Cookie Baking Competition” on the porch of the Cilley General Store.

The Vermont National Guard will lead the procession to the cemetery for the laying of a wreath at the president’s grave at 12:00 p.m. Immediately following, enjoy a slice of President Coolidge’s birthday cake, wave an American flag, and listen to an old-time string band. In the afternoon explore the historic village, see cheesemaking in John Coolidge’s 1890 factory by Plymouth Artisan Cheese, and watch The Coolidge Cup, a national invitational speech and debate tournament sponsored by the Calvin Coolidge Presidential Foundation.The public and media are welcome.

New to this year’s July 4^th festivities is the Icebox Cookie Baking Competition. Members of the public are invited to bake and bring a dozen cookies using First Lady Grace Coolidge’s cookie recipe (find the recipe below) to be tasted and judged by members of the Coolidge family.

“On his birthday, Calvin Coolidge enjoyed homemade treats lovingly baked by his mother Victoria, a family housekeeper, and later First Lady Grace. There is no better way to honor Coolidge’s birthday today, 151 years later, than with a recipe that was familiar to him,” says Rejoice Scherry, the site’s administrator.

Visitors to the President Calvin Coolidge State Historic Site can explore the new exhibit, “Coolidge’s Contemporaries: The Ascension of Early 20th Century World Leaders.” This special exhibit compares President Coolidge’s unorthodox but humble oath of office to the ascension ceremonies of other influential leaders from across the globe. For more information on the State Historic Sites and events visit their website.

Grace Coolidge’s Icebox Cookies 

1 cup butter or shortening

2 cups brown sugar

3 ½ cups flour

1 Tsp. baking soda

½ Tsp Salt

1 cup chopped nuts

2 eggs, well beaten 

Preheat oven to 375. Cream butter and sugar. Sift flour, soda, and salt 3 times. Add nuts, add eggs, and flour. Mix all thoroughly and pack into mold (long narrow bread pan) and let stand overnight. Do not grease the mold or baking pan. Next day, unmold and slice very thin. Bake for 10 minutes.  

To enter the baking contest please send an email of interest to the site administrator atrejoice.scherry@vermont.gov.

News From the NotchJune 23rd, 2023

Congratulations to this year’s Coolidge Scholarship graduates: Alison Xin, Katherine Sylvester, Joshua Kim, and Matthew Muellner. Alison Xin will soon start working for the National Institute of Health after undergraduate work at Harvard. Katherine Sylvester will return home to the Washington, D.C. area where she will begin a new position at Capital One. Meantime, Matthew Muellner will soon return to his home state to begin studies at the University of Nebraska College of Medicine. Both Katherine and Matthew recently finished their undergraduate studies at Yale. Joshua Kim is continuing research projects in artificial intelligence and neuroscience he began as an undergraduate at the University of Chicago. “When I think of the scholarship, I think of a community of mentors and friends who I really respect and enjoy,” said Josh Kim. “Our shared values and our shared experiences as a part of the Coolidge community make me feel like Coolidge is a group of people who I can really lean on.”The Scholars program “had a profound impact on my life,” Matt Muellner said. “The mentors, friends, and ideas that have been provided to me over the past several years have helped me develop as a student, a man, and an American.”All who have supported the Coolidge Scholars and Senators program can take pride in this year’s class of scholar graduates, the third class. Each of them contributed to the early years of the Coolidge Scholars program, from cleaning the Coolidge grave site to assisting at events and welcoming their successor awardees. Alison, Katherine, Josh, and Matt will always have a place in the Coolidge community.People Calvin Knows Former Coolidge intern Trevor MacKay and 2021/2022 Coolidge Cup champion debater Patrick McDonald have both been named Hertog Political Studies Fellows for the class of 2023. While an intern, Trevor worked on a new anthology of New Deal criticism, New Deal Rebels, edited by Coolidge Chair Amity Shlaes and published by the American Institute for Economic Research. Coolidge Senator Alex Hu (2017) was also named a Hertog Security Studies fellow for the class of 2023.Vermont Magazine recently featured long-time Coolidge supporter Lyman Orton’s impressive collection of Vermont art. More than 200 works from Lyman’s collection will feature at a new joint exhibition, For the Love of Vermont: the Lyman Orton Collection, which will open soon at the Bennington Museum and the Southern Vermont Arts Center. Click here to read the latest edition of Vermont Magazine.Coolidge Senator Malaina Kapoor (2019) coauthored Defiant Dreams, with Afghan author Sola Mahfouz. Defiant Dreams, recently published by Penguin Random House, tells the story of Sola’s clandestine education in Taliban-ruled Kandahar. Click here to learn more.Coolidge Fund trustee Christopher DeMuth published an article in The Wall Street Journal on the critical role of the legislative branch in American democracy. Click here to read the article. Friends of Coolidge sure get around. Longtime supporter Murry Stegelmann recently stopped off in Berlin; in the picture, Murry stands before the Brandenburg Gate, opened after the fall of the Berlin Wall.The Fourth of July at the NotchJoin us at the Notch on the Fourth of July for a day of family-friendly events. The Fourth marks a double holiday in Plymouth. Both Calvin Coolidge and the United States were born on that auspicious date. The Coolidge Foundation will celebrate with a public reading of the Declaration of Independence in the Union Christian Church at 9 AM.The Coolidge Foundation is also organizing a memorial procession in concert with the State of Vermont. We will gather outside the Cilley Store (general store) at noon before processing from the village green to the Plymouth graveyard. The Vermont National Guard will lead the march, with speeches at the gravesite to follow.Later that afternoon, the Foundation will host the championship round of the Coolidge Cup Speech and Debate Tournament. This year, so many students are coming that Coolidge will be increasing the number of student buses from two to three. The students will debate whether President Coolidge deserves to be ranked among the ten greatest American presidents or to stay at his current lower ranking in most polls (a recent C-SPAN poll of historians placed President Coolidge at 24).The Coolidge Cup is open to the public, and the Foundation invites you to sign up as a citizen judge. No prior debate experience is needed. We provide all the training to make you comfortable on the morning of each day of the tournament. To learn more and register to judge, click here.Love Coolidge arcana? Coolidge author J.R. Greene will also be at the Notch on the Fourth to sign copies of his Coolidge books Calvin Coolidge in 100 Objects and Calvin Coolidge’s Plymouth Vermont. Click here to learn more about the Fourth at the Notch.Celebrate the Centennial with CalvinAs Coolidge fans know, it was on August 2, 1923 when word came to Vice President Calvin Coolidge—who was visiting his boyhood home in Plymouth Notch, Vermont—that President Warren Harding had suddenly passed away. Coolidge’s own father administered the Oath of Office in the family’s sitting room at 2:47 AM the next morning. This kerosene-lit inauguration, unique in American history, remains emblematic of the common-sense Vermont values that guided Coolidge as America’s thirtieth president.The Coolidge Foundation invites you to celebrate the Coolidge Centennial at a series of events to be held August 2-5, 2023 in Plymouth Notch. We are planning a week of celebrations surrounding the anniversary of President Coolidge’s homestead inauguration, including a 100th Anniversary Gala on the night of August 2, a 2:47 AM reenactment of the homestead inauguration on August 3, and several reprise reenactments throughout the week. Visit our centennial webpage to learn more about August events and purchase your tickets to the Inauguration Gala today. Coolidge Calendar July 2-4: Coolidge Cup Speech and Debate National Championship July 4: Coolidge Birthday Celebration August 2-5: Coolidge Centennial Celebration in Plymouth Notch