It’s never too early to start marking your calendar for your visit to Plymouth Notch. The President Calvin Coolidge State Historic Site’s summer season begins May 23 (Memorial Day weekend) and continues until October 26.
The Historic Site, operated by our friends at the Vermont Division for Historic Preservation, is open Tuesday – Sunday, 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM.
Admission: $12 for adults, $4 for children (6-14), free for children under 6.
Summer Special Events Calendar:
- May 23: Historic site opens for the season
- July 2-4: Coolidge Cup Speech and Debate Tournament
- July 3, 4:00 PM: Coolidge Foundation Annual Meeting
- July 4: Independence Day Celebration, Gravesite Wreath-Laying, and Plymouth Notch Orchestra Performance
- July 31, 11:00 AM: Naturalization Ceremony
- August 2: Homestead Inauguration Reenactment and Annual Summer Dinner with keynote by Dr. Colleen Shogan, 11th Archivist of the United States.
Coolidge Cup | July 2-4
The Coolidge Cup is a national invitational speech and debate tournament sponsored by the Calvin Coolidge Presidential Foundation. Students are tasked with arguing for both sides of the debate resolution over the course of 3 days of competition. All the tournament debates are open to the public, with the final rounds taking place on the Fourth.
The Coolidge Foundation highly values the idea of the “citizen judge,” as we believe that good speech and debate should be aimed at making a logical case that any person can understand. Volunteer judges do not need any prior experience in speech, debate, or judging. If you are interested in judging, take a look at our Information for Judges page. We will provide all the judge training you need. If you are interested in judging, please register to judge.
Foundation Annual Meeting | July 3, 4:00 PM
On July 3, Coolidge Foundation members are invited to join chairman Amity Shlaes and president Matthew Denhart at the 2025 Annual Meeting to learn how the Coolidge Foundation is sharing President Coolidge’s legacy and values with Americans across the country. Student declamations of Coolidge speeches will enliven the hour.
The Annual Meeting will be held in Plymouth’s Union Christian Church: 43 Messer Hill Road, Plymouth, Vermont. The Annual Meeting is open to all current members.
You can renew your membership online, here.
Fourth of July
Coolidge is the only U.S. president born on Independence Day, and July 4 has been commemorated at his birthplace in Plymouth Notch for many decades.
This year’s celebration features a number of special events, including a public reading of the Declaration of Independence, the final rounds of the Coolidge Cup National High School Debate Tournament, and the annual procession and wreath laying ceremony at the Coolidge graveside.
Special to this year’s Fourth of July celebration: Coolidge Foundation member and conductor John Masko will lead a 13-instrument orchestra in performances of George Gershwin’s “Three Preludes,” Arthur Foote’s “Night Piece,” Aaron Copland’s “Appalachian Spring,” and John Philip Sousa’s “Stars and Stripes Forever.”
Check back here for more details as we approach July 4.
Naturalization Ceremony | July 31, 11:00 AM
Join us at the Notch on July 31 as we welcome Vermont’s newest Americans. As Coolidge put it best, “No matter by what various crafts we came here, we are all now in the same boat.” Honorable Mary Kay Lanthier, U.S. District Court judge, will preside over the ceremony. Please join us for a celebratory cookie and lemonade reception immediately following the ceremony, sponsored by the the National Society of Colonial Dames of America in the State of Vermont.
Homestead Inauguration & Summer Dinner | August 2
The 102nd anniversary of President Calvin Coolidge’s homestead inauguration will take place on August 2. The commemoration will begin at 2:47 PM on the porch of the homestead and will feature a reenactment of the inauguration. The Historic Site will be open, as usual, from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM that day.
Please SAVE THE DATE for this year’s summer dinner, August 2, beginning at 6:00 PM with featured speaker Dr. Colleen Shogan, the 11th Archivist of the United States. The dinner will take place under the tent on the main lawn of the Coolidge Historic Site. Dinner registration information is forthcoming.