Historic Boston - Boston Common

 These posts kind of jump around a bit because I visited a lot of these places on the same day (yet I don't want to bore or overwhelm anyone with TOO much history!) so this post should definitely be enjoyed with the Public Garden post!

First stop on the way to the Common - the State House! Weirdly, I've never actually been here before, despite being a state worker for about 4 years. Charles Bulfinch designed this building that was opened in 1798 - remember how the Old State House was once the seat of state government from 1776 until this opened?  Many people think there is a pineapple on top of the gold dome, but it's really a pinecone (well, they were half right!) which was chosen as a nod to the pine trees of New England that were used to build houses, ships and buildings.

There are a bunch of cool facts about our Massachusetts state house:  First, the original dome was made of wood, BUT... it leaked. Like a lot. So they hired Paul Revere and Sons to replace the wood with copper in 1802.  Since then, it's been covered with 23 carat gold leaf although it was painted dark gray during World War II so that German ships and planes did not see it.

Boston Public Garden was the first public botanical garden in America - which makes sense because it's situated just across the street from Boston Common, which was the FIRST public park in America, founded in 1634! William Blackstone originally owned the land, but Puritan colonists purchased the 44 acres from him for 30 pounds (6 shillings per landowner at the time.)  It was a pasture at the time, and became a common area for the Puritan colonists animals to graze.

While the Common had been a site for the Puritans to dole out public punishments (including hangings), it now is a great place for ice skating in the winter on Frog Pond!

Also on the Common, along Beacon Street is a monument to the 300th anniversary of the founding of Boston in 1630.  The monument was dedicated in 1930, which means there's only 7 more years until we actually reach the 400th anniversary of Boston!

Another interesting monument on the Common is one to Pope John Paul II, who gave his first mass in the United States here on the Common on October 1, 1979. It was, surprisingly (given the high number of Catholics in Boston and the northeast) the first visit by a Pope to Boston!

I didn't know whether I liked THIS picture of Beacon Street better or...

... THIS picture of Beacon Street? Hmmm. I like them both!

Another monument on the Common is the Soldiers and Sailors Monument, which was dedicated to all who died fighting in the American Civil War. 

One monument on the Common that's been in the news lately is the brand new Martin Luther King, Jr. monument known as The Embrace which sits adjacent to Tremont Street.

Love is such a powerful force. It's there for everyone to embrace - that kind of unconditional love for all of humankind.  That is the kind of love that impels people to go into the community and try to change conditions for others, to take risks for what they believe in.

I liked this side of it because their embrace is shaped like a heart.  Boston Common has a long history of being a place of public assembly.  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke here on April 23, 1965 in front of 22,000 people.  He called Boston his second home, having met Coretta here and having gotten his Ph.D. at Boston University!

The Central Burying Ground is located near the corner of Boylston and Tremont Street.  Inside of the Central Burying Ground, Gilbert Stuart is buried. He is best known for painting George Washington's famous portrait known as the Athenaeum Portrait, which you now probably see all the time on the $1 bill.  Stuart painted MANY other famous portraits of famous people, such as John Jacob Astor, Presidents Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, John Quincy Adams, James Madison and James Monroe, the first ladies AND even King George's III and IV.

This sign for the Central Burying Ground said that Gilbert Stuart was America's First Composer, which is incorrect.  He was a portrait artist.  William Billings was America's first choral composer, and he was ALSO buried here. Looks like they need to get this sign corrected!

British soldiers who died at Bunker Hill (or of disease between 1775 and 1776) were also buried here.

The buildings that surround the Common on Boylston and Tremont are mostly commercial or belong to Emerson College.

I love the Crispus Attucks monument on the Common. The Crispus Attucks Museum website says, "On top stands a figure representing the Spirit of the Revolution inspired by Eugene Delacroix’s painting of Liberty Leading the People, a symbol of the French Revolution. She holds a broken chain in her right hand to symbolize freedom from the oppressors and in her left hand she holds the American flag. With her right foot she crushes the crown of the British monarchy and next to her other foot an eagle prepares to fly."

Another post I did about the Boston Massacre talked about Crispus Attucks, but what I didn't mention is that he was likely born in Natick (where we lived from 2009-2015).  His mother is thought to have belonged to the Wampanoag Tribe and his father was an enslaved African. Crispus was considered to be the property of William Brown of Framingham for 27 years before he escaped in 1750 and became a sailor (because that was one occupation open to free African Americans.)

I apologize that this monument is difficult to see, but this one is a full copy of the Declaration of Independence, complete with the signatures at the bottom.  It's actually a bronze copy by John Paramino of the painting by John Trumball from 1818 that currently sits in the Capitol Rotunda. 

Couldn't find the sign until I was well into my stroll around the Common! 

The Emerson College dorms are located across Boylston Street from the Common. Can you imagine having this view!?  I loved seeing all of the signs in the windows ("Hi!")

That's cool. A Christmas tree still on the Common, not far from the Park Street Church. In February.

If you stop at the street next to Brewer Fountain, you get a really great view of the Common and the State House.  Notice the Freedom Trail's bricks follow along this road!

AND, if you've seen Hamilton, you definitely know who the Marquis de Lafayette is.  They have a monument to him on Boston Common which was also designed by John Paramino (same sculptor as the Declaration of Independence monument above.)

Everyone give it up for America's favorite fighting Frenchman!  Did you know his full name was Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette?  He played a big role in the Battle of Yorktown (the last major land battle of the American Revolution) and also fought in the French Revolution. He became an honorary American citizen after his death (but not until 2002!)

We do have a pretty State House and I'm certainly glad the dome is gold again! The last time the dome was gilded was in 1997 at a cost of $300,000.

As I made my way back to the office, I passed by the Park Street Church, which has been here since 1809 (the church has been in existence since 1804.) At 217 feet, this was the tallest building in the United States from 1810 to 1828! Harriett Beecher Stowe's brother Edward was the pastor in 1826, and My Country 'Tis of Thee was played for the first time here (or anywhere) on July 4, 1831 after Samuel Francis Smith wrote the lyrics at the Andover Theological Seminary. So once again, you see yet another Boston building with QUITE a lot of history!

Unfortunately, it's only open for tours in the summer, so I guess I'll just have to go back then! Until next time, Boston Common!

Historic Boston - The Boston Public Garden

I feel like I'm overusing the word iconic in these posts but there aren't many more places here in New England as iconic as the Boston Public Garden!!

I actually took a few hours off of work on this particular day (hooray for annual leave!) to walk over to the Public Garden and to Boston Common (see another post for that!)  On the way there, I walked past this building - which is where Benjamin Franklin was born in 1706! You would probably just walk by this and not even notice it - it's so unassuming!

As I marched up Beacon Street, I also passed THIS adorable building - which houses the Boston Bar Association.  The structure itself is known as the Chester Harding House.

It was built in 1808 and is named the Chester Harding House because that famous American portraitist lived here for four years in the 1820s.  He famously painted John Quincy Adams, James Madison, James Monroe, Daniel Boone and several Dukes of Great Britain!

The Boston Public Garden and Boston Common are separated by Charles Street and are two very distinct and different public spaces.  The Boston Public Garden was established in 1837 as the first public botanical garden in America. Hard to tell now because of the snow, but it's really lovely in the spring and summer.

One of my favorite things about the Public Garden is that all of the trees have little labels on them to tell you what kind of tree they are. It's 24 acres of elms, maples, beech, birch, redwoods (yes!), ginkgo,  magnolia, oaks, pagodas - and dozens of other types of trees including this weeping willow.  You like a tree in the garden?  Take a picture of the sign attached to it and plant it in your own garden - you know it will grow here!

One of the most visited spots among the trees in the Public Garden is the Make Way For Duckling's statue(s). SO stinking cute!

This bronze duck and her ducklings were made by Nancy Schön and modeled after the famous book "Make Way For Ducklings" by Robert McCloskey.  

McCloskey wrote the book in 1941 about Mr. and Mrs. Mallard settle into the Boston Public Garden to nest and have their babies. At one point, a child on a bicycle zooms past them and they declare that the park is MUCH too dangerous for their babies - and off they go, to settle down near the Esplanade on the Charles River.

These babies (known as Jack, Kack, Lack, Mack, Nack, Ouack, Pack, and Quack!) arrived at the Public Garden in 1987. It's tradition for people to dress them up for various holidays and sporting events.

The Public Garden sits right up against all of the pretty buildings on Beacon Street. 

One of those pretty buildings is the bar where they filmed the outside scenes of the TV show Cheers!  The writers actually modeled the bar in the show after this particular bar. It's known as Cheers now, but originally it had been the Bull and Finch pub dating back to 1969.  The funniest thing here (to me!) is that on the menu, under "Diane's Entrees" they have "Rebecca's Fish and Chips."  Team Diane forever!

Back in the Public Garden, we find Duck Island in the middle of the lagoon.  Which is, of course, where Mr. and Mrs. Mallard eventually relocated with their baby ducks (after she taught them to swim and dive over on the Charles River)!  A happy ending for a family of cute little ducks! Normally in the summer, you will find this park full of people, and the lagoon full of the famous swan boats.  

You can also see the lagoon bridge in the background.  Originally built in 1867, it HAD been the world's (!!) shortest suspension bridge before it was converted to just a regular bridge in 1921.  The eyebar suspension still remains (although it's for decoration purposes only now since they installed the girders) - but it is still the oldest known eyebar suspension systems in the whole country! This city is just full of ridiculous superlatives!

Robert Paget built the first Swan Boats in the 1870s.  When bicycles started becoming more popular, he decided to make the boats foot propelled paddle wheels - but by a driver, not the occupants of the boat.  In order for  the occupants to have more privacy, he thought up the idea to cover the driver with a swan! Today, four generations later, Robert's great granddaughter (and her cousin, also a Paget) still run the Swan Boats in the Boston Public Garden and they are one of THE most popular tourist attractions in the city.

But let's talk about the real hero of the story though... Robert died at the age of 42 in 1878, and his wife Julia kept the Swan Boats alive through the early 1900s (when her son John took over the business).  Back then, it was a huge effort for a woman to prove that she could even run a business (particularly with four small children) - but she persisted!

Until next time (in the summer when it's prettier) Public Garden!

Historic Boston - Boston Tea Party and Fan Pier Park

 Ok, so it's $35 to go into the museum where the Boston Tea Party was and that's a bit much for a 30 minute lunch walk, so you only get to see and learn about the Boston Tea Party from the outside!  But if you're visiting Boston (or have more time than I did on this particular day), I definitely recommend this museum - they even have an ACTUAL tea chest from that fateful day in 1773!

The colonists that were here in Boston at the time of the Tea Party considered themselves to be British. So they weren't very happy and couldn't understand when the British government passed tax acts and levied taxes on certain products that were being imported to the colonies, such as the Townshend Revenue Act of 1767 that levied taxes on tea, glass, oil, lead, paint and paper.  People naturally protested, and in 1770, they repealed this act with one exception - the TEA.  Next up, the Tea Act was passed by Parliament in May of 1773 which granted a tea monopoly to the British East India Tea Company. They were particularly fired up because those same taxes weren't being imposed on British citizens over in England.  Prior to the Tea Act, the colonists also had a few options on where they purchased their tea - but now, with the monopolization, there was only one place to purchase it from.

As the sign says outside, "England was imposing laws, regulations, monopolies and taxes on the people of the American colonies and denying them any say in the matters." 

An official commemoration of the Boston Tea Party, by the City of Boston!

As a result, upon arrival here in Boston of the three large ships containing the tea from the British East India Company, the colonists refused to unload the tea.  They wanted to send these ships back to England as they had done in Philadelphia and New York, but the colonial lieutenant governor Thomas Hutchinson refused to send them back.  Instead, he tried to find a more diplomatic route for accepting the tea.

The colonists had many meetings and debates at the Old South Meeting House over the matter when finally, Samuel Adams gave the word on the evening of December 16, 1773 for the Sons of Liberty (disguised as Mohawk Native Americans) to board the three ships in this harbor and dump over 92,000 pounds of tea (still in chests) into the cold water. Take that, you stinky tea! (I kid, I love tea!)  In time, this daring act, along with the consequences of the Boston Massacre led to the start of the American Revolution. England was simply trying to rule too hard, from too far.

I continued to walk across Congress Street and along the Harborwalk down to Fan Pier.  This is definitely one of the most iconic views of Boston!

They have a neat little history of Fan Pier and the surrounding area here, including metal likenesses of the boats and ships that would have been floating around this harbor in the century indicated on the sculpture.  After the revolution ended, there was a boom of foreign trade.  Foreign commerce continued to expand through the 1800s with the Industrial Revolution and the influx of immigrants who needed the jobs that came along with that. Boston was growing!

Back Bay was filled in during the 1850s, and the South Boston and East Boston waterfront areas followed when they were filled around 1870.  I like the maps in the picture above that give a good visual of this.  I also thought it was interesting that the debris from the Great Fire of 1872 became the fill for Fan Pier - and that if you dig below, you would find patches of charcoal and twisted ironwork!

As America moved into the 1900s, the Seaport District continued to expand (through the dumping of fill, face palm) and Fan Pier here finally got it's name.  This area actually used to be a railroad stopping point - the end of all of the train lines "fanned" out in this spot.  By 1925 though, the rail lines stopped south of Seaport Boulevard and of course, as we now know, they all terminate at South Station which is on the other side of the Fort Point Channel!

Another thing you can see from Fan Pier is Logan Airport!

You also get a nice view of Jeffries Point in East Boston. 

But this big sell for Fan Pier is the view of downtown Boston!

This dilapidated structure that sits (errr) in the middle of the harbor here is the old operators house for the Old Northern Avenue Bridge. It's been boarded up since 2009.

The Old Northern Avenue Bridge (which you can see on the left of the above picture) was built in 1908 to vehicular traffic, but closed to cars in 1997.  It was a pedestrian only bridge up until 2014 when the city closed it down because of structural issues. This bridge was a rotating swing bridge that allowed boat traffic in and out of the area. I'm guessing they didn't want people to even attempt to cross it, so they swung it out 90 degrees to prevent people from crossing.

I also spy in this picture (on the far right side) the Custom House Tower.    The tower sits on the Custom House base, which was once... you guessed it... a Custom House where they used to collect import duties and enforce maritime trade laws for Boston Harbor.  The base was built in the 1830s directly on the harbor, while the tower was added on in 1915.  At 496 feet tall, it was the tallest building in Boston (and all of New England!) for a long time - until the Pru was built in 1964. It's currently tied for 19th tallest in the city, and the building now functions as a Marriott hotel. Interestingly, this area is situated on fill dirt and this particular building has over 3,000 pilings dug deep into the bedrock.  If the "tiny" Custom House has that many, how many do the other tall buildings have?

I crossed back over the Moakley bridge to the Boston side of Fort Point Channel.  Here, you can see where the US Custom Appraiser's Stores were housed as of 1918.  Stored goods seized by Custom officers (or goods awaiting inspection) were stored here.  Currently, it houses the U.S. Coast Guard, NOAA, and the Boston Harbor Islands National Park service.

Across the street from the US Custom Appraiser's Store building you can find this! It's really actually quite hard to imagine what Boston's landscape REALLY looked like back in the colonial days because so much fill has been placed around the city that it looks completely different (not to mention those skyscrapers!)  There is a marker on the wall along the Harborwalk at Independence Wharf that shows "here formerly stood Griffins Wharf."  Which of course, is where the Boston Tea Party occurred.

This is pretty much where the sign in the picture above this one is located, which you can see isn't far from the Boston Tea Party Museum.  And look over there! It's one of my favorite Boston landmarks that I used to visit when I worked on Summer Street - the Hood Milk Bottle!  You can get yummy ice cream there on a hot summer day!  The wooden Hood Milk Bottle building used to be a roadside attraction in Taunton in the 1930s but was purchased by Hood and given to the Boston Children's Museum (the building it sits in front of) in 1977.

I liked the Fort Point Channel because my first job in Boston was on Summer Street (on the other side of the channel) and had to cross it every day. It's basically the gateway to the Seaport District which has really expanded - even since my days working at the Dewb on Summer Street between 2009 and 2011.

Sometimes, you just need to turn around - because the Intercontinental Hotel sits right here along the Harborwalk on Fort Point Channel and it was built to resemble the tall clipper ships that once moved through here.

Maybe one of these years we will come back for a reenactment of the Boston Tea Party (but... December is cold in Boston!)  This year marks the 250th anniversary of the event and they have lots of things planned for the year, including a large scale reenactment on December 16, 2023!

There was a big fire in Boston in 1872, and it destroyed a lot of this area. In fact, the Boston Fire Chief John Damrell warned the city in 1866 that they needed stronger building codes, but was denied. In the end, the 12 hour fire burned 65 acres of land, destroyed 775 buildings, killed 20 people (including 9 firefighters) and cost the city $75 million dollars, which equates to about a billion dollars today.  When it was rebuilt to stronger building codes, the Russia Building was one of the more architecturally appealing buildings to rise up out of the ashes.  The sign outside of the building says, "Designed by Peabody and Stearns and constructed in 1897 in the classical revival style of brick, granite and terra cotta, the façade is distinguished by a corner bay entrance with large Doric columns. Originally known as the "Library Bureau Building" after it's first major occupant. Renovated in 2011."  You can see one of the Doric columns, above.

This is one of the side entrances to the Russia building. It was named the Russia building because Russia-bound ships used to dock here.

I just love these little buildings enveloped by the larger skyscrapers.  I hope they never tear them down!  It's nice to not feel so small and overwhelmed sometimes. For the record, the building on the left was built in 1931 and the building in the center of these three smaller buildings is the Consulate General of Brazil in Boston!

Until next time Boston Tea Party and Fan Pier Park!

Historic Boston - The Old South Meeting House

 The Old South Meeting House was the largest building in colonial Boston - and look at it now!

Built in 1729 as a Puritan meeting house to replace the Cedar Meeting House, it was nearly demolished in 1876 - but the good women of Boston came to it's rescue. It's not only historically significant for being the site of the tax protests that led to the Boston Tea Party, but African American poet Phyllis Wheatley worshipped here, and Ben Franklin was baptized here (although the latter happened in the old structure).  You can actually see his birthplace which is the dark colored skinny building to the right of the Old South Meeting House on Milk Street.

The Old South Meeting House is now a museum, but it originally had been a meeting house (or a church, if you will) for the Puritans back in the Colonial times.  They have examples (??) of people who were members of the church, such as Anna Green Winslow, the famous young letter writer and diary keeper.  In her letters and journal, she wrote about daily life in Boston and the tension that was building toward the American Revolution. Her great, great, great grandmother was Mary Chilton - which you may remember as the first woman to step foot off of the Mayflower!

The Old South Meeting House is perhaps best known for being the spot where the Boston Tea Party started.  The Freedom Trail website says it best:  "It was the series of meetings that culminated on December 16, 1773 that sealed Old South’s fate as one of this country’s most significant buildings. On that day, over 5,000 men crowded into the meeting house to hotly debate the controversial tea tax. When the final attempt at compromise failed, Samuel Adams gave the signal that started the Boston Tea Party. The Sons of Liberty led the way to Griffin’s Wharf, where they dumped 342 chests of tea into the frigid harbor." (Mmmm! Iced tea!)

The building itself was also the first instance of historic preservation in New England.  The land that the Old South Meeting House sits on is (obviously) very valuable - both now and back in 1876 when the building was sold at auction for $1,350.  Then, businessmen George W. Simmons and Son purchased the right to "hold" the building for seven days before it's destruction. In that time, they organized a public gathering at the building - which included the ladies of Boston who learned that they needed to raise $400,000 to purchase the land that the building sat on. 

Twenty ladies were able to come up with $3,500 to buy the building back which would hold it until they could come up with the $400,000 to purchase the land. Preservationists were eventually able to purchase the building and the land, and the Old South Meeting House was saved. Even Mary Sawyer Tyler sold bits of wool to help save the building.  You probably know her - and her wool - from the famous nursery rhyme, "Mary Had a Little Lamb."

You know I love a good map!  Here is colonial Boston as it was in 1773.

One of my personal heroes, Margaret Sanger is featured at the Old South Meeting House.  From New York, Margaret was a nurse who made it her life's mission to legalize birth control in the early 1900s. She spoke about sex and contraceptives and was arrested many times as a result. She was banned from speaking in Boston's public buildings (in 1923, 1924 and 1925), so she taped her mouth shut in protest when she appeared on stage at Ford Hall in Boston in April of 1929! Eventually, she went on on to open up the first birth control clinic, which ultimately evolved into Planned Parenthood. You go, girl!

Another interesting story about the Old South Meeting House is that in 1775, the British 17th Dragoons took over the meeting house, raided it of anything valuable, filled it with dirt and used it to practice riding their horses!

Although the congregants moved on to the New Old South Church (which is located off of Boylston Street near Copley Square) in 1875, they do come back just before Thanksgiving each year to celebrate mass.

The clock here is the original - and it's the "oldest American-made tower clock still operating in its original location" - all thanks to the twenty ladies who made it their mission to save the Old South Meeting House. What you also can't see here is that up in that belfry tower, thanks to a 2009 purchase from the First Baptist Church in Westborough (Massachusetts - not the crazies out in Kansas) sits yet another bell from Paul Revere and Sons Bell and Cannon Foundry! This bell has had a crazy history - it was at the First Baptist Church when the 1938 hurricane destroyed the steeple, which sent the 876 pound bell crashing to the ground. It was weirdly NOT damaged in the fall - and was put back in the restored steeple where it sat until the church was closed in 2007.  The Old South Meeting House had been without a bell since about 1875 (meaning the clock did not ring either as it was attached to the bell) so folks thought it was a good idea to send the Westborough bell back to Boston!  The bell was finally restored and the clock officially chimed again on January 12, 2012. 

Until next time, Old South Meeting House!