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  People naturally protested, and in 1770, they repealed this act with one exception - the TEA.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!

Historic Boston - The Old State House

The tour of MA CITY continues! This time, I visited the Old State House, which sits right on State Street in downtown Boston.

The Old State House was originally built as a wooden town house in 1657 - but it burned down in a fire in October of 1711 near the intersection of State and Washington Streets (which is literally just behind the building in the picture below.)  This particular structure was subsequently built in 1713 and was the seat of colonial government until 1776, and then State government until the "new" Massachusetts State House was completed in 1798.  The new State House was built over on land that was once owned by John Hancock which is now adjacent to Boston Common. We will visit that area in another post!

The Old State House almost hilariously sits among the giants in the heart of Boston.  On the façade of the building, you can see a few important features.  First, the balcony that you see is the same one that colonial governors would make announcements and proclamations from on behalf of the King of England.  The Declaration of Independence was read for first time in Boston from this balcony on July 18, 1776! You can also see the lion and the unicorn which were actually symbols of the King of England. The originals burned in 1776 but replicas were placed here in 1882.

The very small windows on the "first" floor were a result of the 1903-1904 addition of the orange line station to the east side of the building here.  It raised the original floor by 19 inches, thereby resulting in shorter windows.

And right out in front of the Old State House sits the marker for the spot where on March 5, 1770, the Boston Massacre occurred. Most people agree that these were the first shots fired in the Revolutionary War. There's a lot of symbology here - the five stars represent the five men who died in the Massacre.  The center marks the spot that Crispus Attucks was shot.  He was the black sailor who was the first to fall in the Massacre. I think I read somewhere that the 13 spokes coming out of the center were for the 13 colonies - indicating the 13 colonies that existed before this Massacre lead to the start of a nation but now I can't find anything about that - so don't quote me on that!

I went inside of the Old State House to learn a little lunchtime history!  Inside there is a copy of the famous painting that is a chromolithograph by John Bufford in 1857 (original drawing by William L. Champney in 1856) known as "The Death of Crispus Attucks at the Boston Massacre 5th March 1770."

This hat belonged to Major Thomas Melvill, who was the grandfather of Herman Melville (the author of Moby Dick).  He was a member of the Sons of Liberty that participated in the Boston Tea Party and he served as a major in the artillery during the Revolution.

When the Tea Party was over, the Sons of Liberty had boarded the British ships and pushed over 46 tons/$1.7 million worth of tea (in todays figures) into Boston Harbor --- AND Melvill's wife happened to find some of that tea in his boot after the affair was over, which they preserved in a little bottle for posterity, I'm sure.

I really liked seeing John Hancock's coat! They also had a letter of congratulations from the people of Boston on his selection as governor of Massachusetts, as well as his ceramic snuffbox.

At the Old State House, you can also visit the Council Chamber that dates back to 1764.

The Royal Governor of Massachusetts used to meet with the members of his council in this (now) very interactive room.

Because the Royal Governor of Massachusetts was working on behalf of the British throne (which at the time was George III), there is a painting of King Charles I from 1636, by Anthony Van Dyck.

There is also a painting of King James I by the first baronet, Sir Godfrey Kneller from 1684. Ironically, James II was overthrown as the last Catholic King of England which led to England becoming a constitutional monarchy rather than an absolute monarchy!

Well, someone left their shoes and coat at the Old State House! 

I thought the Old State House comic books and trading cards (not to mention the limited edition Jim Beam bottles) were a nice touch!  The Jim Beam bottles were made in 1976 to celebrate the Bicentennial.  Interestingly, these are two of the seven that were made, and six of them were featured as Saturday Evening Post cover art by Norman Rockwell. The seventh (on the right), which featured Crispus Attucks, had advertisements that only ran in Ebony and Black Enterprise magazines.

There is a cool and dizzying stairway in the Old State House. These always remind me of snails! This stairway was added around 1830.

Although the Old State House is still the oldest surviving public building in Boston (read: not someone's residence), it has had a lot of work done to it over the years. Don't miss visiting the lower level (where the bathrooms are) because there's a small but very interesting section about the restoration of this building!

The restoration began in 1881 with the goal to restore it to it's original look. The lion and the unicorn, symbols of the British government, had been torn off in 1776.  They were replaced (new, not the originals) with the late 1800s restoration of the east gable.  

In contrast, they placed an eagle and the Massachusetts state seal on the west gable!

The craziest idea they had was when they decided to run the MBTA orange line underneath the building in 1903-1904 (in fact, State Street station is actually IN the building!)

Behind those two people standing in the foreground, you can see the orange doors to the State Street orange line station. Super weird that they thought THIS was a good place for that!  But I read on the Boston History and Architecture website that, "The Old State House's shallow foundation provided an area for the subway stops to be stacked beneath it, without having to dig beneath the far deeper foundations of the surrounding buildings."

I love this picture and I love Boston architecture (well, most of it anyway!) 

Until next time, Old State House!