Historic Boston - Old City Hall/First Public School

Another adventure I had while tooling around Boston in the normally snowy month of January was to see a few of the sights centered around Boston's Old City Hall, as well as the first public school in America!

 

First, and totally unrelated, I love the architecture at the Tremont Temple Baptist Church on Tremont Street!  This super cool looking building opened in 1896 and has largely been a place of worship, but has also served in other capacities, with various offices for lease. It had also served as a location for public speeches by Ralph Waldo Emerson and Frederick Douglass. In 1863, the Emancipation Proclamation was read here in Boston for the first time and in December 1867, Charles Dickens gave his first public reading of A Christmas Carol. The original building (built before this one in 1827 but lost to fire) had been the Tremont Theater where John Wilkes Booth's father Junius Brutus Booth had taken the stage before it was purchased by the Free Church Baptists in 1843.  I just spotted this on my way to see the old city hall - see? So much cool stuff to see in Ma City!

The Omni Parker House hotel is the longest continually running hotel in the United States and it sits directly across the street from King's Chapel. The original was opened in 1855 although this building dates back to 1927. The hotel website says, "It was here where the brightest lights of America’s Golden Age of Literature—writers like Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne, and Longfellow— regularly met for conversation and conviviality in the legendary nineteenth-century Saturday Club. It was here where baseball greats like Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, and David Ortiz wined, dined, and unwound. And it was here, too, where generations of local and national politicians—including Ulysses S. Grant, James Michael Curley, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, Colin Powell, Thomas “Tip” O’Neill, William Jefferson Clinton, and Deval Patrick—assembled for private meetings, press conferences, and power breakfasts."  Even the kitchen and wait-staff once included Emeril Lagasse, Malcolm X, and Ho Chi Minh - I mean, if that isn't an impressive list, I don't know what is! AND they created the Boston Cream Pie here! AND JFK announced his candidacy for Congress, proposed to Jackie AND had his bachelor party here! I could go on and on with the history of this place!

The bar attached to the Omni Parker House Hotel is called the Last Hurrah, and Dickens actually gave his first "private" reading of A Christmas Carol here before he gave the public reading down the street at the Tremont Temple.

All within a one block area you can also find Boston's Old City hall which was used between 1865 and 1969.

This site was also the site of the Boston Public Latin School, the first public school in America which was founded in 1635 (Superlative, check!) While Native Americans were taught for free as of 1645, women were not admitted until the mid 1800s.

There is a very ornately decorated hopscotch plaque on the sidewalk (next to the double brick line that is the Freedom Trail) in front of the Old City Hall.  The school was here from 1635 to 1812 when it moved across School Street and was located there until 1844. That location eventually became the back side of the Omni Parker House hotel. Boston Latin next moved to Bedford Street (Downtown Crossing area) where it lasted until 1881 before it moved to Warren Avenue near the South End. In 1922, Boston Latin moved to Avenue Louis Pasteur where it is still in existence and is still known as one of the best schools in the state today.

This version of the Old City Hall is actually the third building to stand here, which was built in 1865. It was built in the beautiful French Second Empire style and now?  It currently houses a Ruth Chris Steakhouse among other offices and retail space. When I think of the Founding Fathers, democracy in America and the rise of the public school system, I definitely think of overpriced beef!

There is a statue of Ben Franklin in the courtyard of the Old City Hall, even though he dropped out of Boston Latin when he was 10 to become the apprentice at his brother's printing shop when he was 12. He had *beef* with his brother and ran away at 17 to Philadelphia where he began his illustrious diplomatic career.

Even though I don't love the idea of overpriced steak dinners being sold at such a cool historic site, this really was an excellent (and one of the first) example of how a historic building could be repurposed rather than being torn down. 

Another interesting statue in the courtyard of the Old Boston City Hall is the Donkey of Democracy.  He has a really strange story.  A man named Roger Webb purchased this bronze donkey in Florence, Italy and "envisioned" it on the Freedom Trail in Boston as something that children might enjoy on an otherwise history-heavy tour.  But the city officials wanted no part of it.  He was able to convince them that it was appropriate to place it in front of the Old City Hall with the idea that the city had been ruled by Democrats for many years - so here he stands!

Blogger is autorotating my pictures without my permission - and the one thing I don't like about this platform is the fact that I can't rotate a picture by hand here.  Grrr.  Anyway, Republicans of the city weren't very happy with the donkey's placement, so this (errr, much smaller) Republican Elephant plaque was placed directly in front of it as a call to "Stand in Opposition" to the Democratic Donkey. Webb didn't have a bronze statue of an elephant, and no one offered up a free one as he had offered the free donkey to the city, so he had his cousin create this small sculpture instead. How very diplomatic of him!

Until next time Old City Hall and Boston Latin Public School!

Historic Boston - King's Chapel Burying Ground

 The OLDEST Burying Ground in Boston is the King's Chapel Burying Ground, which is just around the corner from the old Boston City Hall. Superlative, check!

King's Chapel is pretty much only open for tours, so I didn't get to go in, but did you know that it was Boston's FIRST Anglican church, founded in 1686?  Inside, you will find the OLDEST American pulpit still in continuous use in this (now) Unitarian Universalist church. AND Paul Revere started a foundry after the Revolution, and his family made the largest bell that still rings here in 1816, just two years before he passed away. Paul Revere himself called this particular bell "the sweetest bell we ever made." His legacy lives on in the 25 bells that he made that still ring in various spots across the city. 

It's like follow the yellow brick road, but just follow the red and gray bricks instead. This time, we are going to the King's Chapel Burying Ground, which is just behind the chapel itself.  The King's Chapel Burying Ground is the OLDEST English burying ground in Boston. 

One of the most "controversial" grave markers is that of Elizabeth Pain.  Some say that Hester Prynne from the Scarlett Letter was modeled after Elizabeth since she had a child out of wedlock before she married Samuel Pain.  The child actually died, and although Elizabeth was found not guilty of murder, she WAS found guilty of negligence and given 20 whippings!  Nathanial Hawthorne even mentions the King's Chapel Burying Ground in the Scarlett Letter and some have interpreted the shield on the left of her headstone to contain the letter "A." In reality, headstones with shields usually just meant she had money and/or this was a coat of arms of her family heritage. Although the idea that Hawthorne modeled Hester after Elizabeth might be a stretch, he definitely was inspired by her headstone.

King's Chapel burying ground, much like the Granary Burying Ground is full of sad grave markers that have been worn down by time and the weather.

The church does not currently own or operate the King's Chapel Burying Ground, because it is currently the property of the City of Boston (and has been for a long time.) The church itself had once been a wooden framed building that was built in 1686 but about 30 years later, when the congregation size was too large for the small church, the "town" (or city as it now is) granted some of the burying ground land parcels to the church so it could expand.  Of course, people freaked out because there were people buried in those parcels of land.  They relocated the graves from the site of the church during the early to mid 1700s (after the church had to expand a second time) but it was much like the Granary Burying Ground in that they were haphazardly placed without any real organization. So in 1810, they moved the headstones (errr, but not the bodies) to line up in more orderly rows. So this is a pretty chaotic cemetery! 

William Dawes is also POSSIBLY buried here.  Although probably not! Dr. Joseph Warren sent both Paul Revere and William Dawes out on that fateful night to warn John Hancock and Samuel Adams that the British were coming, and both made it to their destination - the Hancock Clarke house in Lexington.  Dawes arrived about 30 minutes after Revere (hence why Revere got all the glory in Longfellow's poem here) but on their later ride to Concord, Revere was captured by the British, while Dawes managed to evade them.  It turns out though, that Dawes and his wife are probably buried at the Forest Hills Cemetery a few miles away and more likely, only his cousin Thomas Dawes is buried here. But the marker stands nonetheless.

No worries, just a grave from 1658. No big deal. This particular headstone has an interesting story.  It's the OLDEST headstone in the burying ground, but it was originally found under the street next to the Old State House in 1830. But apparently his body is here because no body was ever found near the Old State House!

I try to imagine this will look prettier in the summer.

You can see the depth of King's Chapel here, from the burying ground. Interestingly, not many actual congregants of King's Chapel are actually buried here.

John Winthrop, the first governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and pretty much his entire family is also buried here.  John Winthrop was the 2nd, 6th, 9th and 12th governor of Massachusetts, and both his son and grandson went on to become governor's of the Colony of Connecticut.

This is just so sad to me.  A gravestone is pretty much someone's final marking in the world - maybe the only thing to ever tell future generations that you even existed at all. I wish these were in better shape.

This building is so skinny!  This is the Winthrop building that was down the street from - it was built in 1894, and it was the first skyscraper built in Boston that had a steel frame. It's known as the Winthrop building because John Winthrop's second home was right next to it (although that is no longer standing.)  Interestingly, the building has "Spring Lane" and "Water Street" on either side of it because there had been a Great Spring here back in the 1600s in the days of John Winthrop, who's property was on the other side of Spring Lane (the alleyway on the left on the building in this picture). 

The real reason I wanted to add this here was because Mary Chilton, the first woman to step onto North American soil off of the Mayflower lived on Spring Lane with her husband John Winslow.  They purchased this house in 1671, and John died here in 1674.  Mary soon followed, passing away in 1679. She was burying at King's Chapel Burying Ground - and I didn't get a picture of either her gravestone or her house! (Pats self on back for stellar photography performance).  This building is just a 4 minute walk from the King's Chapel Burying ground - basically around the corner!

As I walked back to my office, I spotted this!  Look!  A random plaque on the wall of a building that states the first public Catholic mass was celebrated right here on November 2, 1788!

Another site I happened to pass by on my way back to High Street was the Boston Irish Family Memorial. My Irish side of the family emigrated to Boston in 1883 (although they kept on moving and settled in southern Indiana).  

Surrounding the monument is a series of smaller granite monuments with inscriptions about the Great Famine and why the Irish fled Ireland for America.

A fungus hit the potato crops hard, and many starved as a result. To add insult to injury, the British government was exporting a bunch of grain from Ireland over to England at that time, seemingly indifferent to the problems happening in their neighbor country.

During the famine, about a million people died, and two million Irish came across the ocean to America.  There was another near famine due to poor potato harvests in the late 1870s and early 1880s, and because the worst of this happened in County Mayo, I'm one of those lucky Americans that get to claim Irish ancestry! 

Until next time King's Chapel Burying Ground and Irish Family Memorial!

Historic Boston - Granary Burying Ground

 I will be the first to admit that moving back to Boston was pretty difficult for me. I didn't want to leave Germany, but I knew we had to come back - not just for the kids schooling, but for our families.  I am incredibly grateful though, that we live in one of the COOLEST and most HISTORIC cities in all of America. And I'm lucky because I work just a few minutes walk from many of these historic sites in American history - well, only until this summer, when we move our office to Cambridge.

So I thought that I would take advantage of my proximity to these cool, historic spots on my lunch break. Bonus: I get a nice walk for fitness if I move fast enough, which I do because let's face it... I'm trying to cram this into my lunch break!

The Granary Burial Ground is the THIRD OLDEST cemetery in Boston and it contains the graves of the five victims of the Boston Massacre among other famous patriots from the early days of the US.

In the center of the Burying Ground is a triangular tower tombstone of Josiah Franklin and his wife Abiah, who were the parents of Ben Franklin. Ben himself is buried in Philadelphia.

Despite being in the middle of the city, the burying ground is very peaceful.  The mostly slate headstones are not in very good shape, however, as you can see.

Another famous American buried in the Granary Burying Ground is John Hancock.

John Hancock was not only a famous signer of the Declaration of Independence, but he was also the first (and third!) governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. 

At some point in the mid to late 1800s, the headstones were moved into neat and precise little rows so that a new invention known as the "lawnmower" could keep the lawn trim at the Burying Ground. That was also about the time they installed the sidewalks. Prior to that, this area was a part of Boston Common and animals used to graze here to keep the grass trim.

Even Peter Faneuil is buried here. The large market building we know as Faneuil Hall was donated to the city of Boston by the wealthy shipping merchant in 1740. Unfortunately he was also known as a slave tradesman - and there's actually a movement currently to have his name removed from the famous hall by Quincy Market.

Robert Treat Paine's marker is along the north/northeast side of the grounds. He was the THIRD signer of the Declaration of Independence. He was also known as the prosecutor against the British soldiers who participated in the Boston Massacre, as well as being the first Attorney General in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Jonathan Jackson wasn't very well known, but he had a really intricate grave marker. He had been a delegate to the Continental Congress, as well as a State Representative, a State Senator and State Treasurer. Interestingly, his great (x5) grandson Patrick is married to Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson! 

Founding Father Sam Adams is buried right up front, and it's noted that he was a signer of the Declaration of Independence, Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (he took over when John Hancock died in office) and a "Leader of Men and an ardent Patriot."

This is the original slate marker of Paul Revere is in the back of the burying ground. Did someone give him a participation trophy for participating in the Boston Tea Party there???

In the 1800s, they places a much larger memorial to Paul Revere right next to the original marker. Paul Revere was, of course, known for his role as the midnight rider who warned the colonial militia in Lexington and Concord that "The British are coming!"  Fun fact - he didn't actually say this famous phrase! No one would have said that phrase as it didn't make any sense since EVERYONE still considered themselves British in Colonial America at that time.  Instead, he may have said, "The Regulars are coming" which was a term used for British soldiers at the time.

Puritan churches of the time were very plain and did not have a lot of icons or artistic renderings of Bible scenes (and certainly weren't like the flashy and gold Baroque churches that were being built across Europe in the 1600s and 1700s.) Instead, they put their artistry into the tombstones.  This popular design was known as the Soul Effigy, portraying a skull with wings.  It's meant to signify the soul flying off to heaven.

This appears to be a cherub with wings.

And of course we have the classic skull and crossbones for the Merchant Mr. Benjamin Parker.

There are 2,345 (yes!) headstones here in the Granary Burying Ground, although it's suspected there are more than 5,000 people buried here.

And that, of course, includes the five who died in the Boston Massacre on March 5, 1770 and Christopher Seider, the child who was shot and killed when a British Customs Officer fired his gun into a crowd in an effort to break up a mob several weeks before the actual Boston Massacre.  Although the killing of Seider was unintentional, it fueled the Colonists fire. 

Samuel Gray, Samuel Maverick, James Caldwell, Crispus Attucks, and Patrick Carr died in the Massacre that occurred out in front of the Old State House at the hands of tense British soldiers.  Private Hugh White was guarding the king's money at the Custom House when a bunch of colonists started yelling and insulting him. He struck one of them with his bayonet, and this angered the crowd even more, who started hitting him with snowballs, rocks, and whatever else they could find. He called for backup and a few British soldiers (including Captain Thomas Preston) showed up to help guard the Custom House but the berating and violence continued against the soldiers until one of them fired a shot.  And in domino like fashion, several other guns were fired off. Five people died, and six people were injured in the fight.  

There was contrary evidence presented at the trial, on whether or not Captain Preston had ordered the shots to be fired but the damage was done.  The already strained relations between the Colonists and the British soldiers was severed and would (along with other major events) eventually lead to the American Revolution.

I was leaving the Granary on my way back to work when I noticed this odd sign - No. 19 North Square is in the North End.  What a weird place to have a sign about the opening of his house to the public!

Until next time, Granary Burying Ground!

Holiday Fun at the Bailey House

 It was another fun holiday season in the Bailey house!

We start the month of December off right with a visit from St. Nicholas.  St. Nicholas always leaves goodies in the kids boots, including candy, small toys, and even some fruit and nuts! (Aaaand maybe a Moon Pie or two!)

We got the trees decorated (that only took a couple of weeks ha ha).  This is our living room, or the "official" Christmas tree.  This year, we realized our old trees weren't looking so good anymore, and the built in lights stopped working. So Todd went out to get us a couple of new fake trees. Should last us until at least 2032 (you know... when I move back to Europe!), right!?

I love this new little tree.  We have so many White House holiday ornaments that we decided to make a whole tree of it!

I read that the Magic of Lights is in it's LAST YEAR at Gillette Stadium - I believe the exact words were "last time ever!" So we had to go one more time to enjoy this pandemic era tradition that we started in 2020. Prehistoric Christmas, this way!

No Mr. T-Rex, don't eat our Christmas tree!

Grant still appreciates the monster truck with the American flag. It's not Christmas until there's a monster truck running over a hatchback!  I also appreciate that I shared this exact same picture in a blog post last year. Excellent.

There was even a Barbie theme in one section this year.  Totally bizarre. Ha ha. We will miss this and will have to find something else next year to replace this ridiculous tradition!

Natalie had her concert choir holiday concert, which was very good, as usual. Natalie in the front, second from the right (same place she was last year!)

In the Bailey family, everyone tends to spend the actual Christmas day at their own home, with their own traditions. Usually, we go to Warren and Carole's the day after Christmas, but the rest of the family had other plans. So Warren and Carole hosted a "weekend before Christmas" party, complete with a massive spread of pickies! 

Look!  Helen and Gordie were there! GoGo was there!  Seth was there! 

But do you know who was not there?  Me and the kids.  Both kids had colds (not COVID) and we obviously didn't want them spreading that a week before Christmas, so we stayed home.  The family did a White Elephant and had yummy food and we had to miss it! I even missed Gordie getting a bidet for the holidays!

Alas, the kids recovered from that cold, and it was finally time for the big day.  Christmas Eve!

We took our silly pictures, all dressed up for church.

This year, we went to St. Patrick's in Natick, which is the same church Natalie made her first communion in, and the same one Grant was baptized in. It's been a lot of years since Father Kiely was here (he's now a Very Reverend at the National Seminary in Weston!) but we still love this church!

While we were leaving church, THIS HAPPENED!  He was in K-Town, and he's heading for Munich!

After church, we went to... where else?  Pizzeria Unos! This is by far, our funniest Christmas Eve tradition. It's because nothing else is open! (And I ain't cooking!)

My babies. Someday, perhaps someone will think that they are twins, just like people thought my brother and I were twins! They definitely have the same eyes.

On our way back home from Christmas Eve dinner at Uno's, we stopped real quick to take a picture of this house on Myrtle Street in North Ashland. They really do a great job of decorating every year!

And now, it's time to throw that reindeer dust because Santa is on his way!

Every year, they look super blurry. I love that Natalie only has one leg here. And may be missing her left arm.

Phew, her arm and leg returned!  Now, it's time to open the traditional Christmas Eve gift...

Pajamas!  This year, everyone got a Deez Nuts nutcracker shirt!

This should have been our Christmas card.

But... what Grant???

Ok, why don't you put the actual pajama set I got you on, so that Daddy can read you 'Twas the Night Before Christmas.  Natalie got a Nelson and Murdock law firm t-shirt - I think Daredevil was her favorite show this year.

I did NOT realize this story was so funny.

What? That's what happens in this saga???

Their faces were all so funny that I had to include THREE pictures of this reading event!

After the annual reading of 'Twas the Night Before Christmas, the kids wrote a letter to Santa. HOW are we not rich from all of the acting gigs they've pulled.

Natalie, please stop eating Santa's cookies. Grant, that's a bit too much eggnog!

Hey, at least they like each other on Christmas Eve.

Todd took a nice, final photo of the letter, cookies, celery, eggnog and the pretty candle wreath his parents sent us.

Ahhhh. Finally, the kids are in bed and the night is done.

I feel like Santa should be over my house around midnight, but the guy keeps a tight schedule. I'm impressed. 10:40 pm!

After a good night sleep (the kids didn't wake until 8 am!), it was Christmas morning! The stockings are always the first thing we open!

The kids tore open their stockings, full of candy, bathroom products and other goodies! Grant is opening a screaming goat, while Natalie got a BTS poster!

00 days til Christmas!

After the stockings were opened, we have to take the traditional, "pretend you're coming down the stairs to open presents on Christmas morning" picture.

This was their real reaction to the tree!

Grant FINALLY got his Quest 2 virtual reality headset! He has been asking for this FOR YEARS, but they recommend that the user is a minimum age of 13.  So this was the year!

Todd loves to tear right into those presents!

Grant tried on the Quest 2 to see how the fit was.

Not only did he get a new robe, but he also got the 2022 Hess truck from Nana (and Pop Pop, I'm sure!) My mom asks every year if he's still interested in the Hess truck, and every year he says yes. 

Natalie kept herself warm by the Yule Log fire while she opened up her presents.

The kids each got a small plot of land in Kerry, Ireland so they are now officially Lord Grant and Lady Natalie of Kerry!  Hmm. I think this means we all need to go to Ireland again???

She just looked cute here. That's all. 💜

We finally finished opening gifts and Todd made us our YUMMY breakfast sandwiches!  Mine (on the left) is bacon, egg and cheese.  Natalie's (on the right) is egg, cheese and cream cheese.

But wait. DID WE finish opening gifts??? No, we did not!  This year, we decided to get Grant an iPhone.  Todd and I got new iPhone 14s in the fall when we switched to Verizon, and they gave us a free iPhone 12 when we switched Grant's flip phone line over to Verizon as well.  We gave that 12 to Natalie, and then cleaned off her 11, got it a new battery and gave it to Grant. So it's basically a brand new iPhone 11.  

After all of the gifts were opened (for real this time), Todd got the Quest 2 set up so we could play in the basement!

I appreciate how ridiculous we all look in this thing. Look. I'm busy fighting bad guys with a light saber, ok???

After our Quest 2 battles in the basement, Todd and I made our famous 9,000 calorie holiday meal! Leftover Reames egg noodles from last year were a big hit!  And we had leftovers for literally days.

The day after Christmas, we drove down to Plymouth to spend some time with Todd's parents. Todd hooked up the Quest 2 and his dad played a little golf in the living room!

Grant really needed to show everyone how it was done though!

We only spent one night at the Bailey house before coming back home.  Todd got Natalie and I the BTS package on Beat Saber, which we have been having a blast doing.  Grant decided on this particular night, after we were done dancing to BTS songs, that he wanted to Beat Saber to Freebird!

Oh and there was a lovely sunset on the 28th. Almost rivaled the sunsets from Auerbach.  Notice the Icelandic flag we have flying, ha!

On the 29th, Todd and Grant went skiing at Ski Ward.

The boys went skiing by themselves this day (Natalie chose to go to the mall with her friends) so it was a nice day for the boys to hang out together!

And for our final social event of 2022, Todd and I dropped the kids off with Anna and GoGo (saints in nephew and niece-in-law form) in Wilmington and went to the annual Cucci holiday party in Wakefield!  Here, Kern wanted to display "Deez Nuts" for the kids.

Todd discovered a harem of Wilmington ladies in Beth, Karen, Dorothy and I.  Look close, because Karen is actually directly behind Todd!

Michelle and Dorothy always look cute, and Kern is just always being Kern.

We always have a great time at the Cucci house - you can see they always provide a great spread of food.  You will not leave this party hungry!

I seriously thought that I was the funniest part of this picture that I snapped thinking it was Kern's phone, but it turns out it was Todd's phone (what? You don't know your husband's phone? NO. He got a new phone and a new case so I didn't know!) But really, the best part is Mike's face here! Or maybe Dorothy's. 

Beth is my people.

Ok, we took a cute one!

As the night went on, the Malden crew joined us for our pictures. I like how we are bookended by Corrigan brothers. We have also almost lost Karen. And where is Joe? And Christine is looking away!

Wait, now Karen isn't even looking! And maybe that's Joe back there behind Crias?

Holy what the what.  This was taken of Kern, Todd, Joe, Ryan, Mike, Dorothy, me and OB BEFORE Grant was even born. Between kids.  When Cooch and Karen had a totally different kitchen. We didn't even live in Massachusetts at the time!

But you know Todd and Kern are going to be Todd and Kern.  Even though Mike was physically in the room, they felt the need to do this lol.

Cooch's brother invented this game and everyone was playing it.  I don't think I've seen Todd laugh that hard in a LONG time.  There was a lot of yelling with this one!

And we wrapped up 2022 with our favorite New Year's Eve tradition - Dinner For One! Same procedure as last year Miss Sophie?  Same procedure as EVERY year, James!

And it's the same procedure every (new) year in the Bailey house too!  Grab some pots and pans and start banging!

Somehow I didn't get a picture of J-Hope from BTS playing some songs on Dick Clark's Rockin' Eve, but we did capture a pic of Duran Duran (my favorite band when I was a little kid) with 47 seconds left in 2022!

And we're on to 2023!