Monday, October 7, 2019, Panoramic Boston, MA
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS
Birthplace of a nation, Boston is a city of firsts brimming
with historic charms and a vibrant culture.
Its compact size, stately architecture, and plentiful green spaces make
for easy exploration. Historic buildings
appear on every corner from the Old South Meeting House where Samuel Adams
started the Boston Tea Party to the Old North Church, where two lit lanterns
signaled the British approach. Boston’s
parks system also exudes a rich sense of history. The Boston Common, dating to 1634, is the
country’s oldest city park and the adjacent Public Garden, established in 1837,
was the first public botanical garden.
Exploring their footpaths brings Boston’s beauty and love of outdoor
spaces to light.
PANORAMIC BOSTON
On today's excursion we saw major sites that played a role in a
nation’s birth and admired some of Boston’s most historic neighborhoods. We enjoyed a drive to Copley Square, framed by the elegant Trinity Church and
the Boston Public Library, the nation’s first book lender. We passed Newbury Street,
the pic-turesque Boston Public Garden and the adjacent Boston Common. We admired the
brick-lined sloping lanes of Beacon Hill and gazed up at the gilded dome of the
State House. We drove by the Old North Church and saw its steeple, on which Paul
Revere ordered the famous “one if by land, two if by sea” lantern signal hung
to warn of the approaching British army. Afterwards, we viewed the Old South Meeting
House, the rallying point from which Samuel Adams sparked the Boston Tea Party. At the end of our tour, we stopped at the famous Faneuil Hall Marketplace.
Copley Square, named for painter John Singleton Copley, is a public square in Boston's Back Bay neighborhood, bounded by Boylston Street, Clarendon Street, St. James Avenue, and Dartmouth Street. Prior to 1883 it was known as Art Square due to its many cultural institutions, some of which remain today. It is a pending Boston Landmark.
More info: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copley_Square
Map of Boston Marathon ups and downs; extremely hilly.
Trinity Church in the City of Boston, located in the Back Bay of Boston, Massachusetts, is a parish of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts. The con-gregation, currently standing at approximately 4,000 households, was founded in 1733. Five services are offered each Sunday, and weekday services are offered three times a week from September through June. Within the spectrum of worship styles in the Anglican tradition, Trinity Church has historically been considered a Broad Church parish. The building is currently under study for becoming a Boston Landmark.
The Boston Public Library is a municipal public library system in Boston, Massachusetts, founded in 1848. The Boston Public Library is also the Library for the Commonwealth (formerly library of last recourse) of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts; all adult residents of the commonwealth are entitled to bor-rowing and research privileges, and the library receives state funding. The Boston Public Library contains approximately 24 million volumes, and electronic resources, making it the third-largest public library in the United States behind the federal Library of Congress and the New York Public Library, which is also privately endowed. In fiscal year 2014, the library held more than 10,000 programs, all free to the public, and lent 3.7 million materials.
Interior of library.
The Public Garden, also known as Boston Public Garden, is a large park in the heart of Boston, Massachusetts, adjacent to Boston Common. It is a part of the Emerald Necklace system of parks, and is bounded by Charles Street and Boston Common to the east, Beacon Street to the north, Arlington Street, and Back Bay to the west, and Boylston Street to the south. The Public Garden was the first public botanical garden in America.
More info: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Common
The Massachusetts State House, also known as the Massachusetts Statehouse or the New State House, is the state capitol and seat of government for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, located in the Beacon neighborhood of Boston. The building houses the Massachusetts General Court (state legislature) and the offices of the Governor of Massachusetts. The building, designed by architect Charles Bulfinch, was completed in January 1798 at a cost of $133,333 (more than five times the bud-get), and has repeatedly been enlarged since. It is considered a masterpiece of Federal architecture and among Bulfinch's finest works, and was designated a National Historic Landmark for its architectural significance.
Statue of Daniel Webster.
Statue of General Hooker.
General Hooker with African soldiers trained for the Union Army.
Beacon Hill is a historical neighborhood in Boston, Massachusetts, and the hill upon which the Massachusetts State House resides. The term "Beacon Hill" is locally used as a metonym to refer to the state government or the legislature itself, much like Washington, D.C.'s "Capitol Hill" does at the federal level.
Federal-style row houses, narrow gas lit streets and brick sidewalks adorn the neighborhood, which is generally regarded as one of the more desirable and expensive in Boston. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the population of Boston's Beacon Hill neighborhood is 9,023.
The Old State House is a historic building in Boston, Massachusetts, at the intersection of Washington and State Streets. Built in 1713, it was the seat of the Massachusetts General Court until 1798, and is one of the oldest public buildings in the United States. One of the landmarks on Boston's Freedom Trail, it is the oldest surviving public building in Boston, and now serves as a history museum operated by the Bostonian Society. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1960 and a Boston Landmark by the Boston Landmarks Commission in 1994.
More info: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_State_House_(Boston)
Park Street Church, built in 1809, is an active Conservative Congregational church in Downtown Boston, Massachusetts. It averages 2,000 in Sunday attendance and has around 1,000 members. It is located at 1 Park Street, at the corner of Tremont Street. Park Street Church is a stop on Boston's Freedom Trail. The founding of the church is dated to 1804 when the "Religious Improvement Society" began weekly meetings with lectures and prayer. The society organized the church on February 27, 1809. Twenty-six local people, mostly former members of the Old South Meeting House, wanted to create a church with orthodox Trinitarian theology.
.jpg)
The church's cornerstone was laid on May 1, 1809, and construction was completed by the end of the year. The designer took inspiration from several early pattern books, and his design is reminiscent of a London church by Christopher Wren. Park Street church's steeple rises to 217 feet, and remains a land-mark visible from several Boston neighborhoods. The church was the tallest building in the United States from 1810 to 1828. For much of the early 19th century, it was the first landmark travelers saw when approaching Boston.
The Park church supports ministries in Hawaii.
The church is next to the historic Granary Burying Ground.
John Hancock's headstone.
Although the marker says "Franklin," Ben's body is not in this cemetery. A number of his family is buried here.
We will overnight in Boston and continue walking "The Freedom Trail" tomorrow.
Comments
Post a Comment