Boston: Day Two

The next day we decided to take a Duck tour to give us a working understanding of the major landmarks of the city and little about them. The tour features DUKW boats, the amphibious trucks of WWII. The name is actually a military acronym: D stands for 'made in 1942'; U signifies 'utility amphibious cargo carrying vehicle'; K indicates that the vehicles are 'front wheel drive'; W signifies the 'double rear axle drive'.

The tour features conDUCKtors who drive these unique vehicles through Boston before floating on the Charles River while supplying a continuous barrage of one-liners and factual nuggets.  Here are a fifteen of the highlights from the tour:

 Back Bay: the 1858, the Commonwealth of Massachutes began filling-in a marshy tidal bay situated between Boston and Cambridge, creating a new 450-acre neighborhood. As each block was completed, the state auctioned off home sites and it became particularly fashionable to live there (this is actually part of Beacon Hill and where Shawn and Chris live). Our guide educated us in the discerning of landfilled areas vs. natural. Just look at the roads. Natural roads are irregular, steep, and narrow while land-filled roads are wider, flat, and straight.

Boston Common:  Boston Common is the oldest public park in America, dating from 1634. During the Colonial period, the Common was used to graze livestock, drill militia, and execute pirates, criminals, Quakers, and persons accused of witchcraft (pre-Salem by the way).

  
Boston Public library:  The magnificent structure in Copley Square was completed in 1895 for $2.5 million-double the estimated cost (which you’ll discover is fairly typical for Boston construction). It was the first public library to allow patrons to borrow books and is the official presidential library of John Adams.

Bunker Hill Monument: The Monument commemorates the Battle of Bunker Hill, fought on June 17, 1775. It was one of the bloodiest battles of the American Revolution Fifty years later, Daniel Webster (Mass. Senator) participated in laying the monument’s cornerstone. It took 18 years to complete because of funding difficulties (surprise, surprise) but in 1840, a group of local women organized a weeklong crafts and bake sale and raised $30,000 to complete the project. (Insert brownie/drug reference here)

The Charles River and Esplanade: According to the EPA, the Charles River is now the cleanest urban river in the country. I still would want a Tetnis Shot after a dip but the river has made a remarkable recovery from the 1950s, when sewage and industrial waste were routinely discharged into the river.

Copley Square: Originally called Art Square, Copley was formerly home to Boston’s first Museum of Fine Arts where the Fairmont Copley Plaza now stands.  It takes one month for a crew of four people to wash all of the windows in Copley Square's 60-story John Hancock Tower, another of the squares key buildings, built to reflect the stunning architecture of the square’s main feature, Trinity Church. The area was renamed in 1883 to honor John Singleton Copley, a famous painter who lived in Boston just prior to the American Revolution.

Faneuil Hall: Built in 1742, Faneuil Hall was a gift to Boston from wealthy merchant Peter Faneuil. Nicknamed “The Cradle of Liberty”, it was a market house with a large hall where patriots debated issues that led to the Revolution. Later Frederick Douglass and William Lloyd Garrison called from an end to slavery here, Susan B. Anthony argued for women’s rights and JFK delivered his last campaign speech before the 1960 presidential election.

Fenway Park: Fenway Park opened on April 20, 1912, and is the oldest professional baseball park in the US.

Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge: The Zakim Bridge is the world’s widest cable-stayed bridge. Part of the Big-Dig project and Interstate 93, the bridge boasts 10 lanes of traffic.

Longfellow Bridge: The Longfellow Bridge was built in 1907 and named for poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Native Bostonians named this landmark stretching across the Charles the “Salt and Pepper Bridge” because the towers resemble salt and pepper shakers.

North End: Boston’s oldest Neighborhood, the North End, was settled by predominantly English families and was a mix of wealthy and poor. Paul Revere lived here, and his home still stands in North Square. Today the North End is primarily Italian.

Old Charles River Dam and Locks: This structure was built in 1908 to control the Charles River and to eliminate a stench of the river’s mud flats at low tide. The gates of the old dam are always open and the new dam, located down river features three working locks.

Old North Church: Old North Church was built in 1723, and its steeple’s eight bells are the original ones 15-year-old Paul Revere sounded in 1749 as the church’s bell ringer. Easily seen from Charlestown, the steeple played a key role in the American Revolution when it’s two lanterns signaled that the British would be crossing the Charles River “by sea”. Additionally, the church is built of a local stone from Roxbury called “puddingstone” that can only be located one other place in the world: West Africa.

The Public Garden: The Public Garden was dedicated in 1837 and is the oldest botanical garden in the US. Situated on 24 acres, it features countless varieties of trees, shrubs, and flowers. Every year, 9,000 tulips are planted on the grounds.

Trinity Church: Completed in 1877, Trinity Church is considered one of the ten finest examples of Architecture in the US. Its creator, architect Henry Hobson Richardson is said to be one of the three greatest American architects, keeping company with Frank Lloyd Wright and Louis H. Sullivan.

After the excitement of the tour, we finished the evening in North End, or Little Italy at a quant and exquisitely small Italian place (what else?) where Stu and I shared a plate of Gnocchi con Funghi which is wild mushrooms with gorgonzola and parmesan cheese in a decadent white sauce with gnocchi, a potato based pasta which is incredibly dense and wonderful. On the way home we stopped by Chris’s favorite classic bakery and bought pistachio cookies and a traditional Cannoli. Yum.