In the gloom
Our arrival in Boston took place in the middle of a drizzle. The day was overcast and dark, which seemed, looking at its glossy, elegant buildings and the warm, buttery light that lit them from within, to fit Boston quite well (I saw Boston Strangler just a few days ago, and the cinematography in that movie reminded me of how these pictures turned out, so I feel I have done the city justice).
While Boston speckled us with rain, we ventured to explore it in all its gloomy glory, cold and wet, but glad to be in a city that looks like this in October.
Old State House
Built in 1713, the Old State House was the seat of the Massachusetts General Court until 1798, and it is one of the oldest public buildings in the United States, as well as the oldest surviving public building in Boston. A wooden Town House, built in 1657 and burned down in 1711, previously existed on the site. The current building is believed to have been designed by Robert Twelves, though some historians credit Thomas Dawes with its construction. The lion and unicorn visible atop its roof are copies of originals burned in 1776, being as they were symbols of the British Crown.
In 1747, it was the victim of another fire, and while its exterior brick walls survived, the interior was destroyed and rebuilt the following year. The building has been witness to key moments in history, such as the the Boston Massacre of 1770, which took place in front of it. The building was also the site where Spencer Phips, Lieutenant Governor of the province of Massachusetts Bay, signed a Proclamation asking all settlers to hunt and murder members of the Penobscot people in exchange for pay and land in 1775.
The Old State House became Boston’s City Hall in 1830, sharing the building with the Boston Post Office and a number of private businesses. In 1881, the Bostonian Society was formed to preserve the structure, as the threat of demolition loomed over it, due to the real estate value of the land upon which it stood.
Today, the Old State House sits strikingly surrounded by skyscrapers and modern streets, a tiny vestige of the past surrounded by the modernity of the Boston of today.
King’s Chapel Burial Ground
This is the oldest graveyard in the city, having been established in 1630 as the first in Boston. The first person to be buried here was the original owner of the land, Isaac Johnson, an English clergyman and one of the Puritan settlers of the state of Massachusetts, as well as the man who gave the city its present name. Though more than 1,000 people were buried here, today only 505 headstones and 59 footstones remain.
As Puritans did not believe in religious icons or imagery, tombstones were a way for them to express themselves artistically and religiously about their beliefs about the afterlife. One of the most common motifs is the “Soul Effigy,” which is a skull with a wing of each side of its head, representing the soul flying to heaven after death.
Granary Burial Ground
Founded in 1660, this is the city’s third oldest cemetery. It holds the graves of several famous personages, such as Paul Revere, the five victims of the Boston Massacre (Samuel Gray, James Caldwell, Crispus Attucks, Samuel Maverick, and Patrick Carr), and three signers of the country’s Declaration of Independence: Samuel Adams, John Hancock, and Robert Treat Paine.
Boston Common
The Boston Common, also known simply as “the Common,” covers an area of 50 acres of land. It was first established in 1634, making it the oldest city park in the United States.
At the beginning, it was used mainly as a cow pasture, though cows were formally banned from it in 1830. It also served as the town execution grounds, and held public hangings until 1817. Later, it was used as a military camp by the British before the American Revolutionary War.
The Common became a park no later than 1830, when it was proposed that its name be changed to Washington Park. Originally, it banned Native Americans and Black people from its bounds, though this was fought by the Black community until the restriction was lifted in 1836.
The Old North Church, the steeple of which is visible through the trees here, is the oldest standing church building in Boston. It was also where Robert Newman, the church’s sexton, hung two lanterns to alert Paul Revere and others that the British were moving towards Boston before the Battles of Lexington and Concord, the first clashes of the American Revolutionary War.
Gold Colored Fox 