This is it folks.  Last day.  Last blog.  Last item on my To Do & See in Boston list.

Today we walked the 1.4 mile Black Heritage Trail.  It actually winds around the blocks here in Beacon Hill because between 1800 and 1900 most African Americans in Boston lived in the West End, a neighbourhood now called the North Slope of Beacon Hill.  The South Slope was, and still is,  home to upscale white residents.

After the American Revolution, in 1783 the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts declared slavery unconstitutional.  When the first federal census was taken in 1790, Massachusetts was the only state in the Union to record no slaves.  The Black Heritage Trail is a stroll past the homes, Meeting Houses (churches) and schools that are buildings of significance in the struggle for equality and freedom.   All of the homes are private residences or offices so you can’t enter them but it was a nice cool day and a pleasant walk.  I had the brochure that gives a brief history of each building and  it’s owners’ role in the abolition movement and the lives of the black community.

The Trail begins at the Shaw Memorial in the upper corner of Boston Common, across from the State House.

1. The Shaw Memorial commemorates the 54th Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry; the first black regiment recruited in the north after Lincoln admitted African American soldiers into the Union forces in 1863.  They were almost wiped out in their first battle attempting to capture Confederate-held Charleston, SC.  Sgt. William Carney of New Bedford was awarded the Medal of Honor for his bravery, the first black soldier to receive this honor.  The memorial was dedicated May 31, 1897.

2.  George Middleton House.  5-7 Pinckney Street. Built in 1787 it is one of the oldest standing homes in Beacon Hill.  Middleton was a Revolutionary War veteran.  He led the Bucks of America, one of three black militias that fought against the British.  After the war he was an activist and community leader.

3. Phillips School.  Corner of Anderson and Pinckney Streets. Built in 1824 this was a white-only school until 1855.   When the Massachusetts Legislature abolished segregated schools that year this became one of Boston’s first integrated schools.

4.  John J. Smith House. 86 Pinckney Street.  Smith was born free in Richmond, VA and moved to Boston in the late 1840s.  He opened a barbershop that became a center for abolitionist activity and a rendezvous point for people escaping on the Underground Railway.  Smith was later elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives for three terms.

5.  Charles Street Meeting House. Mt. Vernon and Charles  Streets. This meeting house was built by the white Third Baptist Church of Boston.  The segregationist tradition of seating prevailed.  After Timothy Gilbert, one of the members tested this by inviting black friends to his pew (he was expelled)  he joined other white abolitionists Baptists and founded the First Baptist Free Church – considered to be one of the first integrated churches in America.

6.  Lewis and Harriet Hayden House 66 Phillips Street.  Lewis Hayden was born enslaved in Lexington, KY.  He escaped with his wife Harriet and settled in Boston.  Lewis became a leader in the abolishonist movement and Hayden House became an integral stop on the Underground Railroad.  It is said he helped over 100 slaves to freedom.

In 1850, in an effort to appease the South and prevent a Civil War the federal government strengthened the Fugitive Slave Law and granted the right to search and capture escaped slaves in previously ‘safe’ northern states. Boston earned its reputation as a strong center of abolition during antislavery protests in the wake of this legislation.

To protect any escaped slaves who may be residing in his house should slave catchers come Lewis Hayden put kegs of gunpowder at his front door.  When catchers arrived one day he met them at the door with a lighted flare in hand and said if they tried to enter he would light the kegs.  They left.

Hayden was recruited for the 54th Regiment, was a Grand Master of the Prince Hall Masons and was late elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives.

7.  John Coburn House. 2 Phillip Street.  He was a clothing retailer and community activist.  He served as treasurer of the New England Freedom Association which was dedicated to helping people escape from slavery.  He was arrested in 1851, tried and acquitted for the courthouse rescue of Shadrach Minkins, a freedom seeker who was caught in Boston by federal slave catchers.

8.  Smith Court Residences. 3,5,7, 7A and 2 Smith Court. Five homes that typify those of black Bostonians in the 1800s.  All of the various owners were active in the Underground Railroad and the abolitionist movement and the struggle to integrate Boston’s schools.

9.  Abiel Smith School.  46 Joy Street.   White philanthropist Abiel Smith willed money to the city of Boston for educating African American children. The city built this school with her legacy.  Prior to this school being built Boston’s black children attended classes in the African Meeting house; which is next door.  The Abiel Smith School is home to the African America Museum and is the end of the trail.

We could not take photos in the museum which contained information about African American authors and newspaper writers and copies of their works but we were on hand when a park ranger opened the African Meeting House and took us inside to tell us about the building and it’s importance to the African American community as a church, school and meeting room. Many important speeches and speakers of the abolishist movement were given within its walls.

The Meeting House was built by free black labourers in 1806 and is considered the oldest surviving black church building in the USA.

As we walked the Black Heritage Trail we saw other buildings we liked, passed the ritzy Louisburg Square again, and went to Acorn Street. reputed to be the most photographed street in Boston

This building is across the street from Boston Common and is getting enfolded in scaffolding.  I spoke to one of the workers and he said it will be a six month job to work on the brick and the windows.

Secretary of State John Kerry’s house in Louisburg Square is undergoing a reno.

Vilna Shul, the building on the right, is the oldest synagogue in Boston.  Completed in 1919 by Jews from Vilna (now Lithuania), it was abandoned in 1985 when the congregationd dropped to a single member but was bought by the Boston Center for Jewish Heritage and is undergoing extensive renovations.

When we left the museum we made our way back to Boston Common and to the back side of the Frog Pond to locate a geo-cache.  We also found a cache down a small semi-hidden street off the very busy pedestrian shopping streets of Summer and Washington.  And a third cache in the fence on Park Street not far from the Shaw Memorial where our day began.

The Puritan ethic – Religion, Industry and Learning.

Now this is a clever container for a geo-cache!

Sometimes you have to have photo ops to disguise your geo-caching.

It was a good last day in Boston.  I hate to see it end.  We had a great time here and there is still lots we could see and do.  But I am pleased that we made it through my list successfully.  Early to bed tonight.  We have an 8 am flight to Seattle and need to be at the airport not long after 6, which means a 4:45 wake up.  Yuck.

Thanks for following along on our latest journey.  I appreciate your comments and ‘likes.’  I have fun.  I am glad you do as well.

We took it a bit easy today.  We didn’t leave the apartment until 12:30 in order to take the T out to Aquarium station and Long Wharf.  We purchased round trip tickets to Georges Island so we could explore Fort Warren; which was built as a defensive fort for the Boston Harbor but was used during the Civil War for Union prisoners (deserters and dissidents), political prisoners and Confederate POWs..

All 34 of the Harbor Islands are part of a joint Commonwealth of Massachuesetts and National Parks initiative.  Six of the islands are not open to the public, but the rest are (access only by boat or ferry) and Boston Harbor Cruises makes regular daily runs from three terminal to the many of the  islands – they have 51 boats of various sizes.  You can even travel inter-island between two or three islands on each route.  We just bought direct to Georges and back to Boston tickets.  The ferry left Long Wharf at 2 and arrived at Georges at quarter to 3.  The boat only goes 10 knots top speed so it was a pleasant, leisurely ride;  another lovely day, although the air was distinctly more hazy today.

On board was a Park ranger who gave us a commentary on all of the islands we were passing.  Along the way she gave a lot of interesting Boston information some of which I am going to relate first.

When the Puritans arrived the area of Boston was a small penninsula.  In order to make room for the many immigrants expected to arrive to settle the new land they carved the tops of Boston’s three hills-Copps, Breed and Beacon. The dirt was used as fill at the shoreline between long wharfs to make more land; thus creating the term wharving.  This eventually  quadrupled the size of Boston and today 75% if the city is on man-made land.

Boston’s number one export is scrap metal.

Logan Airport is located on 2400 acres of man-made land incorporating three small islands that used to be out in the bay: Governor, Bird, and Apple (Johnny Appleseed was from Boston),

The harbor is on the direct landing flight path at Logan and about 10 planes landed – descending directly over the ferry – in the time it took to putt-putt past the airport area.

Boston was divided by Interstate 93 and in 1982 plans were drawn up to move the highway underground and make a tunnel under the shallow Inner Harbor directly out to Logan Airport – the Central Artery/Tunnel Project known as The Big Dig – 5.6 km or 3.5 miles long.  It is the most expensive highway project in US history and was (according to Wikipedia) “plagued by escalating costs, scheduling overruns, leaks, design flaws, charges of poor execution and use of substandard materials, criminal arrests and one death.”  The project was begun in 1982 and scheduled to be completed in 1991 at a cost of $2.8 billion dollars.  However, with all of the above, it was not finished until 2007 and cost $14,6 billion a 190% overrun which with interest added will top out at $22 billion by the time it is paid off in 2038.

Plus an observation of my own.  Boston has a traffic/pedestrian crossing system different than that of everywhere else we have been.  Both directions of traffic at a intersection alternately get green lights to go while pedestrians are stopped on all four sides.  Then the cars are all stopped and all four pedestrian crossings have walk signals.  I guess too many people were getting hit by right turning cars or something.  It works well though.  And off course you can always cross when the oncoming lane has a red if there is no one coming or you can at least get to the middle divide and then wait for the walk.   That works too.

Harbor Islands:  The first we passed was Spectacle Island.  It was a smallpox quarantine island.  Also had three illegal hotels on it at one point.  Later it had a soap rendering business using the carcasses of 45,000 horses annually (they offered a pick-up service if your horse died). In the 1920’s it became the city garbage dump and continued as such for 50 years.  There were firefighters stationed on the island to deal with the frequent fires from the methane gas produced by all the trash.  They used the dirt from the Big Dig to cover the trash, extinquish the fires and build up the island so it has hills on it today. It is a favorite for camping and has a lovely beach.

Long Island was next.  Most recently the brick buildings were homeless shelters and a rehab center  but the bridge connecting the island to the mainland was so unsafe it was dismantled this past winter – making 300+ homeless people find somewhere else to shelter.  Quite a controversial decision.

As we passed we could just make out the pilings on the right where the bridge used to be but it was too hazy and far away for a photo.

She told us things about some of  the other islands as well but I didn’t make notes of it all so you are spared.

When we arrived at Georges we were just in time for a Park guide to give a 45 minute tour of the fort.  It was built after the war of 1812 when the British invaded and got as far as burning down the White House.  Clearly some stonger shoreline defenses were needed.

The fort was started in 1832 and the keystone was laid in 1850.  However the fort was not actually completed for another 10 years.  It’s weaponry was periodically updated as new innovations in firepower were available and the fort was used as a training ground during the Spanish-American War, WWI and WWII.  It was de-commissioned in 1950 and purchased by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for $5,400 in 1958.  It is listed on the US Heritage Properties list and is now run and maintained by a joint Massachusetts  and National Parks co-operative.

Back in the day, before the harbor was dredged the only access to Boston was through a narrow 1500′ wide channel between Georges Island and Lovells Island.  This made Georges an important defensive property and it is big enough to have a fort.  All the granite, stone and other materials were brought by barge from nearby quarries and factories.  All the ancient defense mechanism developed over the centuries for this type of structure were employed; drawbridge, porticullus, earthworks hiding the structure and covering the roof to absorb cannon fire, arrow slits (muskets), etc.  The fort never saw action in defense or offense and eventually the armaments outpaced the fort’s ability to adapt and it was de-commissioned.

When the fort became a POW camp during the Civil War the prisoners were treated very well by the camp officer.  He had gone to West Point so many of the captured Confederate officers were former friends of his.  He treated them well with good food, medical care and recreation.  And since the fort had not been built as a prison and had to be adapted to be one many of the ‘cells’ were quite spacious and comfortable.  He  also hoped that if any Union men were caught by the Confderates they would likewise be treated well.

Former officers quarters used to house two Confederate prisoners. They had another room that was divided to get each a private sleeping area.

The bakery.  They baked 1300 loaves of bread each day while it was a prison.

 The hospital wing.  They had beds for 30 patients and two doctors who were prisoners (one Union, one Confderate) helped care for the sick or injured. There were only 13 deaths during the years Fort Warren was a prison and all of the men had arrived  sick and succumbed to their illnesses after being sent to the fort.

You would never know there is a fort and parade ground on the other side of the bank.

The last ferry left the island at 5 and we were back at Beacon Hill by 6:30.  We had dinner at a restaurant down the street and then returned to the apartment. Tomorrow is our last day and I have only one thing left on my To Do list.

According to the data generated at the Human Life exhibit at the Museum of Science yesterday my normal walk burns 95 calories per mile.  John’s walk is better – he burns 122 calories per mile.  (We also learned he has a high foot arch, I have a normal one, neither of us chooses more food just because the selection is larger, my hands drop 3 degrees in a minute when cold; John’s only drops .7 of a degree.)

Today we must have walked off the calories consumed in our Dunkin Donut lunch.  We walked almost continuously from 10:30 am until we got back to the apartment at 6:30.  Once again, my feet hurt – but not as bad as the other day thank goodness.

My ‘to do’ list of sites in Boston included several things in Back Bay. Boston is made up of smaller districts: Charlestown across the river (USS Constitution and Navy Yard), North End (Italian section, Paul Revere’s House, Faneuil Hall, etc), Government Center (Mass. State House), Financial District (self explanatory), Chinatown (ditto), Boston Common, West End,  Beacon Hill, Back Bay and Fenway.   Back Bay is the new money area. Beacon Hill is the old money.

We decided to walk over to Back Bay and go through the Boston Public Garden on the way rather than take the T.   That enabled us to meander and make a few detours.  The Public Garden is beside Boston Common but is much newer; having been established in 1837; 203 years later than the Common (1634).

Boston is chock-a-block full of statues. They are everywhere commemorating important personages from history, politics, literature and the arts, philanthropy and religious service, and who knows what else.  Not too far from where we entered the garden we came across Mrs. Mallard and her children, Jack, Kack, Lack, Mack, Nack, Ouack, Pack and Quack, the family of ducks that made the Boston Public Garden known to millions of children through the book: Make Way for the Ducklings.  At the other end of the Garden is a Sept. 11 memorial remembering the people from Boston who perished that awful day. (We even found a geo-cache at the gate we exited the garden.)

Somehow I unknowingly changed my camera setting to monochrome so some of my pics are black and white. (I included a few of John’s that were the same as mine to have colour ones)

Today was also a day for churches. We toured the Church of the Covenant, Trinity and Old South..  We have been in churches all around the world – they are favourite buildings on tourist excursions – but I think Central Congregational is my favourite.  There was just something about the simplicity of the lower levels rising to the decoration and gorgeous Tiffany windows and lantern to the 100 foot high ceiling that lifted my soul.  I loved it. It was built in 1867  in the Gothic Revival style and sits at the corner of Newbury and Berkeley Streets.

 Almost immediately after leaving Church of the Covenantl we went into Trinity.   They have a meeting rooms in the Parish House and a lovely enclosed garden – where we tried to locate a cache but came up empty-handed.  Trinity Church is the only church on the American Architect list of top 10 buildings in the country.  It sits on one side of Copley Square, a very popular lunch spot for people working in the area.

Their minister Phillips Brooks wrote “O Little Town of Bethlehem”  Across the square and across the street is the Boston Public Library. I wanted to see the murals I had read graced the walls of the building.  I wasn’t expecting all the gorgeous marble, the exhibit on 100 years of Boston’s Haydn and Handel Orchestra, the paintings of the story by Alfred, Lord Tennyson of Sir Galahad and the Holy Grail that encircle the Abbey Room, the dioramas of famous artists ‘working’ in scenes depicted in their art and the beautiful courtyard we spied out a back window.   Justifiably a  Boston treasure.

 I had picked up a brochure on the Mapparium, a 30 ft glass globe you could stand inside.  The address was on Massachusetts Ave. so we headed that way when we left the Library.  Along the way we passed a huge reflecting pool and fountain with a towering building beside it.  Along the length of the reflecting pool were trees and gardens with seating.  Two buildings flanked the ends of the pool, one modern looking that matched the architecture of the tower at the other end and the other a huge domed Renaissance revival basilica.  This is the headquarters of the First Church of Christ, Scientist (aka Christian Science).

Across the courtyard of Christian Science Plaza is the Mary Baker Eddy library and museum (founder in 1908 of the Christian Science Monitor), one of the largest single collections by and about an American woman and home of the Mapparium.  You could not take photos inside unfortunately but if you Google it you can see a couple of photos.  The Mapparium is a 3 story stained-glass globe of the world (to scale) that can be traversed on a glass bridge through the middle.  It was built between 1932-35 and reflects the geography of the world at that time.  While standing on the glass bridge you are treated to short sound and light show about our changing world.  (The thing that struck me the most was the amount of downtown real estate the Christian Scientists own – the plaza is a huge complex.  They bought up a few square blocks back then for sure.

A few blocks down Massachusetts Ave and we turned right onto Boylston where entered the Prudential Center and bought tickets for the Skywalk Obeservatory on the 50th floor of the tower.  Gorgeous 360 degree view of Boston.

Everything you see in the center of this photo, plus a long extension of the building on the right that didn’t fit in the image belongs to the Christian Science Church.  A beautiful space.

We were now walking back toward the Public Garden but we needed to stop in at the Old South Church on the way.  Members of the Old South Meeting House, of Tea Party fame, decamped to this new parish in 1875 – quite a controvery at the time.  The Italian Gothic style of the church is very different than the plain meetinghouse they previously attended.

 We decided to go up  Commonwealth Avenue Mall and see some of the many statues that have been placed among the trees. We entered the Mall about half way along its length so we didn’t see all of the statues but we did see the Vendome Monument, a memorial  to firefighters who lost their lives in 1972 after fighting a fire in the Vendome Hotel of Back Bay only to have the building collapse without warning minutes after they were wrapping up from fire (stuctural weakness was determined as the cause, not the fire). 16 men were trapped for 9 hours, nine died.

We completed the long and winding circuit and emerged at the Public Garden.  As we made our way back to the apartment on Garden Street in Beacon Hill we made a stop at Louisburg  Square (Bostonian’s pronouce the S, so it is Lewisburg), home of the costliest private residences (with recognizable names of film, art and politics as owners) in the country.  $6-$20 million per.  The buildings were the model for future townhouse development. The little park in the center is private to the property owners but we found a geo-cache that was hidden in one of the signs.

And now you know why my feet hurt!  I knew there was too much to see and do in this city!  Good thing we decided to stay a week and not the original two or three days.  Even with our jam-packed week there are places and things I would like to see that I won’t be able to. But I know we can’t do it all.  Oh well.  We are doing quite well; narrowing down the list nicely.

After breakfast we walked back across the highway overpass and down the Esplande to the Museum of Science.  Last night John had booked seats on an 11:30  Duck tour.   It is only a 25 minute walk  to the museum (Duck tour starting point) so we still had time for a leisurely breakfast.

The walkway over the four-lane highway.

They are renovating the bridge. It looks like a very large project. Should take a few years to complete.

The Esplanade – a very popular walking, jogging and biking path.   Our Duck

The Duck tour took us past many of the historic sites we have toured but also to other parts of the city.  Our driver was very funny, especially if another vehicle got in her way or was parked in the way.  Since she has a microphone and sound system in an open vehicle the other drivers had no problem understanding her displeasure.  Quite funny.  She related many silly, unimportant type things along with a history snapshot and running commentary of all the buildings we passed; many interspersed with her personal thoughts regarding it.  A nice, fun thing to do for 80-90 minutes.

Some of the very, very espensive homes in Beacon Hill. Some of these buildings sell for $16 million.   This is a prison – built on prime river-front property. The windows are inverted so the prisoners don’t have a nice view. We were back at the front of the Museum of Science at 1 pm, just in time for lunch.  We went to the Riverview Cafe in the museum and had  not-very-good fish and chips.  The chips were okay, but I don’t know what fish they used.  Neither John nor I were impressed.

The main attraction for me at the Museum of Science is a special exhibit called the Science of Pixar.  I love Disney/Pixar films so getting to see how they are made holds a lot of appeal.  During the weekends you need to make a reservation for a specific time to go in but since it was a weekday and close to school starting we were able to get a ticket for the next available entry – 10 minutes wait.

The exhibit was fabulous.  Really well done.  It took you through every stage of the creation of a computer animated film with filmed explanations of each task given by the actual employees that work in each department.  There were also hands-on  interactive centers where you could work on the skills yourself.

About a half hour after we started looking around were interrupted by a fire alarm and the entire museum was evacuated.  Boston’s finest showed up in a few minutes, checked everything out, reset the alarms and we were allowed back in to pick up where we had left off.

We spent at least a couple of hours reading, checking out the activities and listening to all the staff stories.  There were great examples of art work made by Pixar people and many of the characters around the displays.  If you are ever somewhere that has the exhibit, I highly recommend it.

You could adjust the colours of lights and features of the water around Dory. When we had exhausted all the Pixar information we used our general admission ticket to explore the rest of the museum.  We managed to work our way through two of the three floors before we left the building at 6:45 – 15 minutes before closing.  What a great place.  So many very different exhibits with many inter-active centers.  A great place to take your kids.  I loved this museum.  And you all know what I am like in a museum so that says someting.

A topographical scale map of Mt. Everest showing the climbing route.

A diorama of the construction of the pyramids.

Life-size dinosaurs

This section is for our daughter-in-law Carrie who is an artist.  All of the artwork is either macro or micro photography. Very very cool.

 I don’t know how well you can pick out the numbers beside the artwork above that corresponds to the description below.
There was an entire exhibit on optical illusions (M.C. Escher engravings included) and how the eye gets tricked.   The last display was a set of four famous faces that could be seen in geometric black and white images.   Close up they were just lines and shading but when you stand back the faces appeared

We made a quick stop at the grocery store for dinner supplies and headed back to the apartment to eat and have a  quite evening.  The apartment is very small with several things (like leaking taps and shower) needing  maintenance and it was very expensive by our standards, but the location is really great, with access to groceries, restaurants, the subway and near-by attractions.  Sometimes you just bite the bullet and go for it. Hotels and accomodations in Boston are VERY expensive. Even a small place like this (four story walk-up) would rent for $2500 per month or more.

And now it is time for me to climb into this bed and rest.  Tomorrow is going to be another enjoyable day.