22 Aug
A photo collage of sites in Boston’s South End.
Learn more about these sites on the South End Walking Tour presented by Boston By Foot, this Sunday August 26th at 2pm.
Buy advance tickets for the tour online and meet us across from Back Bay Station on Dartmouth Street.
21 Aug
Come join a South End Walking Tour presented by Boston By Foot.
I will be one of the guides, but this is not just shameless self-promotion as the other five guides are a dream team of some of the best walking tour guides in Boston. Come learn about one of the largest, most diverse, and dynamic neighborhoods in Boston.
Buy advance tickets for the tour online and meet us across from Back Bay Station on Dartmouth Street at 2 pm on Sunday August 26th.
27 Jul
I’ll be leading this Boston By Foot Tour of the Month of Davis Square in Somerville (which I also researched and co-wrote) on Sunday, July 29th from 2pm-3:30pm. Admission is $15 per person, $5 for members (and you can become a member on the day of the tour). No reservations needed, just show up a few minutes before 2 pm on Sunday at the plaza opposite Somerville Theatre.
24 Oct
Huntington Avenue photo courtesy of Yarian Gomez's photostream on Flickr
Come out this Sunday October 30th at 2pm for a guided walking tour of Boston’s Avenue of the Arts lead by Boston By Foot guides (including yours truly). The tour begins in front of The Church of Christ, Scientist on Massachusetts Avenue and the cost is just $15/person. If you become a Boston By Foot member admission is reduced to just $5 and you get lots of other benefits as well.
Have you ever wondered why so many cultural institutions dedicated to fine arts, music, education, religion, and sports are clustered in one area in Boston? As we walk along this cultural corridor we’ll explore the history of Huntington Avenue and learn about:
I’m particularly proud of this tour because I originated the idea and collaborated on the research and manual writing. So please come out and join us to learn more about this fascinating Boston district.
Huntington Avenue in 1920, courtesy of Boston Public Library's photostream on Flickr
6 Jul
Author: Stephanie Schorow
Title: The Crime of the Century
Publication Info: Beverly, Mass. : Commonwealth Editions, c2008.
ISBN: 9781933212548
Summary/Review: The Boston Brink’s robbery of January 1950 is shrouded in folklore and embellishment (much of it from the criminals themselves) so Shorow sets out to separate fact from fiction in this accounting of the famous crime. I didn’t know much of folklore myself but was greatly fascinated by the details of the true story. For example, I never knew that the robbers broke into the Brink’s office multiple times and had keys made for all the doors between the office and the vaults! The details that went into the planning of the crime are amazing and hard not to appreciate if not admire. Schorow also notes that while the cash haul is huge the criminals actually missed out as there was usually more cash on hand on other nights. While the crime is famed for having no shots fired and no one hurt, Shorow unearths the violence and bloodshed that came in the wake of the crime. In all an entertaining, researched and informative read.
Recommended books: The Underboss: The Rise and Fall of a Mafia Family by Gerard O’Neill, Black Mass: The True Story of an Unholy Alliance between the FBI and the Irish Mob by Dick Lehr, The Gardner Heist: The True Story of the World’s Largest Unsolved Art Theft by Ulrich Boserand Dark Tide: the Great Boston Molasses Flood of 1919 by Stephen Puleo.
Rating: ***1/2
15 May
Today I enjoyed another special Boston By Foot tour focusing on Boston Common and the Public Garden. Our guide taught us a lot about the history of these two great public places, their features, and many works of public art. It was a wet day, maybe not the best time to enjoy the parks, but on the plus side I got to take lots of pictures without people getting in the way.
10 Jan
This coming Monday is the holiday where we observe the birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr. I encourage one and all to celebrate the life of Dr. King and put in some volunteer service time.
But, Monday is also the birthday of another great American leader, Benjamin Franklin, who was born in Boston on January 17, 1706 [O.S. January 6, 1705]. Come learn more about this Son of Boston on a Boston By Foot tour lead by knowledgeable Boston By Foot guides (including yours truly). The tour visits sites associated with Ben Franklin’s life in Boston from his birth in a house on Milk Street until the age of 17 when he ran away from his home town after a falling-out with his older brother. This tour is unique in that since Franklin spent much of his long life elsewhere – Philadelphia, London, and Paris for starters – the sites often offer a launch point for talking about Franklin’s varied careers in printing, science, invention, postal services, public service and as a founding father.
The tour meets in the public park at the corner of Washington and School Streets by the Irish Famine Memorial and Borders Book Store. The cost is $15 per person ($5 for Boston By Foot members) and the 90-minute walking tour departs at 2 pm on Monday, January 17th, 2011. More information is available on the Boston By Foot Meetup Group web page.
Click photo to see more images of sites visited on this tour.
Official tour description:
Celebrate and learn the life of Benjamin Franklin by walking among the sites of his homes and haunts in Colonial Boston. In his day, Benjamin Franklin was America’s greatest scientist, inventor, diplomat, humorist, statesman, and entrepreneur. Ben was born in Boston, came of age in Philadelphia, and was the darling of Paris. From his many inventions, creation of civic, philanthropic, and educational institutions, to his his roles in the founding of America, his legacy is immeasurable.
12 Sep
Boston By Foot is known for leading excellent walking tours of Boston’s architecture and history. Now you learn about Boston’s architecture and built environments on a 90-minute cruise! Teaming with the Boston Society of Architects and the Charles Riverboat Company, the Charles River Architecture Cruise offers a unique perspective on Boston and Cambridge.
I took the debut cruise yesterday morning on a beautiful late summer day and got enjoy a relaxing cruise and learn a lot about buildings and history along the river. The cruise will be offered on Saturdays and Sundays at 10 am through October 17th (yours truly will be narrating on Columbus Day Weekend). Tickets are $20 for adults, $15 for members of Boston By Foot. Come on out and sail with Boston By Foot!
The slideshow below offers some highlights of what you can see from the boat. No captions, you’ll have to come on the cruise to learn about what you see in these photographs.
29 Aug
Today I took the excellent Boston By Foot Tour of the Month of Chestnut Hill. While the neighborhood straddles Newton, Brookline, and Boston, the tour covered the Newton portion viewing elegant houses along shady lanes.
My photos are online here, with some samples below.
The Church of the Redeemer
The official description of the tour from the Boston By Foot website:
Chestnut Hill is a classic streetcar suburb which developed as the railroad and streetcar network expanded around Boston. By the early twentieth century, Chestnut Hill was considered to be “suburban living at its best”.
This walking tour explores the Newton portion of the Chestnut Hill neighborhood where you will walk among large Victorian mansions while learning its evolution from rural farmland to a modern suburb.
Chestnut Hill also features the campus of Boston College and the historic Chestnut Hill Reservoir with a finish at the new Metropolitan WaterWorks Museum.
Hammond House
If you missed the tour today, don’t worry it will be offered again next year. Become a Boston By Foot Member today and receive a discount on Tours of the Month plus special members only tours.
The Metropolitan Water Works
23 Jul
Huntington Avenue photo courtesy of Yarian Gomez's photostream on Flickr
Come out this Sunday July 25th at 2pm for a guided walking tour of Boston’s Avenue of the Arts lead by Boston By Foot guides (including yours truly). The tour begins in front of The Church of Christ, Scientist on Massachusetts Avenue and the cost is just $15/person. If you become a Boston By Foot member admission is reduced to just $5 and you get lots of other benefits as well.
Have you ever wondered why so many cultural institutions dedicated to fine arts, music, education, religion, and sports are clustered in one area in Boston? As we walk along this cultural corridor we’ll explore the history of Huntington Avenue and learn about:
I’m particularly proud of this tour because I originated the idea and collaborated on the research and manual writing. So please come out and join us to learn more about this fascinating Boston district.
Huntington Avenue in 1920, courtesy of Boston Public Library's photostream on Flickr
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