Boston By Foot Special Tour: Literary Landmarks, Continued

An entire week has passed, and I’ve yet to write about Boston By Foot’s special tour of 20th Century writers who lived and worked on Beacon Hill held on March 8th entitled Literary Landmarks, Continued.   This is a sequel of sorts to the regular Literary Landmarks tour which focuses on the 19th Century writers in the same area and is offered every Saturday at 10 am during the regular tour season from May to October.

The Robert Gould Shaw and Massachusetts 54th Regiment Memorial subject of Robert Lowell's most famous poem "For the Union Dead"

The tour covered a number of sites including:

• Site of Houghton-Mifflin publishing on Park Street
• The Boston Athenaeum
• The Massachusetts State House
• Site of Little, Brown publishing on Beacon Street
• Joy Street
• The Beacon Press
• Mt. Vernon Street
• Louisburg Square
• Cedar Street
• Savenor’s Market
• Charles Circle

Shadow of the Little, Brown name on a Beacon Street building

More important than the sites are the stories of the writers and the literature they produced.  Sadly, the words “depression,” “alchoholism,” “failed marriages,” and “suicide” were repeated throughout the tour, so being a Boston writer was not an easy job.

Writer’s included on this tour include:

• Esther Forbes, author of Johnny Tremain
• poet Amy Lowell
• Samuel Eliot Morrison, author of One Boy’s Boston
• historian David McCullough who researches his work at the Athenaeum
• poet Robert Lowell
• Frances Parkinson Keynes, author of novel called Joy Street
• Atlantic editor Thomas Bailey Aldrich
• William Stanley Braithwaite, poet who joined black and white poets together in an anthology for the first time
• Frances Minturn Howard, who wrote Beacon Hill: Hub of the Universe
• David MCord, children’s poet
• Sylvia Plath, poet born in Jamaica Plain who lived on Beacon Hill with Ted Hughes
• Robert Frost, probably the most famous poet of New England
• Robin Cook, physician and author of medical thrillers
• Archibald MacLeish, lawyer, poet and Librarian of Congress
• John Marquand, author of The Late George Apley and the “Mr. Moto” series
• W.S. Merwin, poet and playwright-in-residence at Poet’s Theatre
• Annie Fields, writer, publisher, and host of literary salons
• Sarah Orne Jewett, novelist and story writer
• Willa Cather, novelist of My Antonia and other stories of the Great Plains
• Julia Child, cookbook writer

A plaque commemorates Robert Frost residency as one of the many great writers who lived on Beacon Hill

If you’re kicking yourself for missing this terrific tour, make sure to sign up at Meetup.com so you will get reminders of Boston By Foot special tours. Better yet, become a member of Boston By Foot and take free regular tours, discounted special tours, and tours only available for members.  You can even become a guide yourself by signing up online and attending the Annual Spring Lecture Series which begins on April 11th.

Upcoming tours include:

• Sunday March 29th, 2 pm – Great Women of Boston (meet at the flagpoles at City Hall Plaza)
• Sunday April 25th, 2 pm – Revisiting the Waterfront, lead by yours truly (meet at McKinley Sq., by the entrance to Marriott Custom House)

See you on the streets of Boston!