November 7-11, 2018
Occasionally I get the opportunity to attend a work-related conference in a fun place. In 2018 I went to Boston for a national Honors conference.
The conference was wonderful, and I made sure that I took every opportunity to explore the local area during lunch and after the last session every day.
I stayed in the Westin Copley Hotel, located in the prestigious Back Bay area of the city, and to get to the conference, which was in the nearby Marriott, I had to walk through Copley Place, a very upscale shopping mall that links the Marriott to the Westin. It was a good ten-minute walk, and for numerous reasons I enjoyed every minute of it every time I did it. 😊
One of the fun things this conference provides each year is a workshop called "City as Text." Small groups go to various neighborhoods in the host city to learn about the city's culture and history. On a previous trip I had already visited many of Boston's most famous sites, including the Freedom Trail, the popular walk that includes many important American Revolution sites, so I tried to go to a place I had not visited. I selected the Beacon Hill neighborhood tour, and I had a great time going out with my group to see Boston in a new way.
We passed by the Charles Street Meeting House, built between 1804 and 1807. This was one of the centers of the anti-slavery movement in the early 19th century, hosting notable speakers such as Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, and William Lloyd Garrison
We walked. And walked. And walked. I think we walked at least five miles that morning. Honestly, I can't even identify everything in my pictures, so forgive me (and feel free to correct me) if misidentify some of the places.
Our walk took us through the Boston Common, 50 acres that form the oldest city park in the United States.
The sidewalk was lined with photographs of Holocaust survivors from around the world, part of an international exhibition entitled Lest We Forget.
The photos stretched down a long length of the sidewalk.
Then we strolled around Beacon Hill, an upscale neighborhood built between 1859 and about 1900 and one of the best-preserved examples of urban planning from that period.
I think this is a very chic, very high rent neighborhood.
Beacon Hill is the home of the Massachusetts State House (aka state capitol building). It was designed by the famous architect Charles Bullfinch, who also designed the United States Capitol. The state house was completed in 1798 for a mere $133,000, which was more than five times the original budget.
Unfortunately, the State House was closed the day we were there. I can't remember why, and I can't remember why the flag was flying at half-staff.
Perhaps more than any city in the US, I associate Boston with the Revolutionary War. The tourism board does a great job of highlighting the city's history by paying people to stroll around in period clothing and engage tourists in conversation. They more or less stay in character and are quite knowledgeable.
I love the green spaces sprinkled throughout the city, much like New York City. Somehow the West didn't quite catch that vision, although I guess LA does have its Griffith Park
This squirrel has a very interesting tail--perhaps the squirrel version of a mohawk.
I always love the imagery and symbolism of mirrored windows in a modern building reflecting an old building. Just across the street from Trinity Church is none other than the John Hancock Tower, a 62-story skyscraper designed by I. M. Pei (architect of the Louvre pyramid) and finished in 1976, 99 years after the completion of Trinity Church.
A few interesting facts about Trinity Church:
Back outside, I wandered around Copley Square and ran across (no pun intended) The Tortoise and the Hare, a bronze sculpture installed in 1994 to commemorate Boston Marathon participants.
Stained glass windows illustrate the parables:
My favorite building on Copley Square is the Boston Central Library, two buildings that comprise 930,000 square feet and house a collection of 21 million items. It is just across the street from the Old South Church.
On the right a woman holding a paintbrush represents art. The names on either side of her are Raphael, Titian, Rembrandt, Velasquez, Phidias, Praxiteles, Michelangelo, and Donatello.
Check out the beautiful front doors . . .
. . . lobby . . .
. . . passageway . . .
. . . balcony . . .
. . . and the staircase and Civil War monument (lion). SO GORGEOUS! It reminds me quite a bit of the Library of Congress.
The murals encircling the staircase were painted by the French artist Pierre Puvis de Chavannes and installed in 1895-1896. They continue the theme of science and art established by the statues flanking the front door. At the end of the 19th century, Puvis was considered to be the most notable muralist in Europe. This is the only one of his murals in the United States.
This is a LIBRARY?? I was beginning to think it was an art museum.
Aha! This looks more like a library!
All I can say is WOW. The reading room is called "Bates Hall" and is named after one of the library's original benefactors, Joshua Bates, who gave Boston $50,000 for the purpose of founding a library. He also donated 30,000 volumes to the library.
That must be him below, watching over the patrons to make sure they are reading and not talking.
Heading back to the entrance/exit. What a spectacular place!
While I am on the subject of reading and writing, I want to mention that the guest speaker for the conference was the poet Nikki Giovanni. People were pretty excited about that, and the meeting room started filling hours before she was scheduled to speak.
This woman was the first person to receive the Rosa L. Parks Women of Courage Award. She has won the Langston Hughes Medal and several NAACP Image Awards. Oprah Winfrey named her one of 25 "Living Legends." She has written more than two dozen books and has received 20 honorary doctorates. In other words, she is A Big Deal.
She deserves to be. She was outspoken, inspiring, motivating, and charming. It was an honor to hear her speak.
Occasionally I get the opportunity to attend a work-related conference in a fun place. In 2018 I went to Boston for a national Honors conference.
I stayed in the Westin Copley Hotel, located in the prestigious Back Bay area of the city, and to get to the conference, which was in the nearby Marriott, I had to walk through Copley Place, a very upscale shopping mall that links the Marriott to the Westin. It was a good ten-minute walk, and for numerous reasons I enjoyed every minute of it every time I did it. 😊
One of the fun things this conference provides each year is a workshop called "City as Text." Small groups go to various neighborhoods in the host city to learn about the city's culture and history. On a previous trip I had already visited many of Boston's most famous sites, including the Freedom Trail, the popular walk that includes many important American Revolution sites, so I tried to go to a place I had not visited. I selected the Beacon Hill neighborhood tour, and I had a great time going out with my group to see Boston in a new way.
We passed by the Charles Street Meeting House, built between 1804 and 1807. This was one of the centers of the anti-slavery movement in the early 19th century, hosting notable speakers such as Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, and William Lloyd Garrison
We walked. And walked. And walked. I think we walked at least five miles that morning. Honestly, I can't even identify everything in my pictures, so forgive me (and feel free to correct me) if misidentify some of the places.
Our walk took us through the Boston Common, 50 acres that form the oldest city park in the United States.
The photos stretched down a long length of the sidewalk.
By the time we were in the Beacon Hill neighborhood, it was time for lunch. We stopped at the Tatte Bakery and Cafe, where I enjoyed a spectacular shakshuka as good as I've had anywhere. (The chef is from Israel.)
Then we strolled around Beacon Hill, an upscale neighborhood built between 1859 and about 1900 and one of the best-preserved examples of urban planning from that period.
I think this is a very chic, very high rent neighborhood.
Here is my group. (I think we had actually lost three or four members of our group by the time we took this picture.) Three of them were from the Netherlands and come to this conference every year, and the other two were Honors students who had just been accepted into medical school.
Unfortunately, the State House was closed the day we were there. I can't remember why, and I can't remember why the flag was flying at half-staff.
Perhaps more than any city in the US, I associate Boston with the Revolutionary War. The tourism board does a great job of highlighting the city's history by paying people to stroll around in period clothing and engage tourists in conversation. They more or less stay in character and are quite knowledgeable.
I love the green spaces sprinkled throughout the city, much like New York City. Somehow the West didn't quite catch that vision, although I guess LA does have its Griffith Park
This squirrel has a very interesting tail--perhaps the squirrel version of a mohawk.
On another day when I was on my own during lunch, I dropped into Trinity Church, just a block or two from the conference on the edge of Copley Square.
I always love the imagery and symbolism of mirrored windows in a modern building reflecting an old building. Just across the street from Trinity Church is none other than the John Hancock Tower, a 62-story skyscraper designed by I. M. Pei (architect of the Louvre pyramid) and finished in 1976, 99 years after the completion of Trinity Church.
A few interesting facts about Trinity Church:
- The tower is 211 feet tall.
- Because Back Bay was originally a mud flat that was reclaimed for building, Trinity is stabilized by 4,500 wooden piles that are driven through 30 feet of gravel fill, silt, and clay.
- The interior murals (which I, unfortunately, did not get a good photo of) cover 21,500 square feet.
- Trinity Church has been named one of the "Ten Most Significant Buildings in the United States" by the American Institute of Architects.
A farmer's market in Copley Square almost obscured the park's namesake: John Singleton Copley (1738-1815), famous painter of the American Revolution Era.
My favorite of his works is probably his portrait of Paul Revere:
The other important church in Back Bay is the Old South Church. Boston's original United Church of Christ congregation was formed in 1669, and they completed this Gothic Revival church in 1873, just a few years before Trinity Church. Members of the original congregation included Samuel Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and William Dawes.
The bell tower rises 246 feet, which is 35 feet taller than the tower on Trinity Church. It has a two-ton bell suspended in the top. (Imagine getting it up there!)
The organ was built in 1921 for an auditorium in Minnesota, and when that building was demolished, the Old South Church was the lucky recipient of the organ.
My favorite building on Copley Square is the Boston Central Library, two buildings that comprise 930,000 square feet and house a collection of 21 million items. It is just across the street from the Old South Church.
Two statues were installed on either side of the main entrance in 1912. The woman on the left, who holds a globe, represents science. Inscribed on either side of her are the names of Newton, Darwin, Franklin, Morse, Pasteur, Cuvier, Helmholtz, and Humboldt.
On the right a woman holding a paintbrush represents art. The names on either side of her are Raphael, Titian, Rembrandt, Velasquez, Phidias, Praxiteles, Michelangelo, and Donatello.
Leave it to the library to make me think. The public library was founded in . . . 1852. This building was erected in . . . 1888.
. . . lobby . . .
. . . passageway . . .
. . . balcony . . .
. . . and the staircase and Civil War monument (lion). SO GORGEOUS! It reminds me quite a bit of the Library of Congress.
The murals encircling the staircase were painted by the French artist Pierre Puvis de Chavannes and installed in 1895-1896. They continue the theme of science and art established by the statues flanking the front door. At the end of the 19th century, Puvis was considered to be the most notable muralist in Europe. This is the only one of his murals in the United States.
Aha! This looks more like a library!
That must be him below, watching over the patrons to make sure they are reading and not talking.
While I am on the subject of reading and writing, I want to mention that the guest speaker for the conference was the poet Nikki Giovanni. People were pretty excited about that, and the meeting room started filling hours before she was scheduled to speak.
This woman was the first person to receive the Rosa L. Parks Women of Courage Award. She has won the Langston Hughes Medal and several NAACP Image Awards. Oprah Winfrey named her one of 25 "Living Legends." She has written more than two dozen books and has received 20 honorary doctorates. In other words, she is A Big Deal.
She deserves to be. She was outspoken, inspiring, motivating, and charming. It was an honor to hear her speak.
I'm glad you're posting on your individual travels. I love the library, very beautiful and impressive. I need to learn more about Nikki Giovanni. In the time of Me Too, it looks like she would have something of importance to say.
ReplyDeleteLooks great, Denise really wants to go on the freedom trail one day.
ReplyDelete