Back Bay and the Emerald Necklace
Trip Start
Nov 03, 2007
1
4
Trip End
Nov 05, 2007
Boston, Massachusetts
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
We stayed in the Back Bay area of Boston. This entire area was bulit on reclaimed land from the sea. The area is called the Back Bay precisely because it was the Back Bay. Originally, the city of Boston was about half the size that it is now. Approximately 2/3 of the city is surrounded by water. There were 3 major hills in Boston, but now only Beacon Hill remains, though its size has been reduced. The land from these hills were among those used to fill in the land surrounding Boston. The Back Bay expansion in the late 1800's was among those projects. This expansion added over 500 acres to the original city.
We left our hotel and took a route down Newberry Street. This is considered a major shopping district and many of the upscale stores are on this street. We took this street all the way to Boston Commons and Boston Park. These are part of what is called the Emerald Necklace. The Emerald Necklace is a 1,100 chain of parks and waterways between Boston and Brookline. The Boston Common is one of the jewels. It is the oldest city park in the United States. It has quite a past. In the 1600's it was a cow pasture for Boston families. It was used as a camp in the Revolutionary War for the British. It has been the site of speeches by many notable people including Martin Luther King Jr. and POPE JOHN PAUL II. (JP 2, he loves you) It is a very beautiful park!
We arrived at church just in the nick of time and took part in the services. The New Advent Church is an Episcopal church in the Beacon Hill area just around the corner from the Gurnons. I had not been to an Episcopal service before so I thought that was pretty cool. Same bells and smells as the Catholic Church (seemed like even more, but it was a special liturgy). The church was beautiful. Jack took us to the Bell Tower after the service. It is one of two churches in Boston that has "change ringing bells". We made it to the top just as they were finishing up.
The other Boston church with the change ringing bells is the Old North Church. The Old North Church is the site of the famous "one if by land, two if by sea signal" that is part of Paul Revere's Midnight Ride. And that my dear family will be a later entry.........
Comments
Very cool
Probably a wise move on Jack's part to send you through the shopping district when you had somewhere to be. I'm sure Myron appreciates it. I had no idea about the changes that Boston has gone through. Very interesting. Do you remember the Old North Church part in National Treasure? I'd like to see the store and neighborhood. It sounded cool when I heard about it down in Florida.