Mass State House designed by Bulfinch © Steve Dunwell
Original time capsule – a small box – retrieved from foundation of the Massachusetts State House yesterday. Placed there in 1795 by Paul Revere and Samuel Adams, among others.
Boston’s oldest public building, erected in 1713 overlooking Long Wharf, replaced an old wooden Town House dating from 1658. After the Great fire of 1711, the town financed a brick building with a room for the Elder’s meeting, a library, an arsenal, and an arcaded farmers’ market “for the country people that come with theire provisions…to sitt dry and warme both in colde raine and durty weather.” It became the hub of the colony’s trade.
Preserved and operated by The Bostonian Society.
State House, Boston, MA
Designed by Charles Bulfinch. Cornerstone laid on July 4, 1795, with Paul Revere and Gov. Sam Adams presiding. This view is from a banjo clock, ca. 1870. Painted on glass, it shows the view from the Boston Common. The original dome was copper, from Revere’s workshop.
Constitution, with sails, Boston
USS Constitution, with sails up, during the commemoration of the battle with Guerriere, August, 1812. Constitution will go into drydock this winter, for two years of restoration work.
on Memorial day, consider the 54th Regiment of African-American soldiers, led by Col. Robert G. Shaw. They went south on May 28, 1863, to fight in South Carolina. Their first attack, at Fort Wagner, was a disaster. Monumental bas-relief by Augustus St. Gaudens, on Beacon St.
Translating “Boston Freedom Trail” into Chinese, with format for cell phone. Next languages: Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic. Eminently readable.
USS Constitution guns, snow, Charlestown, MA © Steve Dunwell
Deck cannons of “USS Constitution”, with snow. “Old Ironsides” carried several types of cannons. The 24-pound long guns had a range of 1200 yards.
240 years ago. December 16, 1773 – A great crowd gathered at the Old South Meeting House to hear speeches protesting new taxes on imports, including tea. Shouting “Boston harbor a tea party tonight,” they went down to the nearby docks. Thinly disguised as “Mohawks”, fifty men boarded three East India ships – Dartmouth, Beaver and Eleanor. Breaking open 342 chests of imported tea, they dumped the lot into the harbor. The “Intolerable Acts” soon followed as punishment.
King’s Chapel, the center for Anglican worship, was completed in 1754. Designed by Peter Harrison with four-foot-thick walls of Quincy granite, it was the first stone church in the Province. Sometimes written as “Kings Chapel.”
Old South Church interior, © Steve Dunwell
In 1729 master builder Joshua Blanchard completed the new brick structure of Old South, replacing a simple two-story cedar structure on the site and creating the largest space for public meetings of any Boston building. Here the Tea Party was begun.