Boston Rambles

Boston Rambles

A Rambler Walks and Talks About the Hub of the Universe

Deviating from the Straight Path (WTPR#5)

. “One if by land, and two if by sea; And I on the opposite shore will be” Paul Revere’s Ride Henry Wadsworth Longfellow . “Parting is such sweet sorrow” Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, Scene 2 William Shakespeare This entry is another (#5 in the original project) from the Walking the Post Road project. I… (read more)

Transitions (WTPR#3)

“ As to politeness and humanity, they (the northern provinces of colonial America) are much alike except in the great towns where the inhabitants are more civilized, especially att Boston” Dr. Alexander Hamilton, Gentleman’s Progress: The Itinerarium, 1744. (*) In this entry I have brought over from my Walking The Post Road project entry #3,… (read more)

Bonner Map of 1722

1722 Map of Boston by John Bonner

A reproduction, dating to 1835, of the 1722 Map of Boston by John Bonner. This is one of my favorite maps. The detail is incredible, including all the churches, all the buildings, the fortifications at Boston Gate, and even the one mile stone and the “gallows.” Click on the map- a larger map will pop up that you can enlarge even more to take a closer look and appreciate the detail. I have this map framed on the wall in my office. One of the earliest versions of the map can be found here.   Thanks to Carl Zimba for alerting me to the various ‘versions’ of the original map.

Citation:

Bonner, John, ca. 1643-1726,  Dewing, Francis, fl. 1716-1722,  Smith, George Girdler,  Price, William, fl. 1725-1769,  and Fuller, Stephen P..  “The town of Boston in New England.”  Map.  1835.  Norman B. Leventhal Map & Education Center,  https://collections.leventhalmap.org/search/commonwealth:3f4631769 (accessed July 21, 2019).

All Roads Lead to Boston

  Where to begin this project? On the road, of course! But which road? Well, my natural inclination is to travel the oldest roads as I often find them to be the most interesting, and I have some previous experience doing just that. As I mentioned in my first post, I previously walked the Post… (read more)

What is Boston?

A search for the largest cities in America on Wikipedia (or any database, including the Census Bureau) will yield something like the following list:  1. New York (8,175,133; all data are 2010 US Census figures), 2. Los Angeles (3,792,621), 3. Chicago (2,695,598), 4. Houston (2,100,263)…. so far so good (with the possible exception of Houston,… (read more)

Boston Rambles

The “hub” of the Hub. The Old State House, Boston A couple of years ago, I walked from Boston to New York along the original road to New York, the Old Boston Post Road. This route took me from downtown Boston, in front of the Old State House (shown at left), to Battery Park in… (read more)