“…And above, in the light Of the star-lit night, Swift birds of passage wing their flight…” Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, from Birds of Passage, 1858. The old ‘Watertown Path’ of 1630 is today known as Brattle Street, as stated on the street sign in the photograph below. This ancient road is one of the earliest… (read more)
“Cambridge at any time is full of ghosts” Ralph Waldo Emerson, Journals (1836) “What did you do in this world that cannot be killed? What did you leave behind that the wind can’t blow away? A thing of beauty is here forever. Nothing can kill the beautiful deed.” Brother Blue, eulogy for Igor Fokin at… (read more)
“Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.” King James Bible, Matthew 5:14. “For we must consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us. So that if we shall deal falsely with our… (read more)
One of the difficulties in doing a project of this nature is the internal tension between a desire to produce these entries in a steady stream and the fear of making mistakes or of being superficial. I have an urge to generate as many entries as I can as quickly as possible. I also know… (read more)
In a couple of previous entries I described the original road to Cambridge from Boston which passed along the Neck and through Dudley Square, winding its way to Brookline and what is today Allston and Brighton, crossing the Charles River at what is today the Larz Anderson Bridge and ending at Cambridge Common. I wrote… (read more)
“He was buried in the tomb of his fathers; but his epitaphs are only to be read on the numerous mile-stones that skirt the roads…” Nathaniel B. Shurtleff, in History of Norfolk County, referring to Paul Dudley. One more entry (#14) from my Walking the Post Road Project. The purpose of these entries is to… (read more)
‘Feria secunda, July 14, 1707. Mr. Antram and I, having Benjamin and David to wait on us, measured with his wheel from the Town-House Two Miles, and drove down stakes at each mile’s end, in order to place Stone-posts in convenient time. From the Town house to the Oak and Walnut, is a mile wanting… (read more)
