Boston is a very pleasant city to visit, having retained its historical features and being on a convenient scale for walking and sightseeing downtown and elsewhere.
Massachusetts is one of the US states collectively referred to as New England. Normally at this time of year all of the trees of New England have shed their leaves, but this year has been exceptional in the lateness of the fall. That was fortunate for us as we got to see the area in its full autumn glory. There were even trees where the leaf drop had barely begun.
We spent an afternoon at the Minute Man National Historic Park, about 30 km north of Boston within the towns of Lexington, Lincoln and Concord. Along this trail on 19 April 1775, the first fatal skirmishes occurred between British soldiers and American "minute men" militia. http://www.nps.gov/archive/mima/brvc/index.htm The American War of Independence had begun.
The first shots were fired on Lexington Green, now a pleasant city park surrounded by beautiful houses and an attractive archetypal New England church.
A more deadly battle ensued further north in the field surrounding North Bridge at Concord. American militia minute men (so named because they could be ready for action in a matter of minutes) succeeded in halting the British soldiers, harassing them all the way back to Boston. There was a considerable number of deaths on both sides, the first of the eight-year war to follow.
Trouble had been brewing since well before the Boston Tea Party two years previously. The colonists resented the taxes imposed on the colonies in the absence of political representation, and the taxation of tea imports became symbolic of their grievances. In December 1773 under cover of darkness, a band of colonists crept aboard the HMS Beaver, HMS Dartmouth and HMS Eleanor, and hurled about 90,000 lbs of tea overboard into Boston Harbour. Relationships between the colonists and their English masters continued to deteriorate, culminating in the events at Lexington Green and North Bridge two years later.
Our time in Boston coincided with American Thanksgiving Day and we enjoyed a very interesting day and Thanksgiving lunch with Dick's friendly family. We also made a day trip to Cape Cod south of Boston where we were surprised to learn that this narrow curved peninsula is actually the product of ancient glacial activity. The Cape is a popular summer holiday destination but with winter approaching, many businesses have closed for the season. It was very quiet when we strolled around Provincetown at the tip of the Cape after lunch at the Crown and Anchor.
Cape Cod played an important part in the development of radio communications. From his station overlooking the wind-swept beach at South Wellfleet on Cape Cod, Guglielmo Marconi oversaw in January 1903 the first two-way trans-Atlantic wireless communication, a 48-word message of goodwill from President Roosevelt to King Edward V11.
We have visited Boston previously, but only for one day about five years ago. Then, Dick met us at the airport and took us on a lightning tour around Boston. One of the highlights of that day was a visit to the Natural History Museum at Harvard University where we saw a stunning display of glass flowers made by two German glass blowers in the late 1800s under contract to Harvard, for botanical teaching purposes. At the time the University had difficulty obtaining fresh botanical specimens from across the world, and the stunning artistry of the two German glass blowers provided the solution. The full story, along with some great photos, is told at: http://www.journalofantiques.com/Feb04/featurefeb04.htm and http://www.rps.psu.edu/sep99/glass.html It is hard to believe that these exhibits are glass, not real plants. A must-see in Boston.
