Bartholomew Gedney

At the King's Chapel graveyard is the place of where many early colonials are buried. You may find former Governors, Revolutionary War heroes, and more.

One grave that stands out as you walk into the graveyard is Bartholomew Gedney.

Interesting Facts about Bartholomew Gedney

Bartholomew Gedney was born on March 22, 1698, and died on July 16, 1762.

He was a merchant of Boston.

His gravestone has an armorial tablet with three eagles. This is the family Coat of Arms of the Gedney family. There is no significant value to the armor engraving on the gravestone.

Gravestone location: Sec D, Row 16, Grave 387

If you look at the top of the gravestone to the left of Bartholomew you can see a letter "M".

To the right of the words Gedney you can see some numbers: No. 9 (There are more numbers but it's hard to make out.) Maybe it was a different grave number? I guess it would be better to see in person?

Some people may confuse this person with Bartholomew Gedney of Salem, Massachusetts. He was a magistrate to the Salem witchcraft trials and is not the person buried at the King Chapel Graveyard. The magistrate is buried in Salem, Massachusetts.

Nathaniel Lewis Gravestone

As you walk around Copp's Hill Burying Ground in Boston's North End. You'll encounter some notable gravestones. There are a lot of unknown people buried in this historic graveyard.

Nathaniel Lewis

There isn't much that I could find out about Nathaniel Lewis.

• He died on May 12, 1778.
• There's no birthdate, based on his age it would be sometime in 1736
• He was a Merchant. In the 1700s the would buy farmers surplus products and extend credit so the farmers could afford to buy supplied.
• A flag is planted at his gravesite, which indicates that he was involve with the revolutionary war.
• At the gravesite you can see a smaller gravestone that contains very little writing.

His Gravestone reads:

Here lies interred the Body of Mr. Nathaniel Lewis Merchant of Great Yarmouth in the Country of Norfolk Old England who departed this Life May 12th, 1778. Age 42.

The bottom of this gravestone has this quote:

This is a poem from a famous english poet - Alexander Pope ( May 21, 1688 - May 30, 1744).

Prudential Mall

On Monday, I took a trip to the Prudential Mall in Boston. This was my first trip to the mall since the pandemic had begun.

Five Things I Learned

I visited on Columbus Day, usually a busy time for the mall. I get that the pandemic has caused people to avoid the mall, but it seemed much quieter than expected.

The Starbucks at Copley was closed. This is surprising since the pre-pandemic it was always busy. I think that it must be closed because of the holiday.

Some stores were enforcing the number of customers in the stores.

The parking lot was very empty. Thankfully it didn’t cost an arm and a leg to park there for 3 hours. It cost $15 to park. Personally, they should lower the parking rate to encourage people to visit the mall.

A couple of stores were closed since I was their - David’s Tea and the Microsoft store.

Samuel Adams Gravestone

When you are walking around Granary Burying Grounds your encounter many famous gravestones. One gravestone that stands out is Samuel Adams - it's located along Tremont Street.

Looking at the gravestone, against others in the cemetery, it makes you wonder what is special about this marker. Why was it chosen and is there anything special about it.

Fun Facts About Samuel Adams Gravestone

Samuel Adams died on October 2, 1803.

For 95 years the gravestone was a simple in-ground marker. It wasn't visible from the street as people walked by.

He was buried in the tomb of his relatives, the Checkley family.

His grave was unmarked and only had the inscription: No. 63 Richard Checkley 1737. This was the property of Samuel Adams's wife.

In 1898, a bowlder of Roxbury stone was placed on to of the grave of Samuel Adams

The bowlder weighs about three tons. It comes from Roxbury, Massachusetts where

The grave marker was unveiled on April 19, 1898, by the Massachusetts Society Sons of the Revolution. It was the One Hundred and twenty-third anniversary of the battle of Lexington and Concord.

The Samuel Adams tomb was last open on March 26, 1808. It was open for identification purposes.

Gravestone Text

This is the text on the gravestone:

At the bottom:

Massachusetts Society Sons of the Revolution 1898

Top 5 Underrated Places in Boston to Have a Perfect Date

Boston is the capital of Massachusetts, from which the historical origins of America began. Kilometers of streets and visits to the sights of Boston are turned into emotions, impressions, and thoughts. Regardless of the purpose of the visit, any couple in love will choose for themselves what to see in Boston and its environs.

Feel the romance in the Boston public garden

Do you know that many Ukrainian brides for marriage consider it boring to go to the park when you have a date? But still, this one is probably the most picturesque and most crowded park in the city. Boston’s main city park is considered to be the oldest in the USA. And, although it is not the largest, still, it has the status of the best park in such a large country as the United States, and it deserves attention. It is located in the heart of Boston. At the main entrance to the park, visitors are greeted by a statue of George Washington on horseback. A lot of people are sitting or lying on the grass. People in love can often be seen bringing food and having picnics in the park. So, it is a quite romantic place.

Look at the city at Skywalk observatory

For stunning panoramas of Boston, visit the observation deck called the Skywalk Observatory. It is located in the Prudential Tower. From the indoor observation deck on the 50th floor of the building, you can enjoy breathtaking panoramic views of the city’s skyline. At nightfall, you can admire the pictures of sparkling Boston from a bird’s eye view, and in the daytime, it is better to go to the observation deck on sunny days when the city buildings are more clearly visible.

Visit Boston zoo at Franklin park

A visit to this zoo will bring joy even to adults. It covers an area of about 29 hectares and is located just a few kilometers from the center of Boston, in the historic Franklin Park. The zoo employees see their mission in inspiring people to preserve and protect the world around them. In support of the nature conservation program, the zoo regularly hosts exciting events and exhibitions dedicated to animals from different continents, as well as charity concerts. The zoo’s inhabitants include a wide variety of animals: lions, tigers, ocelots, tapirs, lemurs, mandrills, giant anteater, kangaroos, emus, tropical birds, and many other representatives of the fauna. If your girlfriend adores animals, then visiting this zoo is a must!

Get inspired in Harvard art museum

In 2014, the Harvard Art Museum building was renovated and expanded. As a result, it became possible to place a huge collection of three museums of 250,000 works of art under one roof. An Italian architect was the author of the project. The exposition of the museum covers a wide cultural and historical period �" from antiquity to the present day. Separate collections are dedicated to the culture of people from all parts of the world �" Europe, America, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. The rich collection of works of art of European modernism attracts special attention.

Go to a concert at the Hatch Shell and eat in Faneuil Hall

Relax by the river while musicians show their creativity to the city. At this venue, you can meet many of the local pop stars. After the end of the concert, take a boat ride or just enjoy the good weather.

Anyone visiting Boston should have a meal at Quincy Market at least once. Order food in one of the many restaurants and go outside to enjoy the street musicians and other talented people who perform a real show there. Well, if you prefer to eat in a restaurant, then you will find many cozy places in Faneuil Hall.

Spanish/American War Cannons

On the Massachusetts State House front lawn, you may notice a cannon near the West Entrance.

Prior to September 11, 2001, people could walk up and look at the cannon, but the lawn is closed to the general public and only the John F. Kennedy monument is available to see on the tour.

This cannon is from the Spanish/American War. It was taken in 1896 by the American forces in battles in Cuba. This cannon was officially assigned to Massachusetts by the Navy Department on July 24, 1901.

Today the closest you can to the cannon is via Joy Place, which is one of the side streets next to the state house.

Beacon Hill Monument

Walking around the outside of the Massachusetts State House, you may see a column monument with an Eagle on the top, this is the Beacon Hill Monument. There's plenty of history behind this monument.

The Beacon Hill Monument is there to remember an actual beacon that stood on the same spot since April 1635.

Fun Facts about the Beacon Hill Monument

On March 4, 1634, the Massachusetts General Court ordered the beacon to warn Bostonians of impending danger. The court order was for the time period between April 1st and October 1st.

It was placed on this particular site as it was the highest point in the city. At the time, the hill was named Centry Hill.

The area, "Beacon Hill" was named after the Beacon.

The original Beacon, which was basically a boat mast held up by board on the base, was there from 1635 to 1789. (It was taken down between 1775 and 1776.)

In 1789, a storm blew down the Beacon. Instead of replacing the beacon, local residents favorited putting a more permanent monument.

Charles Bulfinch created a plain Doric column monument with an eagle on top. The column was 60-feet in height built with brick and covered with stucco. There was a large wooden eagle at the top. There were four tablets. Two of the tablets were inscribed with important events in the history of the Revolutionary war.

The tablets were authored by Honorable Thomas Dawes, who was a Supreme Court judge in Boston.

By 1810 Boston was in a deep recession and they sold the land where the monument was on to Samuel Spean and John Hancock. The "Old Beacon Hill Monument" was taken down by Atherton Haugh Steven on July 9, 1811. The surrounding hill was dug up.

The wooden effigy of the eagle is over the President chair in the Senate Chamber. The tablets were stored in the State House.

In 1865, the Massachusetts legislature authorized the Beacon Hill monument to be rebuilt. It was dedicated on June 17, 1899. The monument is exactly the same as the 1810 version, and the tablets were put back on the monument.

Wooden Eagle in the Senate Chamber.

Tablets Texts

Blue Bikes

Boston might be "America’s Walking City" but there’s nothing like a great bike ride.

Throughout Boston and Cambridge you will find bike stands where you can rent a bike for a ride. For $2.50 you can get a quick ride any place in the Boston area.

Note: There's a $101 security deposit, per bike, that will be placed on your credit card. Deposit is returned when the bike is back in the dock.

Fun Facts about the Bikes

Started on Earth Day in 2011 as Hubway. It started with 61 stations and 610 bicycles. Today there are 325 stations and 2, 500+ bikes.

In March 2018, Blue Cross Blue Shields announced a six-year marking arrangement with Hubway and the bikes were renamed Bluebikes - along with the website: bluebikes.com.

The furthest north bike station is at the Glendale Street Park in Malden.

The furthest west station bike station at Watertown Square in Watertown.

The furthest south station bike station at the Mattapan T Stop in Mattapan.

There is a bike station at Encore Hotel and Casino, Fenway Park, USS Constitution, and within walking distance to the Bunker Hill Monument.

$99 for unlimited. 45-minute rides. So if you work in the Back Bay, you can take a bike and ride to the North End to get some ice cream at lunch every day.

It’s a 2-hour bike ride from the Old North Church to the Old North Bridge in Concord. (21 miles) What a great way to see the historic route that Paul Revere took.

Boston Bars Closing

I haven’t been in Boston since March 12th. This is true for most people that commute to Boston for work. Most Bostonians have been working from home during the pandemic. It's uncertain when we would be going back to our offices.

Pandemic has Been Bad for Restaurants

COVID-19 has impacted Boston small business a lot. A walk down Boylston Street and you’ll find some business are now gone.

Here’s a tweet from BostonTweet that pretty much explains the situation in Boston.

Lir just announced that they too are closing for good

In the past few weeks 4 bars on Boylston have announced closures; Pour House, Whiskey's, McGreevy's & Lir. And the Cactus Club has been vacant for 6 years

Boston is in serious trouble. It will take years to recover from this pic.twitter.com/sgxIiENrQ1

— BostonTweet (@BostonTweet) September 3, 2020

Commuter Rail

The MBTA Commuter rail has taken a hard hit. At one point the number of daily commuters was down 80%. The numbers have come back up slightly since April, but still way down from February.

The MBTA has put together a 2-year budget plan, due to the COVID-19 crisis. This means that they anticipate that ridership will be down for a long time.

The sad thing is within that two year time, leases will come up for renewal and some companies may take advantage of that and downside their Boston offices.

Provincetown Ferry

If you are looking for a getaway from the busy city life. You can take a ferry ride to Provincetown and spend the day at one of the best beaches on Cape Cod.

Since 1974, the Boston Harbor Cruises has offered a Ferry ride to Provincetown.

For most trips, it takes 90-minutes to go from Boston to Provincetown. The first ferry out of Boston is at 9 am and the last ferry back to Boston is at 8:30 pm.

The Provincetown Ferry is located at the Long Wharf dock, near the Boston Marriott Long Wharf.

What a way to spend a day - breakfast at Faneuil Hall and enjoying an early lobster dinner in Provincetown. (Try the Baked Stuff Lobster at the Lobster Pot.)

In June and July, you can watch the sunset as you head back to Boston. By August the sun will be setting a bit early on your journey back to Boston.

There is a snack bar on board - they only accept cash. You can end the day with a margarita and recall the fun day around Provincetown.

Current Pricing

• Adults: $47- each way
• Child: $34.50 - each way

For 2-Adults and one child it cost $257 round trip.

Boston Art Sphere

Five Fun Facts

Located on 100 High Street, Boston Massachusetts.

These were created by Lars-Erik Fisk.

Completed and Installed on April 13, 2015 - Opening Day Fenway Park.

The Green Monster Sphere is located inside and features #27 at bat (Carlton Fisk). I can't tell which Yankee game this scoreboard is representing. I thought it might be the 1978 American League East tiebreaker, but the Red Sox scored their first hit in the 2nd inning.

Lars-Erik has a "Pizza Ball" on Eagle Street in North Adams. Other sphere artwork are displayed around Burlington, Vermont and at Sculpture Park in Lincoln, Massachusetts.

Paul Revere Statue

One of the most popular shots in Boston is the Paul Revere Statue in the North End. Tourist from around the world come and learn about Paul Revere's history.

This view of the Paul Revere Mall with the Paul Revere statue is one of the most popular photo spots along the Freedom Trail.

This view of the Paul Revere Mall with the Paul Revere statue is one of the most popular photo spots along the Freedom Trail.

Fun Facts about the Paul Reveue Statue

The statue was created in 1886 by Cyrus Dallin.

The statue won first prize against other notable designers - Daniel Chester French (Concord Minuteman) and Thomas Ball (George Washington Equestrian Statue in the Public Gardens).

However it took 54 years for the City of Boston to buy and install it.

The clay model of the statue was completed in 1935 After that the statue was on display in the Caproni Galleries on Washington Street and for a while it was exhibited on the Esplanade.

The delays for Boston to purchase it was "for one reason or another." Some people say the delays were intentional because Cyrus Dallin was only 22-years old at the time he won against other famous designers.

Officially set up on the Paul Revere Mall on Thursday, September 19, 1940. The dedication ceremony was on the following Sunday, September 22nd at 2:30 pm.

Speakers at the dedication ceremony included Joseph F. O'Connell, Henry L. Shattuck, and Raymond Kelly. The great-great-great-grandson of Paul Revere was at the ceremony. About 10,000 people were at the ceremony.

The statue cost nearly a half-million dollars. The funding was controlled by the George White Fund

The statue is known as heroic, which basically means it is about one and half life-size.

Orginally some people suggested putting the statue in Copley square, at the foot of Mount Vernon Street - looking west towards Lexington and Concord. Another location some suggested was at the statehouse on the opposite side of the equestrian statue of General Hooker.

The statue base is Milford granite. It comes from Dennis F. McLaughlin. He won the bid at $7,930

Locals still call the Paul Revere Mall the original name: “The Prado." The official name was changed when the Paul Revere Statue was dedicated.

According to city expenditures documents, to get the Paul Revere Mall up and running, it cost: $382,390.48 for the Land and Construction, the Tablets on the walls cost $16,293.26 and the statue cost $37,424.91.

Quote from the Dedication

Henry L. Shattuck, the orator of the day, said this at the Dedication:

Parody Poem

Mr. Dallin had a sense of humor of the whole ordeal of getting the statue in the proper place. He wrote a parody on Longfellow's famous poem. This is what the sculptor wrote to Mayor Maurice J. Tobin:

“Listen. my children and you shall hear Of the ignoble failure of Boston to rear
The greatest creation of my long career. 
The Equestrian Statue of Paul Revere.
A citizens’ committee of well-known men 
Selected my model from a competition of ten.
On July the fourth, eighteen hundred and eighty-five.
The committee of which no one now is alive
Made a contract with me all legally signed
To erect in Copley Souare my designed
To honor the hero whose cry of alarm
Aroused every Middlesex village and farm
For the country folk to be up and to arm
Alas! no statue now graces Copley Square
’T is enough to make even an angel swear
But being only human I refuse to despair.
And J hope that means will be found somewhere
So after the lapse of many a year
Due honor be paid to Paul Revere.”
--Cyrus E. Dalbn.

Finding the Statue

The statue is located at the Paul Revere Mall in the North End of Boston. It's located just off of Hanover Street.

Appeal to the Great Spirit Statue

In front of Boston's Museum of Fine Arts is a statue of an Indian on a horse. This equestrian statue is called the "Appeal to the Great Spirit."

Description of the Art:

Interesting Facts about the Statue

Created by Cyrus Edward Dallin who also did the equestrian figure of Paul Revere in Boston's North End.

The statue was created in Paris for the 1909 Paris Salon - an art show in Paris France. It won a a gold medal.

It cost $12,000 ($333,442.67 in 2019) to secure the art work for Boston. A special fun was setup to raise the money.

The Boston Park Commission wanted the statue was to be placed at the corner of Boylston and Charlesgate West - otherwise known as Gaston Square.

On January 23, 1912, it was installed outside the main entrance to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.

The pedestal was designed by Charles Howard Walker.

Some call have called it, "One of the best known equestrian statues in the world."

Cyrus Edward Dallin died on November 14, 1944. He is buried at Mount Pleasant Cemetery in Arlington, Massachusetts.

Cyrus Dallin Art Museum

You can learn a lot more about Cyrus Dallin work at the Cyrus Dallin Art Museum in Arlington, Massachusetts. (The museum is currently closed because of COVID-19)

Public tours cost $5 per person requested donation.

Boston 2024

On January 8, 2015, the City of Boston won the right to represent the United States Olympic Committee recommendation hosting city for the 2024 Olympics.

This came a surprise to many as Los Angels seemed to be the favorite city, considering they hosted the summer games before and have the facilities in place.

Not everyone in Boston was happy about being selected as a potential hosting city. About six months later the City requested to be removed from the United States Olympics committee recommendations.

If you look around Boston, you may still see some signs of the push to bring the Olympics to Boston. This sticker was recently spotted on a window on Columbus Ave.

What Happened?

One of the reasons that Boston withdrew from being a hosted city was because of the underestimate of cost to transform the City from an ordinary city to a world-class Olympic hosting city.

Some Key Points

• While the Mayor of Boston gave it a lot of support, the newly elected Massachusetts Governor - Charlie Baker had some doubts about how it would get pulled off.
• The winter of 2015 was brutal on public transportation in the Boston area. The city was hit with record snowfall and caused serious delays for many days. Some experts felt that the MBTA would need to have a serious upgrade in order to host the Olympic Games. A quick fix was not a realistic option.
• An independent audit was requested by the Baker Administration and found that many expenses were underestimated by millions of dollars.
• The public opinion in Boston started to go down once people understood the cost of the project and the magnetite of the change. In six months the public support for the bid went from 51% to only 40%. (wbur poll)

Martin Park

One of the youngest victims in the 2013 Boston's Marathon bombing was 8-year old Martin Richards. In 2019, a special children's playgound opened as a special tribute to him.

Five Things I Learned

Offical name is Martin's Park at Smith Family Waterfront.

The park opening day was on June 15, 2019 - 2,252 days after the 2013 Boston Marathon.

The park cost $13 million to plan and build. Most of the money came from private donations. The city did contribute some funds but it was a "standard" contribution.

The park is about one acre.

There is a stone leftover from the Boston Public Library renovation.

Park Video

Juliana spending an hour at the park on a cold November day. She enjoyed the different playareas and how open it was.

Location

Located at 64 Sleeper Street on the South Boston waterfront, just steps away from the Boston Children's museum.