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Things to See in Massachusetts


Out-of-state people planning to stay a day or two longer might be interested in what Massachusetts has to offer. Leaving aside things available in many other places (beaches, mountains, golf courses), Richard suggests the following as unique to Massachusetts. Corrections and additions to this list are welcome. Richard will also attempt to answer questions if you email him at RJTrudeau@verizon.net.

Sturbridge

Old Sturbridge Village

On Route 20 two towns west of Oxford. A "living museum" depicting a New England village in 1830. The buildings are genuine antiques, moved here from various locations.
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Hopedale

Site of the non-violent Christian community founded by Universalist minister Adin Ballou. Not much remains, but what there is to see is included in a first-rate walking tour that can be found at www.adinballou.org.
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Gloucester

  • Independent Christian Church, Unitarian Universalist (1804): The second building of John Murray's congregation.
  • Sargent House: Home of John & Judith Sargent Murray.
  • Halibut Point State Park in nearby Rockport has a spectacular rocky coastline.
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Salem

  • Witch Museum: For-profit, private museum does a good job at telling the story of the 1692 witch hysteria.
  • House of Seven Gables (1668): Inspiration for Hawthorne's novel. The tour guide will not only teach you to count the seven gables, but also take you up the secret stairway. The pricey admission supports neighborhood youth programs.
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Cambridge

Mount Auburn Cemetery

America's first garden cemetery (1831). Beautiful, with a neat tower to climb. Park on the grounds. At the office you can purchase a map showing the locations of the graves of scores of famous people, including the following well-known UUs:

John Murray, Hosea Ballou, William Ellery Channing, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Fanny Farmer, Dorothea Dix, Margaret Fuller (memorial only), Buckminster Fuller, and Charles Bulfinch (architect of the Mass. State House and the U.S. Capitol).
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Concord

  • North Bridge: Site of the first battle of the Revolution (after the skirmish on Lexington green), memorialized by Longfellow as "the shot heard 'round the world." The whole area is well-maintained by the National Park Service.
  • Old Manse: Erstwhile home of Emerson and Hawthorne. Adjacent to North Bridge.
  • Sleepy Hollow Cemetery: Graves of Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne, and the Alcotts
  • Ralph Waldo Emerson House
  • Alcott House: Home of Louisa May Alcott and her father, educational reformer Bronson Alcott.
  • Walden Pond State Park: Add your stone to the cairn at the site of Thoreau's cabin.
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Plymouth

  • Mayflower II: The 1957 replica that was sailed from England.
  • Plymouth Rock
  • Plimoth Plantation: A "living museum" depicting Plymouth in 1627 and a Wampanoag village. First-rate.
  • First Parish, Unitarian Universalist (1892): The church of the Pilgrims, now in its fifth building.
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Boston

  • Freedom Trail: A walking tour of historic sites, marked by a red stripe on the sidewalk. Starts at the Visitors' Center on the Tremont Street side of Boston Common.
  • Bunker Hill Monument (Charlestown)
  • U.S.S. Constitution ("Old Ironsides"): The Navy's oldest warship (1797). Surprisingly big. (Charlestown)
  • Walking Tour of Beacon Hill: See below.
 

Walking Tour of Beacon Hill


(Uv = Universalist heritage; Un = Unitarian heritage;
B = Black heritage; A = of Architectural interest)

From the Boston Common Garage, at Beacon & Charles Streets, go right (crossing Beacon) down Charles Street to the corner of Mount Vernon Street.

1. Charles Street Meeting House, 70 Charles Street at Mount Vernon (B, Uv)

  • Built as a Baptist Church in 1804 (Asher Benjamin, architect).
  • A white member, Timothy Gilbert, was ejected in the 1830s for inviting Black friends down from the balcony into his pew. Gilbert & allies formed what is now Tremont Temple (76 Tremont Street), "the first integrated church in America."
  • An African Methodist Episcopal church, 1876-1939.
  • Briefly an Albanian Orthodox church.
  • Universalist from 1949 until consolidation with the Unitarians in 1961. Minister: Ken Patton, 1949-68. Experimental in worship. Closed in 1979. Now offices and shops.

Go right, up Mount Vernon Street.

2. Louisburg Square, between Mount Vernon and Pinckney Streets (A, Un)

  • "The hub of the Hub." Unitarian author Louisa May Alcott (Little Women) lived here, after her success, with her father Bronson Alcott, an experimental educator. U.S. Senator John & Teresa Heinz Kerry live here today. Only residents have keys to the park.

Continue up Mount Vernon Street.

3. Home of William Ellery Channing, 83 Mount Vernon Street (Un)

  • The Unitarian leader lived the last years of his life here. The home of his counterpart, Universalist leader Hosea Ballou, was only a short walk away on Myrtle Street, on the less prosperous side of the hill; but it was demolished long ago.
  • Ballou and Channing not only lived a short walk apart, but their churches were a short walk apart (Ballou's on School Street near the corner of Washington, Channing's on Federal Street near the corner of Franklin), and they are buried a short walk apart (Mt. Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge). Yet the two men never met! Ballou proposed a meeting to Channing, but Channing declined.

Continue up Mount Vernon Street.

4. Home of Julia Ward Howe & Samuel Gridley Howe, 32 Mount Vernon Street (Un)

  • Julia composed "Battle-Hymn of the Republic" and the "Mothers' Day Proclamation."
  • Samuel founded the Perkins School for the Blind (now in Watertown).

Continue up Mount Vernon Street to Joy Street. (The offices of Beacon Press are on the far left corner.) Go left on Joy, then left on Pinckney Street.

5. Home of George Middleton and Louis Glapion, 5 Pinckney Street (B)

  • The oldest surviving house on Beacon Hill. Built in 1797 by two African-Americans, bachelor friends George Middleton, a liveryman, and Louis Glapion, a hairdresser.

Continue down Pinckney Street.

6. House with No Two Windows Alike, 24 Pinckney Street (A, Un)

  • A former carriage house renovated in 1884 by William Ralph Emerson, nephew of Unitarian "saint" Ralph Waldo Emerson. Note the "eyebrow" window in the roof.

Go back to Joy Street. Go left on Joy, left on Myrtle Street. (Hosea Ballou's house stood on Myrtle.) Take the third right onto Garden Street, then the first left onto Revere Street. On the right, four doors down, is the entrance to Rollins Place.

7. The House that Doesn't Exist (A)

  • The "house" at the far end of Rollins Place is only a facade disguising a fence.

Go back to Garden Street, back (right) up the hill to Myrtle, left on Myrtle, then take the second left onto South Russell Street. Go down a few steps to an (unmarked) alley on the right, just before #58--Holmes Alley.

8. Boston's Narrowest Street, Holmes Alley (A)

  • Walk down Holmes Alley, through all the twists and turns. Please be quiet so as not to disturb people in their homes and yards.

Holmes Alley takes you to Smith Court. (Note: Instead of following Holmes Alley, Smith Court can also be reached by returning to Joy Street and going left down the hill; Smith Court will be on the left.)

9. African Meeting House, 8 Smith Court (B)

  • The oldest surviving Black church building in the U.S., built in 1806. Now home of the Museum of African American History.

At the end of Smith Court, turn right onto Joy Street and go all the way up over the hill to its end at Beacon Street. Turn left.

10. The present 25 Beacon Street (Un, Uv)

  • Headquarters of the Unitarian Universalist Association.
  • Built in 1927 as the new headquarters of the American Unitarian Association.

Continue down Beacon Street to the other side of the Massachusetts State House.

11. The former 25 Beacon Street (Un)

  • At the corner of Beacon and Bowdoin Streets, on the site of what is now 23 Beacon, stood the former headquarters of the American Unitarian Association. At the time the address was 25 Beacon Street, but when the new headquarters was built the AUA got permission from the legislature to carry its number up the street to the present location.

Look across Beacon Street.

12. 16 Beacon Street (Uv)

  • Built as a house in 1808, this building now houses the Boston Bar Association.
  • This was the last headquarters of the Universalist Church of America. When the Unitarians were headquartered behind you, they owned this building as well; when they moved into their new "25" on the other side of the State House, they lent this building to the Universalists.

Go down Beacon Street away from the State House to its end at Tremont Street.

13. King's Chapel, 58 Tremont Street (Un)

  • Open to tourists.

To return to the Boston Common Garage, the most direct route is back up Beacon Street. Another route is to cross Tremont from King's Chapel and follow the red stripe on the ground (the "Freedom Trail") down Tremont and across Boston Common to the State House, then to go left down Beacon Street to the corner of Charles. (Going down Tremont will take you past Tremont Temple on the left [see site 1] and the Orpheum Theater [on the left, at the end of Hamilton Place], where Theodore Parker preached.)
     
     

This page was last updated on 03/15/2008.
For questions about this Web Site, contact Susan O'Connor at info@nmuc.org.