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September 30, 2011: Boston State House and Freedom Trail |
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Return to the Index for our New England Trip |
It's Saturday morning, the last day of our week-long trip to New England. We've seen six state capitols and done a heck of a lot of other stuff, too. Today, we are going to visit the last two stops on Boston's Freedom Trail, and then Steve has suggested that we go to the Peabody Museum which is near Harvard University. (I think I am going to pass on the museum, though, and take a walk around "Harvard Yard" by myself.)
The USS Constitution (Freedom Trail Stop #15)
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As you can see in the aerial view below, we found a parking lot quite close to the USS Constitution. When we walked out of the parking lot and headed towards the ship, we found that we were again walking along the trail of red bricks that we had been following all day yesterday. I did a little research after we got back, and discovered that the trail, after crossing the bridge that you saw at the tail end of yesterday, followed the route we drove to get to the parking area.
When it got into the Historical Park, it actually split for a time, with one branch leading to the Naval Museum and the other leading to the USS Constitution Visitor Center.
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Before we walked over to the Naval Yard, we stopped to take a couple of pictures of the marina that was right next to the parking area. I also got a picture of Fred at the marina.
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Right at the entrance to the Navy Yard there was an informative sign that I thought you might want to read. If you looked at the picture, you can see just below the sign a portion of the red brick trail that we followed all day yesterday. That's the trail that came across one of the Charles River bridges from Copp's Burying Ground to here. It will take us into the Navy Yard and then to our last stop- the Bunker Hill Monument.
I have reproduced portions of the sign at left, so it is easier for you to read. In the diagram at the bottom, you can see the Freedom Trail, and you can also see the portion going off to the left that will take us to Bunker Hill.
The Charlestown Navy Yard is a unique partnership of the National Park Service, the United States Navy and th enon-profit USS Constitution Museum. While the National Park Service preserves and interprets the navy yard, its naval traditions continue today. Active-duty Navy sailors serve aboard USS Constitution and she is maintained and repaired by skilled craftspeople from the Naval History and Heritage Command Detachment, Boston.
When we got to the Visitor Center, we had to go through the obligatory metal detectors to get inside the Center. There, we found that we could tour the ship two ways. First, we could pay a fee and wait for the next available guided tour group to leave. The cost wasn't a problem, but waiting the better part of an hour for the next tour was. The second thing we could do was to tour the ship ourselves, and we could do that almost immediately. The only problem was that to go below decks, one needs to be on the guided tour. We decided that going on deck would be enough, so we joined the group in the self-guided waiting area and in a few minutes were allowed to go on board.
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The USS Constitution is the oldest commissioned warship afloat in the world. It was first launched in 1797. The Constitution is one of six ships ordered for construction by George Washington to protect America's growing maritime interests. The ship's greatest glory came during the war of 1812 when she defeated four British frigates- earning her the nickname "Old Ironsides," because cannon balls glanced off her thick hull. The ship was restored in 1927 with contributions from the nation's school children.
The Charlestown Navy Yard, where we are at the moment, was built on what was once Mouton's or Morton's Point, the landing place of the British army prior to the Battle of Bunker Hill. It was one of the first shipyards built in the United States. During its 174-year history, hundreds of ships were built, repaired and modernized, including the World War II destroyer USS Cassin Young. Today, thirty acres of the Navy Yard are preserved by the National Park Service as part of Boston National Historical Park.
We are going to go aboard shortly, but before we do, you might want to become more familiar with the history of this legendary frigate. While it is true that "Old Ironsides" defeated four British frigates simultaneously in her most famous battle, she had already had a stellar history during the War of 1812. I wanted to learn more about her myself, and I found an excellent site for the purpose. Rather than send you to that site (knowing that links come and go on the Internet), I decided to make a copy of the relevant historical information and put it here, in my photo album. If you would like to take a few minutes and read about the history and accomplishments of the USS Constitution, just click on the logo below:
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As I said earlier, we had to wait for just a short while before we could go ahead and board the ship for our self-guided tour (this was because they wanted to give one of the guided tour groups time to board the ship and get below decks.
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There were some interesting signs around the waiting area, and we spent some time looking at them before heading off to board the USS Constitution. Here is my picture of Fred on the gangway.
In our self-guided tour, what we did was to walk around the upper deck of the USS Constitution, and, as we did, the three of us took quite a few pictures. As you can imagine, the pictures were either of the lines and rigging towering above us, the lines and rigging stowed on deck, the deck itself, or the armaments (cannon) that are still on deck. With these four subjects, and all three of us snapping away, there were a lot of duplicate pictures. So let's just organize them by subject, and have a look around the USS Constitution.
It's too bad that the sails were not raised, but they would only be raised if the ship were underway (as it is fairly often for special occasions in and around Boston.) The USS Constititution's sails, of course, are what harness the power of the wind to drive the ship forward. The USS Constitution originally carried 36 individual sails with a total square footage of 42,710 or almost one acre. Originally made of linen fiber called flax, today the USS Constitution's sails are made of Oceanus sailcloth. Oceanus is a superior fiber to flax because it is weather resistant and will not retain water.
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You can click on the thumbnails above, left, to see some of the best pictures we took of the rigging above us here on the USS Constitution. When the lines come down to the deck, the rigging gets even more complicated, with various pulleys and winches to wind the line up or let it out. Excess and spare line is stored in Bristol fashion all around the deck. Take a look at some of the intricacies of the deck rigging by clicking on the thumbnails below:
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I made two good movies here on deck, one from the bow and other from the stern. You can have a look at them using the two movie players below:
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Now for some of the other things we saw here on the decks of the USS Constitution.
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The USS Constitution is copper plated from just below the waterline down to the keel. This copper sheathing provides protection against excessive sea growth and shipworms. Originally, the ship's copper was imported from England and forged by coppersmith Paul Revere's foundry. The USS Constitution has 11 tons of copper including 3200 sheets and over 400,000 copper nails.
We'll wrap up our visit to the USS Constitution with some additional pictures that we took while walking around on deck and after we disembarked. Click on the thumbnails below for some of the pictures Fred took:
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And click on the thumbnails below for the last of the pictures that the three of us took here at the USS Constitution:
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Now it is off to the last stop on the Freedom Trail- the Monument at Bunker Hill.
The Bunker Hill Monument (Freedom Trail Stop #16)
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I thought the park interesting enough to let the guys get a bit ahead of me while I stopped to make a movie panning 360-degrees around the park. You can watch that movie with the player at right.
I rejoined the other guys and we continued up the hill following our trail. We walked up some pretty narrow streets and passed quite a few very handsome houses. There were also quite a few little shops sprinkled through the neighborhood. Fairly soon, though, we could see the Bunker Hill Monument in the distance.
When we came around the final corner on our trek up the hill, the Bunker Hill Monument was right in front of us.
We came onto the Monument grounds through the Massachusetts Gate, which in the aerial view above is on the south side of the square.
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Control of this high ground near the harbor was important to the British occupation of Boston. When colonial forces chose to fortify Charlestown, they bypassed the more dominant Bunker Hill and dug in on Breed's Hill which was lower and closer to the water.
The Battle of Bunker Hill pitted a newly-formed and inexperienced colonial army against the more highly trained and better-equipped British. Despite the colonial army's shortcomings, it was led by such capable men as Colonel William Prescott, Colonel John Stark and General Israel Putnam, who had experience fighting alongside the British in the French and Indian War.
Although the British Army ultimately prevailed in the battle, the colonists greatly surprised the British by repelling two major assaults and inflicting great casualties. Out of the 2,200 British ground forces and artillery engaged at the battle, almost half (1,034) were counted afterwards as casualties (both killed and wounded).
The colonists lost between 400 and 600 combined casualties, including popular patriot leader and newly-elected Major General Dr. Joseph Warren, who was killed during the third and final assault.
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One of the statues here on the Monument grounds is that of Colonel Prescott. Near the Massachusetts Gate there is a bronze plaque dedicated to the American soldiers who were killed during the battle on June 17, 1775, and you can look at that plaque here. Before we went into the exhibit lodge (visitor center), I walked down the hill and outside the eastern side of the Monument Grounds until I could get the entire Monument in a picture, and you can see that picture here.
The four of us went inside the exhibit lodge, which was also the entry to the Monument itself. In the center, we were able to take a look at the statue of Dr. Joseph Warren, the fallen patriot and Mason.
Then we went through the door leading over to the Monument. Just outside the door to the Monument itself, we found the warning sign that you can see here. As we could see, persons with heart or respiratory conditions were advised not to climb. Well, it had been just eight weeks since Fred's triple-bypass surgery, and his doctors had indicated that two full months would be the minimum time that a patient like Fred should refrain from strenuous lifting or climbing. I know he wanted to climb the tower, but I congratulate him on making the prudent decision to remain on the ground. Mario and I went ahead into the Monument and started up. We did not know it until we got to the top, but Steve had also decided at the last minute to climb up also, so he was a little behind us all the way up.
As we were climbing, I made a movie of the narrow, spiral stone steps I was ascending. I had to be careful not to run into anyone coming down. I hoped that the movie would turn out well, but it was way too dark, and so I have no movie to include here. 294 steps later, Mario and I came out into the very small (15-foot diameter) viewing room.
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Well, we spent enough time at the top of the Monument to see all there was to see, and then headed down. We hooked up with Fred at the bottom, and hung around the Monument a while, savoring our final stop on the Freedom Trail. We took a few more pictures around the site, three of which I'd like to include here:
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That completed our walk along Boston's Freedom Trail, accomplished over two days. We followed the red brick trail back to the car, and set off for our next stop- the Peabody Museum just off the Harvard University campus in Cambridge.
A Walk Around Harvard University
Arrival at Harvard
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We parked on Kirkland Street, right across from a Harvard building called Memorial Hall. (More about Memorial Hall in a moment.)
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Now, museums are not particularly my "thing." It's not that they're not interesting- far from it. But if I am going to walk through a museum, I want to do two things. First, I want to have enough time to really get "into" the exhibits, and that means reading a lot of the descriptive material and spending a fair amount of time. That we did not have; we had only a couple of hours to devote to the museum, counting the time it would take for lunch. Secondly, I want to be able to sit and relax every so often; while I can hike up and down mountains all day, or walk rapidly for hours at a stretch with no problem, for some reason walking slowly, as one does in a museum, is very unpleasant for me. It tires me out easily. (One of these days, I should get one of those little folding stools to take with me on museum outings. I guess I am just getting old.)
In any event, I told the guys that I'd go with them to lunch and then while they were in the museum, I would walk around the Harvard campus- particularly Harvard Yard that I had always heard so much about. I thought that this way, everyone would get to do what he wanted on our last day here in New England.
That was, of course, fine with everyone, and so the guys got their tickets and we headed out to lunch. I had been to Harvard once before with Tony, but we didn't walk through the campus. We did visit Harvard Square, with is the shopping area right next to the campus, and I knew there were restaurants and such there. So as you can see in the aerial view, we headed off across the corner of Harvard Yard to find some lunch.
Memorial Hall
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Memorial Hall is an imposing brick building in High Victorian Gothic style; it is a National Historic Landmark which, in the architecture community is considered "a symbol of Boston's commitment to the Unionist cause and the abolitionist movement in America."(Harvard University: An Architectural Tour, Shand-Tucci & Cheek, 2001). It was erected in honor of Harvard graduates who fought for the Union in the American Civil War. From 1865 to 1868, a fund-raising committee gathered $370,000, then equal to one-twelfth of Harvard's total endowment, which was augmented by an additional $40,000 bequest from Charles Sanders, class of 1802, for "a hall or theatre to be used on Commencement days, Class days, Exhibition days, days of the meetings of the society of Alumni, or any other public occasion connected with the College, whether literary or festive."
An architectural competition began in December 1865, with the winning designs submitted by William Robert Ware, class of 1852, and Henry Van Brunt, class of 1854. (These initial designs were altered as plans proceeded.) In 1870 the building was named Memorial Hall and its cornerstone laid; Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., composed a hymn for the occasion. The hall was dedicated for use in 1874, with Sanders Theatre substantially complete in 1875, and the tower completed in 1877. The tower was subsequently destroyed in a 1956 fire but rebuilt in 1999.
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Sanders Theatre is a 1,100-seat lecture and concert hall inspired by Christopher Wren's Sheldonian Theatre at Oxford, England. The hall's great room (9,000 square feet), now known as Annenberg Hall, is shaped by massive wooden trusses, walnut paneling, and a blue, stenciled ceiling. It was converted to a student commons soon after construction, and served as the college's main dining hall until 1926. From 1926 until 1994, it was only lightly used but after extensive renovation reopened in 1996 as the dining hall for all freshmen.
The Memorial Transept consists of a 60-foot-high gothic vault above a marble floor, black walnut paneling and stenciled walls, two stained glass windows, and 28 white marble tablets commemorating 136 Civil War casualties. Twenty-two stained glass windows throughout the building, installed between 1879 and 1902, include works by John La Farge and Louis Comfort Tiffany. You can see some excellent examples of the stained glass windows found throughout the building in this picture of the hallway outside the Sanders Theatre.
In the first phase of restoration, Annenberg Hall's stained glass was restored. Cummings Studios, led by conservation consultant Julie L. Sloan [4] restored stained glass windows by Sarah Wyman Whitman, and several Tiffany glass windows, all portraying secular themes.[5] Until 1926, Annenberg Hall had been a central dining hall, but until 1994, the hall was cleared of its tables and served as a venue for dances, banquets, registrations, blood drives, exams and rehearsals. With funding from the Annenberg Foundation, the hall was restored to its original use as a dining facility; the multi-million dollar project featured new flooring, custom designed furniture and lighting fixtures inspired by the original designs, and restored art work- including a restoration of the stained-glass windows.
The general restoration of Memorial Hall was completed in 1996 and, finally, in 1999, the slate spire tower of Memorial Hall, truncated by fire on September 6, 1956, was restored and the building was complete.
It would have been interesting, in hindsight, to have gone inside the hall to see some of these architectural and artistic features, but that was not possible today, the building being closed to the public for a function that a sign outside said was under the auspices of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. (Beginning about the time we crossed the campus for lunch, a long string of cars and shuttles seemed to be bringing businessmen and women to the function, and campus security was limiting entrance to the building. So we had to content ourselves with pictures of its exterior.
Below are thumbnails for some of the other pictures we took of Memorial Hall/Sanders Theatre. Just click on them to have a look at the pictures:
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Lunch
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We walked down the street right by the church, and happened upon the Border Cafe, and stopped in there for lunch. It was, of course, a Mexican restaurant, and it turned out to be quite good. It's picture is at left.
When we were done with lunch, Steve, Mario and Fred went back to the Peabody, and I hung around Harvard Square for a bit before heading back on campus for a walk around Harvard Yard.
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One of the legendary businesses on the square is Harvard Coop, which, for many years, was actually a cooperative store run by students for students. Quite some years ago, it outgrew that narrow clientele, and changed its name simply to "COOP." Out in the center of the square is a large newsstand, and if you continue across Mass Ave you are just outside the campus and behind Lehman‑Dudley House. Dudley House is the center at Harvard University for students in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and a community of undergraduates, offering intellectual, social, and recreational opportunities to Dudley House members. Activities are planned by and for GSAS students, and they include dinners with faculty members, a classic film series, outings to museums and restaurants, student-run musical ensembles, and athletic and public service opportunities.
There was a gate just around the corner from Lehman-Dudley House, and that's where I came back onto Harvard Yard.
Harvard Yard is a grassy area of about 25 acres that constitutes the oldest part and the center of the campus of Harvard University. Geographically the yard area is bordered by Massachusetts Avenue and Peabody Street, Cambridge Street and Quincy Street. It contains thirteen of Harvard College's seventeen freshman dormitories, as well as four libraries, five buildings of classrooms and academic departments, and the central administrative offices of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and of the University, located in University Hall and Massachusetts Hall, respectively.Not being a student here, I really didn't know much about the various buildings I was looking at as I wandered around the campus. Some of them didn't have names that I could see, but I have downloaded a small diagram of Harvard Yard, and I can deduce my route and identify the pictures using that diagram.
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When I came in through the gate, I could see one of the many residence halls here on campus; this one was Matthews Hall. Then I came around in front of Dudley-Lehman Hall. Next to Lehman Hall is Wadsworth House, a canary-yellow building that houses the headquarters of the Harvard Alumni Association and the university library system.
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From the front of Dudley-Lehman, I walked around in front of Grays Hall. It opened in 1863 and became Harvard College's first building with water taps in the basement. Residents of other buildings in Harvard Yard had to haul water from pumps in the Yard. Known as "The Harvard Hilton," Grays Hall is currently used as a dormitory housing freshmen and is considered the most luxurious dorm in the Yard. It boasts spacious common rooms, exposed brick walls and an illustrious history. This dorm has a room that houses high-security freshmen. Past residents include author Norman Mailer, actress Natalie Portman and columnist Frank Rich.
From Gray's Hall, I came around in front of Boylston Hall, which houses Harvard's Language Department. Then I walked down the west side of Weld Hall, another dormitory. Built in 1870, past residents included John F. Kennedy, Michael Kinsley, Michael Crichton, Daniel Ellsberg and Ben Bernanke. Ahead of me I could see the west side of University Hall- a white granite building designed by noted early American architect Charles Bulfinch and built between 1813-15. I have searched around, and cannot find what, exactly, is housed in this hall- although it is not on the list of dormitories.
On the west side of University hall is a statue of John Harvard, with the inscription "Founder" on it. Tourists love to have pictures of themselves taken with the statue, whose foot they then rub for good luck. Cognoscenti, however, call it "the statue of three lies." Despite what the plaque on the statue says, Harvard didn't actually found Harvard (the colonial government started the school, then named it after him when he bequeathed his library to it) and the school was started in 1636, not 1638. Even worse, that's not actually John Harvard! Harvard died portraitless, so Daniel Chester French (his other noted sculpture is the Lincoln Memorial) used a friend as a model in 1884. However, French did give the statue skinny legs - because that was one symptom of tuberculosis, which Harvard had.
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I walked around the east side of the Widener Library, and from there I could see the rear of Loeb House and the front of the Houghton Library. This library is the primary repository for Harvard's rare books and manuscripts. Collections focus on the study of Western Civilization, particularly European and American history and literature. The collections are especially strong in manuscripts, printing and graphic arts, and theatre history.
From here, I crossed the lawn towards Quincy Street, and turned north to go in front of Loeb House. Constructed in 1912, it was built and donated to the University by Harvard President, A. Lawrence Lowell. He and subsequent Harvard Presidents lived in the house.
During the Second World War, the University relinquished the house to the Navy for its V-12 school training program. During that time, the house was operated much the same as a ship, with a 24-hour watch. Sailors were required to scrub the "deck" (the oak floors) and polish the "brightwork" (the gold mirrors).
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I continued down Quincy Street to enter the Sever Quadrangle. Bordered on the east by Quincy Street, the other three sides of the quad are bordered by Emerson Hall (south), Sever Hall (west) and Robinson Hall (north). The Harvard University Department of Philosophy resides in Emerson Hall, named for Ralph Waldo Emerson, the Transcendentalist writer, philosopher, and Harvard alumnus (A.B. 1821, LL.D. 1866). Designed by Guy Lowell, and completed in 1900, the building bears over the main entrance the inscription: "What is man that thou art mindful of him?" (Psalm 8:4). Emerson Hall is where most faculty and graduate students have their offices. It is where many of the Department's courses are taught, and where most of its colloquia are held.
Sever Hall was built from 1878 to 1880 with a gift from Anne Sever in honor of her deceased husband, James Warren Sever. It was designed as an academic building with classrooms, lecture halls, rooms for professors, etc., in a style now known as Richardsonian Romanesque- though in red brick rather than stone. It is three stories tall, with a fourth story set within the roof. The main facade (on the west side) features two round bays set symmetrically about an entrance within a deeply recessed semi-circular archway. The east facade is similar but with a simpler, rectangular entrance. The North and south facades are relatively austere expanses punctuated with windows.
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Sever Hall has small classrooms and larger lecture halls, so it is mostly used as a general-purpose classroom building for humanities courses, especially small sections, beginning language courses, and Harvard Extension School classes. The fourth floor of Sever, unnoticed by many of its students as the central stairwell does not lead to it, contains offices for Harvard's Visual and Environmental Studies department. One of Sever's notable annual events is Vericon, run during the break between semesters by the Harvard-Radcliffe Science-Fiction Association.
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I walked through the opening between Robinson Hall and Sever Hall, and then walked along the north side of Memorial Church, between it and Canaday Hall. Canaday Hall, completed in 1974, is the newest dormitory in Harvard Yard, historical home of Harvard College freshmen for their first year in residence upon their initial arrival in Cambridge.
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Canaday's architecture can be traced back to its period of construction, which immediately followed the student takeover of University Hall in 1969. Fearing further student unrest, College administrators fireproofed Canaday and reconfigured it around stairwells to foil student organizing. As such, Canaday Hall grew to resemble most of the other dormitories in Harvard's Old Yard, which are also organized around stairwell entryways accessible to no more than six or eight suites, each connected to the rest of the dormitory building only by an exterior walkway.
On the other hand, residents of Canaday Hall enjoy the shortest average distance to some of the most important buildings on the Harvard campus, including the Science Center, Memorial Hall, Emerson Hall, Sever Hall, and Robinson Hall. I suppose they can walk, but they can also avail themselves of the second most common form of transportation for Harvard students. I continued walking west and came around to the west side and main entrance to Memorial Church.
"In grateful memory of the Harvard men who died in the World War we have built this Church." This is the inscription over the Memorial Room inside the church, which was itself dedicated on Armistice Day 1932 in memory of those who died in World War I, a gift of the alumni to the University. Memorials have been added to remember those who have died in the wars since.
This Church has long been regarded as the symbolic center of Harvard's spiritual life, and stands opposite Widener Library as a visible reminder of the historical and spiritual heritage that has sustained Harvard for nearly four centuries. The first separate building for worship at Harvard University was Holden Chapel, built in 1744. The college soon outgrew the building, which was replaced by a chapel inside Harvard Hall in 1766, then a chapel in University Hall in 1814, and finally by Appleton Chapel, a building dedicated solely to worship sited where The Memorial Church now stands.
When Appleton Chapel was built, morning prayer attendance was compulsory. When it became voluntary in 1886, the College was left with a building that had become too large for morning services and too small for the Sunday services. Then the idea arose to build a new chapel and war memorial together. The architects planned a structure that would complement the imposing edifice of Widener Library, across the broad open area known as the Tercentenary Theatre, where Commencement Exercises are held. Today, the Church is available for the baptisms, weddings, commitment ceremonies, funerals, and memorial services of members of the University and welcomes all visitors.
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I walked back to the car to wait for the guys. I have since learned that I was parked right in front of Sparks House. Jared Sparks became Harvard President in 1849. Formerly a popular Professor of Modern History, and even after transferring many onerous tasks to a regent, Sparks did not enjoy his presidential duties. They never left him time enough for historical research. In 1853, unstable health prompted Sparks to resign. But the Sparks years, however brief, had their share of surprises. Sparks’s easygoing ways inspired more students from the South to come to Harvard. At one point, Southerners made up almost a third of the student body.
Shortly after taking office, Sparks received a letter from Sarah Pellet, a young woman who wondered whether she might be admitted to the College. On April 25, 1849, Sparks responded, indicating the practical difficulties of having a solitary woman among so many men. But his final remarks held out brighter hopes: “It may be a misfortune, that an enlightened public opinion has not led to the establishment of Colleges of the higher order for the education of females, and the time may come when their claims will be more justly valued, and when a wider intelligence and a more liberal spirit will provide for this deficiency.” These comments foretold the establishment of Radcliffe and Sarah Lawrence.
Sparks’ name is now most often invoked because of the Harvard structure in front of which I am parked. Instead of moving to Wadsworth House in the Yard, he lived in his own dwelling at 48 Quincy St. The building was moved to 21 Kirkland St. in 1968. Today, Jared Sparks House serves as the residence of the Pusey Minister in the Memorial Church.
I hope you enjoyed walking around Harvard Yard with me. Now let's see what the other guys have been doing in the Peabody Museum.
A Visit to the Peabody Museum
The Glass Flowers
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The only way to become a glass modeler of skill, I have often said to people, is to get a good great-grandfather who loved glass..." Leopold Blaschka, 26 June 1889 |
Descended from a long line of Bohemian glass artists, Leopold Blaschka and his son Rudolph were gifted with such extraordinary skill and passion for their work that one might argue these attributes were, indeed, "in their blood." Their life-like glass models of marine invertebrates drew international renown and captured the attention of George Lincoln Goodale, the first Director of Harvard's Botanical Museum.
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Together, Leopold and Rudolph Blaschka made an enormously productive team. They had completed over 76% of the entire Ware Collection of Glass Models of Plants at the time of Leopold's death in 1895. In the nearly four decades to follow, Rudolph produced the remaining models while developing his own colored glasses.
A good example of the Blaschka's artistry is at left. I have taken some of the other pictures we all took of the glass flowers into the slideshow below. To view the slideshow, just click on the image below and I will open the slideshow in a new window. In the slideshow, you can use the little arrows in the lower corners of each image to move from one to the next, and the index numbers in the upper left of each image will tell you where you are in the series. When you are finished looking at the pictures, just close the popup window.
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Stuffed
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To view the slideshow, just click on the image at left and I will open the slideshow in a new window. In the slideshow, you can use the little arrows in the lower corners of each image to move from one to the next, and the index numbers in the upper left of each image will tell you where you are in the series. When you are finished looking at the pictures, just close the popup window.
Being a museum of Natural History, you'd expect a lot of the taxidermist's art, and you would not have been disappointed. Click on the thumbnails below to view the pictures:
Skeletons of Their Former Selves
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To view the slideshow, just click on the image at left and I will open the slideshow in a new window. In the slideshow, you can use the little arrows in the lower corners of each image to move from one to the next, and the index numbers in the upper left of each image will tell you where you are in the series. When you are finished looking at the pictures, just close the popup window.
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He also made some still pictures of the whale skeleton, and you can click on the thumbnails below to have a look at them:
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Rocks and Minerals
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To view the slideshow, just click on the image at left and I will open the slideshow in a new window. In the slideshow, you can use the little arrows in the lower corners of each image to move from one to the next, and the index numbers in the upper left of each image will tell you where you are in the series. When you are finished looking at the pictures, just close the popup window.
The Moche: Dazzling Displays, Painted to Impress
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We took a lot of good pictures in this exhibit, and I have put the best of them in a slideshow.
To view the slideshow, just click on the image at left and I will open the slideshow in a new window. In the slideshow, you can use the little arrows in the lower corners of each image to move from one to the next, and the index numbers in the upper left of each image will tell you where you are in the series. When you are finished looking at the pictures, just close the popup window.
With those pictures, Fred, Steve and Mario were done at the Peabody, and they rejoined me at the car where I had been waiting for them after my walk through Harvard Yard.
Our Trip Home
We didn't have to run from gate to gate like we did in Atlanta on the way up, so we took advantage of the time we had to have dinner at the Chili's restaurant right there in our Atlanta terminal. Then we boarded our flight back to Dallas. There, we got the shuttle back to the Days Inn, picked up Fred's car, and were on our way home.
It was a really good trip, and we did quite a lot. Steve got six more capitols added to his list, and we all had fun at the other locations we visited- the Newport Homes, Provincetown, our walk through Albany, Mount Washington, the Flume and the Freedom Walk in Boston. Quite a lot in seven days.
You can use the links below to either go back to the previous day of our New England trip or return to the main index for the trip to continue on through the photo album.
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September 30, 2011: Boston State House and Freedom Trail |
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Return to the Index for our New England Trip |
