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BOSTON SIGHTS
HAND E O E
VISITOES
R. L. MIDGLEY.
//
ILLUSTRATED BY
BILLINGS, HILL, BARRY, AND JOHN ANDREW.
BOSTON:
f
A. WILLIAMS AND COMPANY.
18 6 0.
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1856, by
JOHN ANDREW,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts.
jmmni UNIVEBSITY
BlECTROTVPEt) Al THE
JTON STEE.EOTYPE FOUNDEY-
F
MAR 4 -75
M M
PREFACE
The want of a Guide such as the one here
presented to the Travelling Public, has been so
long felt and so generally acknowledged, that
an apology for the present work would be an
impeachment of the judgment of the intelligent
Tourist.
This work, although more particularly designed
for the vise of travellers, will be found of great
service to the public generally, for few of thg
inhabitants know where - to see the sights in
the city, nor how to see them.
The materials for this publication have been
collected with great care, and here "the writer
wishes it distinctly understood, that he has not
hesitated to gather his materials wherever he
could find them, availing himself in the freest
2 ^ PREFACE.
manner, not only of the researches of others,
but even of their very language, whenever it
happened to suit his purpose."
He also takes occasion to express his acknowl-edgments
to Mr. H. W. Fuller, of Boston,
Mr. W. A. Crafts, of Roxbury, and Mr. Wm.
F. Poole, the Librarian of the Boston Athenaeum,
for copious materials furnished by them.
This little volume is not intended as a
history, nor as an index to the many public
institutions, for which this city is so famous,
but as a guide to those sights that are par-ticularly
deserving the attention of citizens and
strangers.
We have adhered as rigidly as possible to
a direct route, describing each object in order
as it is reached, and classing them according
to subjects in the index.
Boston, August 22, 1856.
INDEX TO SUBJECTS.
Addenda, Page 215
Ancient and Modem Boston, 6
Birthplace of Franklin, 28
Boston Harbor, 190
Boston Stone, 6
Frog Pond, 79
CHURCHES.
Brattle St. Church, 110
Old South Church, 21
Park Street Church, . . . . . . . . 53
Stone Chapel, 31
CEMETERIES.
Copp'sHiU, 117
Chapel Birrying Ground, 31
Granary " 53
Forest Hill " . 202
Mount Auburn " 144
Woodlawn « 167
Daily* Papers, 20
Harvard University, 133
Lowell Institute, " 108
^lassachusetts Historical Society, .39
Society of Natural History, 100
Mercantile, 105
Club House 44,
Common, 68
Courts, 30
Court House, 29
United States Courts, Ill
INDEX TO SUBJECTS.
Eastern,
ritchburg,
Lowell, .
DEPOTS.
Maine, . • • " .
Old Colony and Fall River,
Providence,...
Worcester,
114
116
113
119
89
81
86
FOETIFICATIONS.
Cambridge 131
Dorchester, 176
Port Independence 195
Port WaiTcn, 191
Port Winthrop, 197
Harbor, Boston 190
Chapman Hall, .
Cochituate "
Horticultural Hall,
Mercantile "
Paneuil "
HALLS.
31
46
31
107
10
ISLANDS, (in Boston Harbor.)
Castle Island,
Deer "
George's "
Long "
Lower Light
!
Nix's Mate
Rainsford
Spectacle
Thompson's
Governor's
193
191
191 .*.'.*.' .191
sland, *.'.*.'.*.......y^191
„ ... «'''* ... 191 197
197
LIBRARIES.
Prince Library, • ^ ^^
Mercantile Library, . . . . . . . .106
INDEX TO SUBJECTS. 8
Public Library 83
Athenseum " 43
Harvard «« 133
Society of Natural History, 103
Massachusetts Historical Society, . . . . ' . .40
AtJienaeum, . . . 41
Masonic Temple, .56
Time Lodges meet, .58
MONUMENTS.
National Monument to the Forefathers, , • . . .92
Bunker HiU « 154
Warren " 155
Nahant, . 181
Nahant Beach, 183
Egg Rock, 184
L:on Mine, 184
Spouting Horn, • . 184
Saunders's Ledge, . . .183
Castle Rock, 184
Caldron Cliff, .......... 185
Roaring Cavern, 185
Natural Bridge 185
Pulpit Rock, 185
Swallows' Cave, 186
Irene's Grotto, 187
Nahant House, J87
Old House, . . • a
Post Office, 18
Public Garden, 81
PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS.
Public Library, . . , . . \. . . . 83
Massachusetts General Hospital, 121
McLean Asylum, . . 128
Medical College, 124
City Jail, 125
Eye and Ear Infirmary, 127
Perkins Institute for the Blind, 176
Quarantine, . . . 191
Almshouse, . ' 193
Farm School, 191
States Prison, 161
INDEX TO SUBJECTS.
PLACES OF AMUSEMENT.
Music HaU .54
Boston Theatre, 95
Melodeon, . . .101
Ordway'sHall, 109
Howard Athenaeum, Ill
National Theatre^ ^ 112
Museum, . .
' 35
Tremont Temple, 47
PUBLIC BUILDINGS.
U. S. Custom House, 14
Faneuil Hall Market, . . . . . . . 11
FaneuilHall 9
Exchange .16
Old State House, .19
State House, 50
Post Office 18
Court House, . . 29
City Hall, . ... . . .... . . .28
PubHc Library, 83
U. S. Courts, . .111
SQUARES.
Bowdoin Square, . Ill
Dock « ....'.... 3
Haymarket « 119
Franklin " ' 200
Blackstone « 199
SUBURBAN SIGHTS.
Cambridge, . * 131
Concord, 134
Lexington, 175
Dorchester Heights, 176
Nahant, 181
Bishop's Palace, . . 138
Washington's Residence, . . . . . . . 14
1
Riedesel House, . . . 141
INDEX TO SUBJECTS. 5
RAILROADS.
Providence, 81
"Worcester, •••....,.. 87
Old Colony and Fall River, . . . " . . . 89
Cambridge, (Horse,) HI
Lowell, . . . . , 113
Eastern, ' 115
Fitchburg,.......... 117
Maine, . .120
TREES.
Great Elm, 71
Washington Elm, 142
BOSTON SIGHTS
GHAPTEE I.
DOCK-SQUARE. OLD HOUSE. — BOSTON STONE.
You are a stranger in
Boston, and desirous of
visiting the principal
objects of interest in the
« City of Notions."
This little book is in-tended
to be a Guide,
not a History ; therefore
we shall not enter into any details respecting the rise
and progress of Boston. If you know nothing of that,
Z BOSTON SIGHTS.
but are desirous of such information, procure Drake's
History, published by Stevens, Washington-street, and in
it you will find all you require.
We will, then, suppose you have arrived in Boston, and
that, having located yourself at one of its many spacious
hotels, you have commenced your tour of the city. It is
always well to have some defined point to start from, and
therefore we will select Dock-square as the scene of our
first exploration.
Dock-square.—It is not a square now, in the pleasant
acceptation of the word, though probably " once upon a
time " it was. Very long ago grass might have grown
there, and trees flourished, and birds sung, and no dock
ever have been dreamed of. Only a prowling Indian,
in search of a squaw or a scalp, might have been seen in
the vicinity, and all excitement have been confined to a
palaver around the council-fire. But a truce to the past
;
it is Dock-square, and nothing else, now.
And, in lieu of groves or glades, we have a busy, open
space, with labyrinthine thoroughfares leading into and out
of it. Bustling, anxious-faced men are to be seen there
at all hours of the day, rushing hither and thither, intent
on doUafs and dimes. House and hotel keepers pay
flying visits to the market close by ; visitors from all parts
of the States look curiously at the " Cradle of Liberty ;
"
omnibuses rush along, distracting perilled pedestrians;
DOCK^SQUAKE, 3
market-carte, laden with country produce, stand sur-rounded
by dealers, and everything is full of life and
animation. Looking calmly down upon and over-shadowing
this scene of commercial activity, is a huge
structure—Faneuil Hall. Of it we shall presently
speak. At present let us direct our glance to—artis-tically
speaking— a " bit " of Old Boston.
Old House. —There it stands at the corner of North
and Market streets, dingy, quaint, time-battered, many-gabled,
but picturesque, for all that. They say it was built
BOSTON SIGHTS.
in the year 1680, soon after the great fire of 1679. The
peaks of the roof remain precisely as they were first
erected, the frame and external appearance never having
been altered. The timber used in the building was prin-cipally
oak, and, where it has been kept dry, is perfectly
sound, and intensely hard. The outside is covered with
plastering, or what is commonly called rough-cast. But
instead of pebbles, which are generally used at the present
day to make a hard surface on the mortar, broken glass
was used. This glass appears like that of common junk-bottles,
broken into pieces of about half an inch diameter,
the sharp corners of which penetrate the cement in such a
manner that this great lapse of years has had no percep-tible
effect upon them. The figures 1680 were impressed
into the rough-cast to show the year of its erection,
and are now perfectly legible. This surface was also
variegated with ornamental squares, diamonds, and flowers-de-
luce. The building is only two stories high, and is
about thirty-two feet long and seventeen wide ; yet tra-dition
informs us that it was once the residence of two
respectable families, and the front part was at the same
time occupied for two shops, or stores.
Before long, perhaps, the giant Progress may, in his
march of improvement, tread down this ancient dwelling
and where the sunshine and the moonlight glimmered on
its dim windows for years, great granite, unpicturesque
OLD HOUSE. 5
warehouses may rise and throw grim commercial shadows
over the thoroughfare. But we have an antiquarian's
desire that it may remain, if only as a memorial of the
early days of Boston. Its very dinginess is delightful.
From the upper windows, just beneath those peaked roofs,
some gentleman of the olden days might, " once upon a
time," have looked upon his little ones sporting among
the daisies of his garden; or some pretty maiden have
watched its lozenge-shaped panes flashing back the moon-beams
as she sauntered home with her lover from their
evening walk in the mall on Boston Common; for as early
as 1646 that now unrivalled promenade was so called.
Few care about the old North-street house, now-a-days.
In neglect and decay, it is eclipsed by its modern neigh-bors.
Careless and careful folk alike hurry by it ; but
occasionally children lift up their little, wondering eyes to
the strange habitation. And to them it is indeed strange
;
they are so used to newness and novelty, that they can
scarcely comprehend antiquity. To many a youthful
mind an old-fashioned house raises ideas of spectral ladies
and gentlemen walking up and down impossible stairs, or
gliding through dreary rooms, or of ghostly individuals
loudly clanking invisible chains ; but in the case of this
old dwelling of N^th-street such dismal ideas are rapidly
put to flight by furs hanging out of the windows, and
1*
6 BOSTON SIGHTS,
various articles for sale in the stores beneath. Super-stition
flies before " Sales for Cash !
"
Boston Stone, a sketch of which forms the vignette
illustration of this chapter, was found in the cellar of a
house in Marshall-street. A resident in the neighborhood
says it was a paint-mill, the ball being what painters now
call the muller. The paint was placed in the cavity of a
flat stone, and there ground with oil by the ball. Other
explanations as to the origin and uses of this Boston
Stone are afloat, but it is needless to repeat them here.
The stone itself, however, is worthy of inspection, and
deserves, perhaps, an antiquarian immortality.
Dr. J. y. C. Smitj]^, in his " Ancient and Modern
Boston," published in the Boston Almanac for 1853, says
:
' There are reminiscences connected with the growth of
Boston that deserve to be kept in remembrance. For
example, where the Maine Station House, in Haymarket-square,
stands, there, was an open canal but a few years
ago, and the line of the track is over the course of it to
the water. Where Causeway-street is, there was formerly
a wall from Lowell-street, running north-easterly to rear
of Charlestown old bridge, called the Causeway, making a
pond of many acres, between Prince and Pitts streets.
Many aged persons are in the habit of calling all. that
region between Merrimac and Prince streets, to this day,
the Mill Pond. A remnant of the last tide-mill is still
ANCIENT AND MODERN BOSTON. 7
believed to exist on the east side of Charlestown-street, in
the form of a stable. All of that large tract of land
known technically as the South Cove was actually a body
of water, covering an area of seventy-two acres, within
the recollection of those not far removed from childhood.
The ,Neck may truly be said to be nearly all artificial.
Where the wide street runs to Roxbury, was a mere
ridge, scarcely removed from the reach of high tides, at the
period of the Revolution. By building the Boston and
Roxbury Mill-dam, the whole of the back bay, between
Washington-street and the wall, was reclaimed from
Charles river and the ocean.
" Whole streets have been detached from the domain of
Neptune, as India, Broad, Commercial, Brighton, nearly
the whole of Charles, Fayette, and several more that are
now at considerable distance from the water. At East
Boston very large additions to the territory have been
made within a few years. All the wharves, by which
Boston is nearly surrounded, are certainly artificial works,
of immense cost, but esteemed excellent and productive
property. It is not improbable that men are now living
who remember to have seen the bowsprit of vessels pro-jecting
into Liberty-square."
Boston is styled the Athens of America. It should
have been the State. In Boston the princely merchant's
warehouse presents the appearance of a palace, massive
8 BOSTON SIGHTS.
and grand. His counting-room is a picture of opulence,
spacious and beautiful ; his ware-rooms are crowded with
the products of manufacture. Massive buildings of
granite, all presenting the neatest and brightest appear-ance,
everywhere meet the eye. Along the wharves
immense ranges of warehouses extend the whole length,
at which the finest ships are discharging their foreign
cargoes. Again, encircling her " Common," rise in beau-teous
outlines spacious mansions, having the appearance
of palaces, and presenting a scene of quiet beauty,
unsurpassed by anything in the world ; they are the
residences of her merchant princes. The whole scene is
clothed in neatness, regularity, and good order ; there is a
characteristic quietness about it which the people of Mas-sachusetts
have made their own. Her public men are far-seeing,
discreet, and dignified ; and when they move it is to
some purpose. Her merchants are cautious, systematic in
their business transactions, ready to advance in their
proper time, and distinguished from that recklessness
which marks the New Yorker.
CHAPTER II.
FANEUIL HALL. FANEUIL HALL MAKKET. CUSTOM
HOUSE. EXCHANGE. OLD STATE HOUSE.
We must not leave this neighborhood yet, for the Old
House we have just been describing is not the only object
of interest hereabout. There is another noticeable build-ing
—second, indeed, in interest to no other in Boston.
(9)
10 BOSTON SIGHTS.
It is Faneuil Hall, or, as it is patriotically and meta-phorically
termed, " The Cradle of American Liberty.^*
Not to Boston alone, but to the entire country does it
seem to belong ; for in the amials of America it holds a
foremost and most honorable position. Within its walls
some of the finest specimens of American eloquence that
have been heard from the days of- Washington to those
of Webster were delivered. When despotism threatened
the colonies of George the Third, the first tones of defi-ance
were uttered in Faneuil Hall. Liberty held there
her high court, and from thence issued decrees a thousand
times more potent than a king's proclamation or a czar's
ukase. What wonder, then, that from far and near come
admiring visitors to it, or that Boston should be proud of
its possession ?
Years ago there hved in Boston a merchant whose
name was Peter Faneuil. He it was who immortalized
his name by the gift of the building to the town of Bos-ton,
for a town hall and market place. It was the best
monument to his memory that he could possibly have
devised. Faneuil Hall is a large, many-windowed struc-ture,
of no particular order of architecture, surmounted
by a cupola. The great hall to which you ascend (for
the lower story is not a market now, but is divided into
stores) is seventy-six feet square, and twenty-eight high
;
round three sides runs a gallery, and Doric pillars sup-
FANEUIL HALL. 11
port the ceiling. At the west end are several paintings
— one of Peter Faneuil in full length ; another of Wash-ington
by Stuart ; and there has recently been added
Healey's picture of Webster makmg his celebrated speech
in reply to Hayne.
Over the great hall is another, where military equip-ments
are kept; and there are also various offices for
civic functionaries.
Leaving Faneuil Hall at its eastern end, and crossing
Merchants' Row, we arrive at the entrance of Faneuil
Hall Market. It is raised on a base of bliie Quincy
12 BOSTON SIGHTS.
granite, with arched windows and doors communicating
with cellars. The length of the Market is five hundred
and eighty-five feet nine inches, the width fifty feet, and
built entirely of granite. In the centre is a building
seventy-four and a half by fifty-five feet, with projecting
north and south fronts. At each end of the building are
porticos. Over the Market proper is a second story, in
the centre of which is a hall seventy feet by fifty, crowned
by a dome, and named Quincy Hall, after Josiah Quincy,
former mayor of the city, and is but a fitting monument
of his genius. This hall and Faneuil Hall are united by
a bridge thrown across the street once in three years, and
in them the Massachusetts Mechanics' Charitable Associa-tion
holds its fair.
The principal entrances to the corridor, where the mar-ket
is held, are from the eastern and western porticos.
The corridor itself is eight hundred and twelve feet long
by twelve wide. This space is divided into stalls, where
various articles of provisions are always on sale. There
are fourteen departments for mutton, lamb, veal, and
poultry ; two for poultry and venison ; nineteen for pork,
lamb, mutton, and poultry ; forty-five for beef; four for
butter and cheese; nineteen for vegetables; and twenty
for fish. Besides these, the visitor will, as he strolls from
stall to stall, perceive many varieties of creature comfort
;
and in one place he will be charmed with the melody of
CUSTOM HOUSE. 13
birds offered for sale in cages, and his olfactories may be
regaled by odors from countless bouquets.
Faneuil Hall Market was commenced on the 20th of
August, 1824. Beneath the corner stone was deposited
a plate bearing the following inscription : —
"Faneuil Hall Market, established by the city of
Boston. This stone was laid April 27, Anno Domini
Mdcccxxv., in the forty-ninth y^ar of American Inde-pendence,
and in the third of the incorporation of the
city. John Quincy Adams, President of the United
States. Marcus Morton, Lt. Governor and Commander-in-
Chief of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The
population of the city estimated at 50,000 ; that of the
United States, 11,000,000."
The Market is situated between North and South Mar-ket
Streets, in each of which business of various kinds, to
immense amounts, is transacted.
Leaving the Market, a few steps through Commercial
Street bring us to the United States Custom House.
It is an imposing edifice, standing at the head of the dock
between Long and Central Wharves, at the foot of State
Street. It is in the form of a Greek cross, the opposite
sides and ends being alike. It is one hundred and forty
feet long, north and south, seventy-five feet wide at the
ends, and ninety-five feet through the centre. It is sur-mounted
by a flat dome, which is ninety-five feet from
14 BOSTON SIGHTS.
the floor, and is built in the pure Doric order of architec
ture. Each front has a portico of six fluted Doric col-umns,
thirty-two feet in height, and five feet four inches in
diameter, and is approached by fourteen steps. The col-umns
are in one piece of highly-wrought granite, and each
weighs forty-two tons.
The Custom House is built on three thousand piles,
\
driven in the most thorough manner. Immediately on the 1
top of these piles is a platform of granite, one foot six \
inches thick, laid in hydrauUc cement, and upon it the \
foundations of the walls were commenced.
CUSTOM HOUSE. 15
The roof of the building is covered with wrought gran-ite
tile, and the intersection of the cross is surmounted by
a dome terminating in a skyHght twenty-five feet in diam-eter.
The dome is also covered with granite tile.
The cellar, which is ten feet six inches high to the
crown of the arches, is principally used for the storage of
goods, which are conveyed to it through the basement
story.
The principal ingress to the entrance story is through
the porticos. This story contains apartments and offices
for the assistant treasurer, the weighers and gangers, the
measurers, inspectors, markers, superintendent of build-ing,
&c. In the centre is a large vestibule, from which
two broad flights of steps lead to the principal story, land-ing
in two ,smaller vestibules therein, lighted by skylights
in the roof; and these vestibules communicate with all the
apartments in this story. The several rooms are for the
collector, assistant collector, naval officer, surveyor, public
storekeeper, their deputies and clerks. The grand cross-shaped
rotunda, for the general business of the collector's
department, in the centre of this story, is finished in the
Grecian Corinthian order. It is sixty-three feet in its
greatest length, fifty-nine feet wide, and sixty-two feet
high to the skylight.
The ceiling is supported by twelve columns of mar-ble,
three feet in diameter and twenty-nine feet in height,
16 BOSTON SIGHTS
with highly-wrought capitals; the ceiling is ornamented
in a neat and chaste manner, and the skylight is filled
with stained glass.
The building was conamenced in 1837, and entirely
completed in 1849. It has cost about $1,076,000, includ-ing
the site, foundations, &c.
Passing up State Street, we soon reach The Exchange.
It is a splendid building, fronting on State Street. The
corner stone was laid August 2, 1841 ; the building com-pleted
1842, and cost, exclusive of land, $175,000. The
width on State Street is seventy-six feet, the height seventy
THE EXCHANGE. 17
feet, the depth two hundred and fiftj feet, and it covers
thirteen thousand feet of land.
The front is of Quincy granite, and has six columns,
each forty-five feet in height, and weighing fifty-five tons.
The staircases are of iron and stone, and the entire build-ing
is fire-proof. The front is occupied by banks, insur-ance
and other offices, and the rear is a hotel, while at the
top is a telegraph station. There are three entrances,
one on State, one on Congress, and one on Lindall Street.
The Merchants' Exchange is up stairs, and is a
magnificent hall, eighty feet by fifty-eight feet, having its
2*
18 BOSTON SIGHTS.
ceiling supported by eighteen imitation Sienna marble
columns, with Corinthian capitals. There is a grand
dome overhead, filled with stained glass. Here news-papers
from all parts of the world are received, read, and
filed. A superintendent, registrar, news collector, boat-men,
messengers, &c., are attached to the room, and are
in attendance from seven o'clock in the morning until ten
at night. Vessels arriving are immediately registered, as
well as shipping news telegraphed from distant ports.
Clearances, invoices per railroad, ships, &c., are all en-tered,
with the name of the consignee, on books kept for
the purpose. Sales of stocks, cotton, &c., are also regis-tered.
Merchants, singly, are admitted to all the privi-leges
of the room for eight dollars a year ; firms of two
persons, ten dollars, &c. These are called subscribers,
and have the privilege of introducing strangers, whose
names having been registered in a book kept for that pur-pose,
are allowed to visit the room and read the papers
during their stay in the city. The board of brokers have
their rooms in the Exchange ; and other portions of it are
used for banking offices, brokers' ofiices, railroad offices, &c.
The architectural beauty of the building, and the chaste
but elaborate workmanship of its rotunda, are alone worth
a visit.
The centre of the basement story is occupied by the
Post Office, where there is a general delivery, a box
THE OLD STATE HOUSE. " 19
delivery, a ladies' delivery, and a newspaper delivery,
besides telegraph and bank offices.
On Change are anxious men, during banking hours, as
ever met to buy stocks, sell shares, lend money, or nego-tiate
loans. From the stone steps of the Post Office to the
Old State House the crowd extends ; and even a strange
eye may soon detect the shrewd curbstone broker, balancing
himself with a tilting motion at the edge of the pavement,
or the anxious borrower, as he eagerly claims friendship
with those whose acquaintance he will want to disown a
few moments later ; while in the centre a speckled cow,
fatted pig, or evergreen tree inmates the attention of those
not otherwise engaged; while overlooking all, with a
grave and knowing look, stands the Old State House,
at the head of State Street, having one front on Washing-ton
Street. It retains to the present day many of the
architectural peculiarities of the period when it was built,
especially that part looking . towards the harbor. On its
summit are signal staffs, where are displayed the flags of
different merchants when their ships are approaching the
city, and a modern clock decorates State Street end.
The lower story is now converted into stores and lawyers'
and editors' offices ; and where the General Court of the
Province of Massachusetts used to be holden, gentlemen
are suited with legal measures, or are measured for panta-
20 BOSTON SIGHTS.
loons— lawyers and tailors pursuing their several voca-tions
beneath the Old State House roof.
Fanning the old house with their continuous fluttering,
(but still depending on it for support,) float the beauteous
flags of different daily papers ; and as they curl lazily up,
seem plainly to say, " We show the condition of the world
abroad and at home. Not a steamer ai'rives but we herald
the news." And then, as the folds roll out with an indig-nant
flap, they seem to flirt out that the last news from
Kansas or Washington was not to their liking ; then they
stop, and leave us to search in the papers they severally
THE OLD STATE HOUSE. 21
represent for particulars ; and it is no easy job to make a
selection, for there is the Journal, Atlas, Bee, Ledger, and
Chronicle close at hand, and the Traveller, Transcript,
Advertiser, Post, Herald, and I know not how many
others, whose shadows do not fall on the hundred-year-old
windows of the Old State House.
IN
CHAPTER III.
OLD SOUTH CHTJECH. BIRTHPLACE OF FRANKLIN.
CITY HALL. COURT HOUSE. STONE CHAPEL.
CEMETERY.
The Old South Church stands on "Washington
Street, not far from the Old State House. So much his-torical
interest is attached to this tune-honored buildmg
that we must be pardoned if we are rather minute in our
notice of it, for which w^e are indebted to a sketch in
Gleason's (now Ballou's) Pictorial.
During the first of the seven years' war, a«chm'ch of
this then town of Boston of ten thousand inhabitants, that
externally appeared much as it now does, internally pre-sented
a strange scene. The sanctuary was profanely
converted into a riding school for Burgoyne's cavalry.
The pulpit and the pews, all hallowed by devotion, had
been taken out to light the fires of our enemies, the hbrary
of the good pastor being used for kindlings. Hundreds
of loads of dirt and gravel were carted into the church,
that it might better answ^er the strange use to Avhich it was
put. A box was suspended four feet from the floor, over
(23)
24 BOSTON SIGHTS. I
which fierce horaes, driven by furious riders, leaped. The i
galleries were occupied, not, as now, by those who freely \
heard the word of God, but by spectators of the games i
below, and by those who sold liquors and refreshments, not
]
having a reverence for the sanctuary, nor the fear of the |
Maine Law before their eyes. The Old South Church, |
as every body knows, was the centre of this dissipation ; a j
church that has been intimately connected with the history
]
of Boston from an early period. At the time alluded to, ;
Mr. Blackstone's farm was converted into the town of ,
Boston, containing " about two thousand dwelling houses,
\
mostly of wood, with scarce any public buildings, but i
eight or nine churches, the Old State House, and Faneuil i
Hall." The Old South Church, like the First Church,
|
and the first Baptist, was organized in Charlestown by
seceders frem the First Church, who were disaffected with
a call extended to Rev. John Davenport. The first meet-ing
house was erected on the spot where the present one
j
stands, corner of Washington and Milk Streets. The site
j
was the gift of Mrs. Norton, widow of Rev. John Norton,
who was pastor of the First Church. The first house was i
erected soon after the church was gathered, in 1669. It
|
was built of wood, wdth a spire and square pews. The \
first pastor was Rev. Thomas Thatcher, an eminent divine,
|
a native of Salisbury, England. Besides being an emi-i
nent theologian he was a physician, and published the first
:
OLD SOUTH CHURCH. . 25
medical tract that ever was issued iii Massachusetts. His
successors were Willard, the eminent divine, Pemberton,
the eloquent pulpit orator, Sewall, who was known as
" good Dr. Sewall," who was pastor of the church for fifty
years, and when his health failed, near the close of his
life, was carried into the pulpit, and instructed the people
from Sabbath to Sabbath ; Prince, the able divine and
learned scholar, Gumming, Blair, Bacon, Hunt, Eckley,
Huntington, the first sole pastor, the devoted Wisner, the
gifted and short-lived Stearns, and Blagden, who now
ministers to this ancient church—fifteen in all.
The present Old South Church is a substantial structure
of brick, of a style of architecture that is chaste and be-coming,
though not uncommon. It stands as it has stood
for more than a century—• it having been erected in the
year 1730. The last sermon was preached in the old
house March 2, 1729. The next day it was taken down,
when it was found to be so much decayed that it was
thought the congregation, the day before, had ''a very
gi-acious preservation." A curious plan of the lower floor
of the present house is before us, under the head, " Pues
on ye lower flore in ye Metting House," evidently drawn
soon after the building was finished and the pews sold.
From this plan it appears that the house is eighty-eight
feet by sixty-one, and that it is substantially now as it was
at the beginning. Formerly there was a high elders' seat
26 . BOSTON SIGHTS.
directly in front of the pulpit, and a deacons' seat nearly
as high. Several of the best pcM's in the house, accord-'
ing to the custom of the time, were devoted to the accom-modation
of the aged—a custom that has become obso-lete.
In this plan the names of the pew holders are
given, embracing some of the noblest names of the time^
such as Governor Belcher, Franklin, Bromfield, Brattle,
Winslow, Cotton, Eliot, &c. The following church record
will assist the reader in understanding the disposition of
the congregation in the new edifice. " At a meeting of i
the South Church, in their brick meeting house, August 5,
1730, Voted, That the deacons be desired to procure some
suitable person to take the oversight of the children and
srervants in the galleries, and take care that good order be
maintained in time of divine worship ; and that a suffi-cient
reward be allowed for the encouragement of such a
person."
The Old South Church is a noble structure, situated
now in the very heart of the city, though, as its name indi-cates,
at the beginning at its southern extremity. It is sur-mounted
by one of the loftiest spires in the city. Its bell
is large and fine toned, and more eyes are upturned to its
clock daily, we venture to say, than to any other timekeeper
in New England. Indeed, it is to New England, as to the
hours, what Boston is as to business. The house is very
capacious, and, with its two galleries, Avill seat, perhaps,
OLD SOUTH CHURCH. '?7
more than any other church in the city. The pulpit is
rery high for these times, and is overshadowed by a sound-ing
board that miakes little children fear for the head of
the minister- This pulpit is the second in the present
house, the first one being what was styled a " tub " pulpit.
The pews, though built not after the modern style, are all
the more comfortable ; and it would seem that the owners
never thought of the fact that the land beneath them was
worth thirty dollars the square foot.
Considerable interest clusters around the Old South
Church, or " The Sanctuary of Freedom," as it has been
termed, from the patriotic assemblages that were gathered
within its walls just previous to the outbreak T)f the revo-lution.
In this church Franklin worshipped and was bap-tized.
Here that prince of preachers, Whitefield, lifted
up his voice like a trumpet. In this temple " our enemies
in war and our friends in peace " did that which for a mo-ment
saddens our interest. Within these walls the elec-tion
sermons liave been delivered annually before " the
powers that be," and multitudes have been educated for
the church triumphant in heaven. To the Bostonian, the
very name of the " Old South " brings back childish recol-lections
and happy early associations. Before the city had
so grown as to extend almost out of town^ this was a sort
of landmark in the designating of distances ; any given
locality was about so far from the " Old South," this or
28 BOSTON SIGHTS.
that side of the " Old South," &c. Indeed, the church is
not only a sort of landmark as regards the bearings in our
harbor, as considered by the pilots, but is also a point of
departure, so to speak, on the land itself. There are few
notable localities in the city of notions better known than
is this venerable and revered pile, and the site it occupies
— a silent remembrancer of scenes and events associated,
with all that is dear to Americans.
There is a library connected with this church, that was
bequeathed by Rev. Thomas Prince. It is a precious
collection, containing many standard works in church his-tory,
biblical Hterature, valuable pamphlets, and manu-scripts.
Fcrr nearly one hundred years this has been the
public library of that church, and accessible to any per-son
desirous of using it for literary purposes.
The Birthplace of Franklin was where the block
of stores now stands that bear the inscription. On that
spot, under the very shadow of the Old South's tall spire,
the printer, the legislator, the philosopher, the immortal
Franklin, was born.
Passing from Washington to Tremont Street, the visitor
will perceive on his right hand a large gray stone building,
in front of which are grounds tastefully laid out with trees
and beds of flowers, and enclosed by an iron, fence. This
is the City Hall, It stands between Court Square and
School Street, fronting on the latter. Here meetings of
NEW COURT HOLSE. 2y
the Council are held; and here may be found the oifiees
of the Chief-of-police and many of the civic functionaiies.
The Board of aldermen meet in the main room every
Monday afternoon, and the sittings of the common council
are held on Thursday evenings.
Near the City Hall, and in its rear, is the New Court
House. It stands in Court Square, and has a sedate,
sober appearance, being destitute of ornament of any kind.
Its form is that of a parallelogi-am, one hundred and
seventy-six feet in length by fifty-four feet in breadth. It
is iifty-seven feet in height, and consists of a basement and
3*
30 BOSTON SIGHTS.
three stories. At each end is a fine portico of the Doric
order, supported by four columns of fluted granite. There
is not much to attract attention within, it being merely
plain and substantial. *An entrance hall traverses the
entire length of the building, communicating with the por-ticos
and side doors. Stone staircases, branching off from
this corridor, lead to the various court rooms. On the first
floor are the Justices' Courts, Court of Insolvency, and the
offices of the clerks of the different courts.
The Supreme Judicial Court sits for the hearing of
legal arguments on the first Tuesday of March, and the
term for the trial of jury causes commences on the seventh
Tuesday next after the fourth Tuesday of September.
The Common Pleas Court for the county of Suffolk is
held in the court room in the third story on the first Tues-day
of January, April, July, and October ; and the Mu-nicipal
Court, of wliich the justices of the Common Pleas
are ex officio judges, is held in the room appropriated for
that purpose on the first Monday of every month. The
Pohce Court is busied every day in the trial of criminal
offenders, and also sits every Wednesday and Saturday as
a Justices' Court for determining civil causes under twenty
doUai's. The Social Law Library room, on the second
floor, is a comfortable and well-hghted apartment, and
contains a good selection of juridical text books, including
CEMETERY. 31
writers in general law, and the English and American
Reports.
In the basement are cells for the temporary accommo-dation
of prisoners ; and at the side door opposite the
the Railroad Exchange may be seen every morning, about
nine o'clock, the jail van discharging its load of prisoners
for examination. To one fond of seeing human nature in
all its phases, an hour in the Pohce Court any morning
will not be thrown away.
Nearly opposite the. City Hall stands Horticultural
Hall, a neat stone edifice ; up stairs is the hall, which is
lofty, lai'ge, and beautiful. It is used for horticultural,
panoramic, and other exhibitions.
Chapman Hall is directly in the rear, with an en-trance
on Chapman Place. These rooms also are light
and airy. Stone Chapel stands at the corner of School
and Tremont Streets. It was built in 1750, and is a plain,
substantial structure. The corner stone was laid by Gov-ernor
Shirley. The Cemetery adjoining (from the pre-cious
dust it holds) should be forever revered by native
and stranger. Johnson, the " Father of Boston," as he
has been termed, according to his wish w^as buried here
;
and the people evinced their affection for him by ordering
their bodies to be buried near him ; and this was the origin
of the first burying-place in Boston.
The Lady Arabella, his wife, was the pride and love
32 BOSTON SIGHTS.
of the colony; and historians tell lis that though there
were several other women of distinction who encountered
the fatigues and dangers of those days with laudable reso-lution,
the devotedness of this lady— lady in deed as well
as name—was conspicuous above all.
The sentiments of her heart to him are described in the
following language : " Whithersoever your fatall destine
shall dryve you, eyther by the fiirious waves of the great
ocean, or by the many-folde and horrible dangers of the
lande, I wyl surely not leave your company. There can
no peryll chaunce to me so terrible, nor any kinde of
death so cruell, that shall not be much easier for me to
abyde than to live so farre separate from you."
She came to the wilderness, illumined it by her love,
her piety, her charities and faith, and died in the then
mere village of Salem. Not one of those who had known
her but wept bitterly at the event. It was as if all the
flowers of the garden should hang their heads at the blast-ing
of the rose. May her memory distil sweets upon the
hearts of wives hke her
' And from her fair and unpolluted flesh.
May violets spring," forever.
Many are the good ^d great whose remains repose
CEMETERY. 33
here ; but no character of those days has come down to us
with brighter memories than that of Governor John Win-throp,
whose remains also repose in the Chapel Burial
Ground, in the family tomb, on the north side.
WINSLOW CHAIK, AT MASS. HISTORICAL SOCIETT.
CHAPTER lY.
THE BOSTON MUSEUM. HISTORICAL SOCIETY,
Perhaps of all the places of public amusement in the
good citj of Boston, not one is so generally popular as this.
Nor is its great success undeserved ; for it has ever been
the aim of its enterprising proprietor, Hon. Moses Kim-ball,
while providing every possible novelty for the gratifi-cation
of the masses, to carefully exclude eveiy thing that
(35)
36 BOSTON SIGHTS. '
\
could be in the slightest degree objectionable. Hence the
|
Museum has become the great family resort, as well as
|
the visitors' choicest treat. j
First, for its locality. On Tremont Street, between j
Court and School Streets, it stands, a spacious and superb 1
bailding, its front adorned by elegant balconies and rows |
of ground glass globes, Uke enormous pearls, which at
|
night are luminous with gas. Three tiers of elegantly '.
arched windows admit light into the building, and we \
reach the interior by a bold flight of stairs. ;
At the summit of these stairs is an elegant ticket and \
treasurer's office, and adjoining it the entrance to the
j
Grand Hall of Cabinets, which is surrounded by a ]
gallery, and whose ceiling is supported by noble Corin- \
thian pillars. Around the gallery front ai'e arranged por-j
traits of celebrated Americans. On the floor of the hall !
are statuary and superb^ works of art, and, arranged in J
glass cases, curiosities from all parts of the known world. !
The galleries, reached by a grand staircase, ai'e filled with
\
the rich and rare products of many a clime ; not an inch
;
of space is thrown away. Ascending still higher, we find ]
a superb collection of wax figures, singly and in groups j \
and surmounting all is an observatory, whence splendid !
panoramic views of the city, the harbor, and its islands
may be obtained. ]
The Museum Theatre is one of the most beautifully
\
BOSTON 3IUSEUM.
decorated, best constructed, and well managed tlieatres in
the United States. The visitor there has no rowdyism to
4
38 BOSTON SIGHTS.
fear, and nothing ever occurs, either in the audience por-tion
or on the stage, to offend the most fastidious. As
good order is maintained in Mr, Kimball's theatre as in
any di-amng room in the land. The company, too, is
always first rate. Some of our best actors have been
trained on the Museum boards. But besides having a
stock company which cannot be surpassed, " stars " of the
first theatrical magnitude are often engaged ; and brilliant
spectacles, with all the accessories of superb scenery, deli-cious
music, gorgeous costumes, banners, and other appro-priate
appointments, are produced several times in each
season, in all the magnificence that money and skill can
accomplish, and are a marked feature of the place, that
cannot easily be surpassed. Few persons who visit Bos-ton
ever think of quitting it without paying the Museum
a visit, for it contains amusement and information for all.
The Museum building alone cost nearly a quarter of a
million of dollars, and covers twenty thousand feet of
land, the whole of which, with its numerous cabinets, is
crowded wath every variety of birds, quadrupeds, fish,
reptiles, insects, shells, minerals, fossils, &c. Then there
is the Feejee Mermaid, alluded to by Bamum, in his
BOSTON MUSEUM. 39
Autobiograpliy, together with more than one thousand
costly paintings, among wliich is Sully's great picture of
Washington crossing the Delaware, portraits by Copley,
West, Stuart, &c. In short there are to be seen nearly
five hundi-ed thousand articles of every conceivable rare
and curious thing of nature and art in the Museum, and
all for the marvellously small sum of twenty-five cents.
The theatre is open every evenuig, and on Wednesday and
Saturday afternoons.
The rooms of the Massachttsetts Historical So-ciety
are next the Museum, in a granite building on
40 BOSTON SIGHTS.
Tremont Street. The library of the society contains
about eight thousand volumes, with maps, charts, and
four hundred and fifty volumes of manuscripts. Anion^
the treasures are manuscripts of the historian Hub-bard,
of the first Governor Wintlirop, eleven volumes
of Governor Hutchinson, of Governor Jonathan Trum-bull,
of Connecticut, twenty-three volumes, and the manu-script
of Washington's address to the ofiicers of the
American army. There is also a copy of Eliot's Indian
Bible. The portraits of persons, mostly New England
worthies, adorn the room ; two of special value are. Rev.
Increase Mather and Rev. John Wilson. These rooms
contain many relics of the past ; among these are Philip's
samp pan, an article of Indian antiquity that perhaps
may have been used by Massasoit himself before it be-came
the property of his youngest son, the renowned
sachem of Pokanoket ; and here also is Captain Church's
sword, with which the chief was slain. The Carver
sword, a worthy memento of a pilgrim, speaks louder
than words of the dangers our forefathers incurred be-fore
a city's smoke rose from the three hills of Shaw-mut
; and Winslow's chair, that tradition says " was made
in London in 1614, and brought over in the ]\Jayflower
by Edward Winslow," now, after many years of hard
service, is treasured as a valuable heirloom.
CHAPTER V,
BOSTON ATHEN^UM. — CLUB HOUSE. ^- COCHITUATE
HALL.
The majmificent biiildinoj for the use of the Boston
Athen.^um. is situated on Beacon Street, near the State
House, It is of Patterson freestone, and in the Palladian
4* I
(41)
42 BOSTON SIGHTS.
Style of architecture. It is one hundred and fourteen feet
m length, of irregular breadth, sixty feet in height, and
stands ten feet back from the street, the ground space in
iront being surrounded by a balustrade with stone coping.
The main entrance opens into a pillared and panelled
rotunda, from which fine iron staircases conduct above.
The Sculpture Gallery is in the first story, and is
eighty feet in length. Its entrance is immediately oppo-site
the front door. Here is to be found a fine collection
of works of art in marble, and casts in plaster. Among
them are. The Head of Satan, by Horatio Greenough;
Little Nell, by Ball Hughes ; Orpheus, by T. G. Craw-ford;
the Shipwrecked Mother and Child, by E. A.
Brackett ; casts of Day and Night, by Michael An-gelo
; the original model of the statue of the Dying
Indian, by P. Stephenson, and the First Whisper of
Love, by W. C. Marshall, will not fail to attract the
attention and win the admiration of all lovers of art.
Five marble bass reliefs from Nineveh are deposited here.
Apart from the value which attaches to these remains,
considered simply as antiquities, they possess a far higher
value on account of the remarkable confirmations which
the inscriptions afford of the truth of Scripture history.
These in the Sculpture Gallery are of the same kind as
those deposited in the British Museum, and described in
Layard's works.
BOSTON ATHEN^UM. 43
The Reading Rooms are on the right of the vestibule.
On the left is the Trustees' Room. Near the foot of the
staircase stands Ball Hughes's statue of Bowdit<^h, and a
very fine one of Webster, by Powers.
The Library occupies the second story, which is divided
into three rooms, two in front, and one large hall (one hun-dred
and nine feet by forty) in the rear. This hall is
beautifully finished in the Itahan style. The shelving is
carried to the height of eighteen or twenty feet, and the
upper shelves are made accessible by means of a light
iron gallery reached by five spiral staircases. Besides
sixty-seven thousand bound volumes, this library pos-sesses
twenty thousand or more of unbound pamphlets,
between four and five hundred volumes of engravings,
and the most valuable collection of coins in this part of
the country. It also contains part of the library of Wash-ington
—in all about four hundred and fifty bound vol-umes.
The library is hardly surpassed, either in size or
in value, by any other in the country ; and its regulations
are framed with the desiom that it shall answer the high-est
purposes of a public library. Strangers not residing
within twenty miles of Boston can easily obtain admittance.
Picture Gallery.— The third story contains four
rooms that are appropriated to the exhibition of paint-ings,
and of these there is an admirable collection. A
numbered catalogue may be obtained at the door. Many
44 BOSTON SIGHTS.
of the paintings belong to private individuals, and are
liable to removal ; so we shall avoid mention of them, and
briefly touch on a few belonging to the Athenaeum. Here
are the portraits of Washington and of Lady Washing-ton,
by Stuart ; the Sortie of Gibraltar, by Trumbull
;
Judith with the Head of Holofemes ; Count of Wurtem-berg
lamenting his Child, by Ary Schceffer ; St. Michael
chaining Satan, after Guido; Flaying of Marsayas, by
Luca Giordano ; Priam receiving the Dead Body of Hec-tor,
by Trumbull. In conclusion, we cannot help mention-ing
Dante and Beatrice, by Ary SchoefFer, and the Course
of Empu-e, by Cole. The gallery is well worthy of fre-quent
visits, and will doubtless do much to promote the
progress of art m Boston.
Admittance twenty-five cents, the Sculpture Gallery
included.
Returning towards Washington Street, a few steps
bring us to the Club House, corner of Beacon and
Park Streets, a mansion interesting from the fact that it
was fitted up for the accommodation of General Lafayette
and his suite, when the illustrious friend of Washington
was the guest of the city. At the period of the revolu-tion
the almshouse stood upon ihis site, extending on
Beacon Street beyond the westerly boundary of the Athe-nseum
estate. Next to it, on Park Street, was the work-house
; then came the town pound ; on the site of Park
CLUB HOUSE. 45
Street Church stood the granary, whence the name of the
adjacent burying ground. In the enclosure of the work-house
yard, we beheve, the bodies of the British soldiers
killed at Bunker Hill were laid out, in the order of their
regiments and companies, previous to interment.
The old almshouse was pulled down in the year 1800,
and in the early part of the century the large building
shown in the engraving was erected for and occupied by
Jonathan Amory. Many a splendid ball and party have
been given in that aristocratic mansion; many a belle
there devastated the hearts of young Bostonians — many
46 BOSTON SIGHTS.
of whom, victors and vanquished, have long since passed
away from this earthly stage. For many years the build-ing
has been occupied as a club house.
CocHiTUATE Hall is not remarkable for its size, and,
although well lighted, is difficult of access.
CHAPTER VI.
TREMONT TEMPLE. MEIONAON. PARK STREET CHURCH.
GRANARY CEMETERY. NEW MUSIC HALL. MA-SONIC
TEMPLE.
This spacious edifice stands opposite the Tremont
House, Tremont Street. Of a rich and warm brown tint,
produced by a coating of mastic, it presents a peculiarly
(47)
48 BOSTON SIGHTS.
substantial and elegant frontage. It is seventy-five feet in
height, and, with the exception of ten feet by sixty-eight,
which is left open on the north side for Hght, the building
covers an area of thirteen thousand feet.
Passing through the gi-eat central doorway, we find our-selves
in the spacious entrance hall. On the first floor we
observe on our right and left hand two ticket offices, and
a broad flight of stairs also on either hand, each of which
at their summit terminates in a landing, from whence to
right and left diverge two flights of similar staircases, one
landing you in the centre of the main hall, and the other
to the rear part and the gallery.
The Main Hall is a magnificent apartment. The
utter absence of gilding and coloring on its walls renders
it far more imposing and grand in appearance than if it
had been elaborately ornamented with auriferous and
chromatic splendors. It is one hundrefl and twenty-four
feet long, seventy-two feet* wide, and fifty feet high.
Around the sides of it runs a gallery supported on trusses,
so that no pillars intervene between the spectators and the
platform, to obstruct the view. The front of this gallery
is balustraded, and by this means a very neat and uniform
effect is secured. The side galleries project over the seats
below about seven feet. They are fitted with rows of
nicely-cushioned and comfortable seats, and are not so
high as to render the ascent to them wearisome in the
TREMONT TEMPLE. 49
least degree. The front gallery, though it projects into
the hall only ten feet, extends back far enough to give it
more than three times that depth.
Du*ectly opposite this gallery is the platform, with its
gracefully-panelled, semicircular front. This platform,
covered with a neat oil cloth, communicates with the side
galleries by a few steps, for the convenience of large
choirs. There are also several avenues of communication
from the platform to the apartments, dressing rooms, &c.,
behind, which are exceedingly convenient, and are far
superior to the places of exit and entrance from and to
any other place of the kind that we have ever seen.
From the front of the platform the floor of the hall
gradually rises so as to afford every person in the hall a
full and unobstructed view of the speakers or vocalists, as
the case may be. The seats in the galleries rise in like
manner. The seats on the hall floor are admirably
arranged in a semicircular form from the front of the
platform, so that every face is directed towards the
speaker or singer. They are each one numbered, have
iron ends, are capped with mahogany, and are completely
cushioned with a drab-colored material. Each slip is
capable of containing ten or twelve persons, with an aisle
at each extremity, and open from end to end.
The side walls of the hall are very beautifully orna-mented
in panels, arched and decorated with circular
5
50 BOSTON SIGHTS.
ornaments, which would be difficult properly to describe
without the aid of accompanying drawings ; but as views
of the interior of the Temple will soon be common enough,
the omission here will be of little consequence. As we
intimated, there is no fancy coloring; it is a decorated
and relieved surface of dead white, and the effect, lighted
as it is from above by large panes of rough plate glass, is
beautifully chaste. The only color observable in the hall
is the purple screen behind the diamond open work at the
back of the platform, and which forms a screen in front
of the organ.
The ceiling is very finely designed in squares, at the
intersections of which are twenty-eight gas burners, with
strong reflectors, and a chandelier over the orchestra,
shedding a mellow but ample light over the hall. By
this arrangement the air heated by innumerable jets of
gas is got rid of, and the lights themselves act as most
efficient ventilators. The eyes are likewise protected
from glare ; and should an escape of gas take place, from
its levity it passes up through shafts to the outside, and
does not contaminate the atmosphere below. Under the
galleries are common burners. There are for day illumi-nation
twelve immense plates of glass, ten feet long by
four feet wide, placed in the ceiling, in the spring of the
arch, and open directly to the outer light, and by sixteen
smaller ones under the galleries.
TREMONT TEMPLE. 51
The whole of the flooring of the hall, in the galleries,
the body of it, and of the platform, consists of two layers
of boards, with the interstices between them filled by a
thick bed of mortar. The advantages of this in an acous-tical
point of view must be obvious to all. Another ad-vantage
is, that the applause made by the audience in this
great hall does not disturb the people who may at the
same time be holding a meeting in the other hall below—
a very important consideration.
There are eight flights of stairs leading from the floors
of the main hall, and four from the galleries, the aggre-gate
width of which is over fifty feet.
The Boston Young Men's Chi-istian Association occupy
several beautiful rooms up one flight of stairs, which are
admirably adapted for their present uses and occupants,
and are rented by the Association for twelve hundred dol-lars
per annum, though it is estimated that they are worth
at least fifteen hundred dollars ; but the Temple is owned
by a church who were very desirous that a rehgious asso-ciation
should occupy them. The great organ, built by
the Messrs. Hook, is one of the finest instruments ever
constructed in this country. Its bellows is worked by
steam.
The Tremont Temple, besides the great hall, contains a
lesser one, called The Meionaon, the main entrance to
which is through the northerly passage way, opposite the
52 BOSTON SIGHTS.
doors of the Tremont House ; this avenue is about seven
feet wide. The southerly passage way serves as an outlet
from this lesser temple.
Perhaps the reader, who may not have been initiated
into the mysteries of Greek literature, may thank us for
a definition of this strange-looking word, " Meionaon." It
is so called from two Greek words —meion, signifying
less, smaller, and naon, temple— Lesser Temple. It is
pronounced Mi-o-na-on. This lesser temple is situated
back from the street, and directly under the great hall.
It is seventy-two feet long by fifty-two feet wide, and
about twenty-five and a half feet high. Not so elaborately
adorned as its neighbor overhead, this hall is remarkably
chastely and beautifully fitted up, and within its walls the
religious society of Tremont Street Baptist Church wor-ship.
Its walls are relieved by pilasters supporting arches.
The seats are similarly arranged to those in the hall above,
and are equally comfortable and commodious in all respects.
At one end is a platform, on which, on Sabbath days, stands
a beautiful little pulpit, of dark walnut, and cushioned with
crimson velvet. At the other extremity of the hall is a
gallery for a choir ; back of it stands a neat little organ.
The place is. beautifully adapted for sound, and competent
judges say fiom their own experience that it is a remarka-bly
easy place to speak in. From the hall to the outer
door the way is through a broad passage way covered with
PAKK STREET CHUHCH. 53
Manilla matting let into the floor, so that little dirt can be
brought in from the street ; and as the doors swing on
noiseless hinges, no interruption from scufflmg of feet or
slammings can ever occur.
The Cupola. — In making our way thither we travel
over the ceiling of the great hall, dropping our heads as
we pass beneath roof and rafter, to save our hat and skull,
and beholding beneath our feet a great network of gas-piping
connected with the burners of the hall under us.
In long rows are square ventilators, which discharge then*
streams of vitiated air on the outside.
The cupola forms a spacious observatory, glazed all
round, and from every window is obtained a charming
view, the whole forming one of the most superb pano-ramas
that we ever witnessed. From this elevated spot
may be seen the adjacent villages and towns, the harbor
and its islands, the city institutions, churches, houses, and
shipping. In short, the whole city and vicinity lies at our
feet.
Park Street Church is situated at the comer of
Tremont and Park Streets. The spire is remarkably
beautiful, and the interior very spacious and striking.
Close by lies Granary Burying Ground—a spot hal-lowed
by the remains of many good, and brave, and beau-tiful
as such can be. Here a mounument has been laid
over the graves of Dr. Frankhn's parents. It is an obelisk
5*
54 BOSTON SIGHTS.
twenty-five 'feet high, formed of seven blocks of Quincy
granite, each weighing about six tons ; and the name of
" Franklin " can be easily read from the street. The
stranger often stops to gaze at the squirrels racing among
those gray old tombstones, or to read the time-worn inscrip-tions
of the mourned ones' virtues—virtues perhaps not
visible during life, but " known and read of all men " when
they have passed away.
Nearly across the street from here is
The New Music Hall. —Until within the last few
years, although a musical people^ the city was sadly in
NEAV MUSIC HALL. 55
want of a fitting place for concerts, &c. Now, however,
we have a Music Hall of the first class, which we can
refer to with pride as an ornament to our metropolis, and
an index of the taste and hberality of Boston.
There has been no attempt at display on the exterior
of the building, it being deemed important to reserve, as
far as practicable, for the interior the means contributed
for the enterprise.
The hall is one hundred and thirty feet long, seventy-eight
feet wide, and sixty-five feet high, the proportion of
length to Tiddth being as five to three, and of length to
height as two to one. Two balconies extend rwmd three
sides of the hall.
The ceiling, which is forty feet above the floor of the
upper balcony, is in general section flat, and connected
with the wall by a large cove, in which are seventeen
semicircular windows, that light the hall by day. A row
of gas jets, projecting from the edge of the cornice, just
below these windows, light the hall by night.
The floor is arranged with seats which will accommo-date
upwards of fifteen hundred persons, and there is suffi-cient
room in the balconies for upwards of one thousand
more.
The orchestral platfoi-m is raised five feet above the
floor of the hall, and rises by a few steps to' the organ.
From each side of the orchestra to the floor of the lower
56 BOSTON SIGHTS.
balcony is a series of raised platforms for choristers, or
for tlie audience, as may be required. The whole orches-tra
will accommodate upwards of four hundred persons.
The whole has been constructed with special reference
to the science of acoustics—a consideration of the utmost
importance in a building intended- for a music hall. The
architect, George Snell, Esq., has endeavored to combine
in this structure the advantages which he has been able to
discover by a careful personal examination of numerous
music halls in Europe and America. This is of especial
importance, as it is proposed to have one of the largest
organs in^he world placed here.
In the matter of ventilation, the architect has had the
assistance of the large experience, in that department, of
Dr. Morrill Wyman, of Cambridge. Mr. Alpheus C.
Morse, a native of Boston, (a partner of Mr. Snell,) has
also assisted in the arrangement of the decorations of the
interior.
The entrances are from Winter Street, Bumstead Place,
and Bromfield Street. Ample accommodations are afford-ed
for drawing rooms, alcoves, offices, &c.
Masonic Temple.—This building is situated in Tre-^
mont Street, on part of the land that was formerly Wash-ington
Gardens. The corner stone was laid October 11,
1830, with appropriate Masonic ceremonies, by the Grand
Lodge of Massachusetts. This Temple was dedicated May
I MASONIC TEMPLE. 57
30, 1832. It is sixty feet wide, and eighty and a half
feet long, and fronts westwardly on Tremont Street. The
walls are fifty-two feet high, of stone, covered with a slated
roof, twenty-four feet high, containing sixteen windows to
light the attic story. The gutters are of cast iron, and
Ihe water trunks are of copper. The basement is of fine
hammered granite, twelve feet high, with a belt of the ^
same. The towers at the comers next Tremont Street
are sixteen feet square, surmounted with granite battle- \
ments, and pinnacles rising ninety-five feet from the i
ground. The door and window frames are of fine ham- ^
58 BOSTON SIGHTS.
mered granite, and the main walls, from the basement to
the roof, are of Quincy granite, disposed in courses, in
such a manner as to present a finished appearance to the
eye. The blocks are triangulai' in shape, and there is
probably no other such building in Massachusetts.
From the street are two flights of winding stairs in
the towers, sufficiently spacious to admit a free entrance
to the five stories of the building. The first story is
occupied for miscellaneous purposes; the second by the
spacious salesrooms of Messrs. Chickering & Sons; and
the third, fourth, and fifth stories for Masonic purposes.
The different Lodges meet as follows : —
St. John's Lodge, first Monday ; St. Andrew's, second
Thursday ; Massachusetts, third Monday ; Columbian, first
Thursday; Mount Lebanon, second Monday; Winslow
Lewis Lodge, second Friday ; Revere Lodge, first Tues-day;
Germania Lodge, fourth Monday; St. Andrew's
Chapter, first Wednesday ; St. Paul's Chapter, third Tues-day
; Boston Encampment, third Wednesday ; De Molay
Encampment, fourth Wednesday; Council Royal and
Select Masters, third Thursday; Grand Lodge, second
Wednesday in December, March, June, and September,
27th December, annually ; Grand Chapter, Tuesday pre-ceding
second Wednesday of March, June, September, and
December; Grand Encampment of Massachusetts and
Rhode Island, annually ; Grand Lodge of Perfection, fourth
Tuesday ; Board of Relief, first Tuesday in each month.
THE STATE HOUSE. —HANCOCK HOUSE. BOSTON WATER-WORKS.
Long before the stranger reaches Boston, he must have
seen, from the window of the railway-car, or the vessel's
deck, an imposing dome, crowning the summit of the
highest of the three hills on which the city is built.
On a nearer approach, he will perceive that this dome
surmounts a splendid and spacious edifice ; and this, he
will learn, is
The State House.—To this place it would be well
to pay an early visit, as from the window of the lofty
cupola he will be enabled to take such a bird's eye
or panoramic view of the city, as will enable him, by
fully comprehending its various localities, and their rela-tions
to each other, to render his future investigations all
the easier. In any city such a proceeding would prove
advantageous, but especially is it so in Boston, where
(59)
60 BOSTON SIGHTS.
strangers, in consequence of the crooked streets, experience
more difficulty in ascertaining their whereabouts than
perhaps in any other large place in the Union ; and here
we now are.
It were scarcely possible to conceive a more appropriate
situation for sucli a building than the one occupied by the
State House. It is erected about the centre of the city,
on elevated ground, at the corner of Beacon and Mount
Vernon streets. The corner-stone was laid on tKe Fourth
of July, 1795, by Governor Samuel Adams, who made an
address on the occasion, in which " he trusted that within
its walls liberty and the rights of man would be forever
advocated and supported." In 1798 the building was
finished, and occupied by the Legislature.
When the corner-stone of the New State House was to
be laid, it was conveyed to the spot by fifteen white horses,
there being, at that time, but fifteen States in the Union.
Now they are more than doubled.
The height of the capitol, to the summit of the dome, is
one hundred and ten feet; the frontage is one hundred
and seventy-three feet. " It consists externally of a base-ment
story twenty feet high, and a principal story thirty
feet high. This, in the centre of the front, is covered with
an attic sixty feet wide, and twenty feet high, which is
covered with a pediment. Immediately above arises the
dome, fifty feet in diameter, and thirty in height; the
THE STATE HOUSE. 61
whole terminating with an elegant circular lantern, which
supports a pine cone. The basement story is finished in a
plain style on the wings, with square windows. The
centre is ninety-four feet in length, and formed of arches
which project fourteen feet, and make a covered walk
below, and support a colonnade of Corinthian columns of
the same extent above.
" The largest room is in the centre, and in the second
story (the large space below in the basement story is
directly under this) is the Representatives' Chamber, that
will accommodate five hundred members, and sometimes
they have been more numerous. The Senate Chamber is
also in the second story, at the east end of the building,
and is sixty feet by fifty. At the west is a large
room for the meetings of the Grovernor and the Executive
Council, with a convenient ante-chamber."
The view from the top of the State House is very
extensive and variegated ; perhaps nothing in the country
is superior to it. To the east appears the bay and harbor
of Boston, interspersed with beautiful islands; and in the
distance beyond the wide-extended ocean. To the north
the eye is met by Charlestown, with its interesting and
memorable heights, and the Navy Yard of the United
States ; the towns of Chelsea, Maiden, and Medford, and
other villages, and the natural forests mingling in the
distant horizon. To the west is a fine view of the Charles
6
62 BOSTON SIGHTS.
river and a bay, the ancient town of Cambridge, rendered
venerable for the university, now above two hundred
years old ; of the flourishing villages of Cambridgeport
and East Cambridge (in the latter of which is a large
glass manufacturing establishment) ; of the highly-culti-vated
towns of Brighton, Brookline, and Newton ; and to
the south is Roxbury, which seems to be only a continu-ation
of Boston, and which is rapidly increasing ; Dor-chester,
a fine, rich, agricultural town, with Milton and
Quincy beyond, and still fiirther south the Blue Hills, at
the distance of eight or nine miles, which seem to bound
the prospect. The Common, stretching in front of the
capitol, with its numerous walks and flourishing trees,
where "the rich and the poor meet together," and the
humblest have the proud consciousness that they are free,
and, in some respects (if virtuous), on a level with the
learned and the opulent, adds greatly to the whole scene.
Large sums have recently been expended in additions
to the State House, both within and without. On the
lawns in front are two beautiful fountains. The design
of the enlargement was to obtain ? ^ ional fire-proof room
for the safety and security of the archives of the state
;
a library-room sufliciently commodious to satisfy the
wants of the present and future ; and additional accom-modations
for the several departments of the government,
including the agricultural bureau recently established.
THE STATE HOUSE. 63
The plan adopted comprised ante or committee rooms for
the use of the Senate and Council, and committee rooms
for the general use of the Legislature. The dimensions of
the library are as follows : Length, eighty-eight feet ; width,
thirty-seven feet ; height, thirty-six and a half feet. It is
fitted with galleries and alcoves, which will afford abun-dant
space for the accumulations of many future years.
The basement and fire-proof rooms beneath the library are
of the same dimensions as the latter, with the exception
of the height; and they will be sufficient to accommodate
the agricultural department, and to afford room and
security for the public archives. All the designs of
the plan, so far as. providing accommodations is con-cerned,
are fully carried out in the structure, which is
completely fire-proof, and built in the most substantial
and massive style. The wall of the basement story is of
" rusticated dressed granite," and the others of brick. A
large amount of iron is used in the structure, which gives
it an air of grandeur and solidity.
The best time to ascend the cupola is before eleven
o'clock, on a bright, clear day. Visitors are required to
inscribe their names on a register. There is no fee
demanded. »
One of the first objects that attract the attention of a
stranger, on entering the State House, is the statue of
Washington, by Sir F. Chantrey, which is placed in the
64 BOSTON SIGHTS.
rotunda. This statue was purchased by private subscrip-tion,
and was placed where it now stands in 1828.
Like nearly all the works of the distinguished sculptor,
in this production Chantrey has somewhat idealized his
subject. Washington is represented in a military cloak,
and so far all is correct enough, but the features are
scarcely those of the Father of his Country. Nevertheless,
as a work of art it is extremely fine, and reflects honor
on the public spirit of those who procured it.
The Hancock House.—Near the capitol, on the west,
is the mansion-house of the eminent patriot, the late John
Hancock, now exhibiting quite an ancient appearance
;
and on the east, about the same distance, was, until
recently, situated the dwelling of the late James Bow-
HANCOCK HOUSE. 65
doin, another patriot of tlie Revolution, a distinguished
scholar and philosopher, and who, by his firmness, in the
critical period of 1786, contributed most efficiently to the
preservation of order and tranquillity in the common-wealth.
The Hancock House is one of the celebrities of Boston,
and no stranger, who feels the patriotic impulse, fails to
pay it a visit.
It stands in Beacon-street, very near the State House,
and fronts the south, presenting a quaint and picturesque
appearance, embosomed, as it is, with shrubs, evergreens,
trees, and flowers. It is built of hewn stone, and raised
about thirteen feet above the street, the ascent being
through a garden. There it stands, beside its modern
neighbors, like a venerable grandsire surrounded by his
children's children, commanding respectful attention, and
even admiration. The front is fifty-six feet in breadth,
and it terminates in two lofty stories. Formerly there
was a delightful garden behind the house, ascending grad-ually
to the high lands in the rear.
In the governor's time we are told that in front of the
edifice " an hundred cows daily fed " on the Common.
A brave place for hospitality has that house been in old
times, when "the east wing formed a spacious hall, and
the west wing was appropriated to domestic purposes;
the whole embracing, with the stables, coach-houseS; and
66 BOSTON SIGHTS.
Other offices, an extent of two hundred and twenty feet."
There was also a glacis, in the days when Thomas Han-cock,
the governor's father, resided there ; but garden,
glacis, stables, and coach-houses, have made way for streets
and houses. The interior of the house is better preserved ;
and beneath its ancient roof reside descendants of the
governor. It is a pity that it should ever be razed to the
ground ; but it is to be feared that, by and by, the place
which now knows it will know it no more.
The Boston Water-Works.—A short walk on Beacon
Hill brings us to an enormous structure of massive granite
masonry, which will, if the stranger knows not its uses,
strike him with astonishment. It is not a jail, though it
somewhat resembles one; nor is it a warehouse, nor a
church. It is the great Beacon Hill Reservoir, into which
flows, from Cochituate Lake, formerly called Long Pond,
the water which supplies the city with the pure element.
The dimensions of this huge cistern are, on Derne-street, one
hundred and ninety-nine feet and three inches ; on Temple-street,
one hundred and eighty-two feet and eleven inches
;
on Hancock-street, one hundred and ninety-one feet seven
inches ; and on the rear of Mount Vernon-street, two
hundred and six feet and five inches. From the founda-tion
to the summit, exclusive of railing, it is on Derne-street
sixty-six feet, and on the rear of Mount Vernon-street
forty-three feet high. *
THE BOSTON WATER-WORKS. "
67
This building is an immense basin, or reservoir. It
rests on arches of immense strength, fourteen and tliree
fourths feet span. The basin holds 2,678,961 wine gal-lons
of water.
Two granite tablets are placed on the north side of th
Reservoir, with the following inscriptions
:
BOSTON WATER-WORKS.
BEGUN AUGUST, 1846. WATER INTRODUCED OCTOBER, 1848
JOSIAH QUmCY, JR., Mayor.
(NATHAN HALE,
COMMISSIONERS, ^ JAMES F. BALDWIN,
(THOMAS B. CURTIS.
BOSTON WATER- WORKS.
THE RESERVOIR COMPLETED NOVEMBER, 1849.
JOHN P. BIGELOW, Mayor.
f W. S. WHITWELL, East Div.
ENGINEERS, ^ E. S. CHESBROUGH, West Div.
(JOHN. B. JERVIS, Consulting.
CHAPTER VIII
BOSTON COMMON. OLD ELM. FROG PONDo
Were we to be asked, What is the great feature of !
Boston city, we should assuredly reply, Boston Common,
j
The parks of the British metropolis have not unaptly i
been termed the lungs of London. With equal appropri- ]
ateness the Common of Boston may be styled the great J
BOSTON COMMON. 69
breathing apparatus of Boston. In summer or in winter
those forty-eight acres of undulating ground, green with
grass or white with snow, constitute a favorite place of
resort. And when the noble trees that abound there ai-e
thick with foliage, no more deUghtful promenade than
those broad avenues beneath their interlacing boughs
could well be imagined.
A glance at the early history of the Common may not
Jbe uninteresting.
"In 1634, commissioners were chosen to dispose of un-occupied
lands. They were directed to leave out portions
for new comers and the further benefits of the town. The
Common was among the reserved portions, and became
pubHc property, as a training field and pasture. In 1833
a city ordinance appeared, forbidding its use as a pasturage,
and it has long since ceased to be a training field."
The citizens of Boston have always been proud of their
beautiful Common. Several times have attempts been
made to encroach upon it, but public opinion in each case
defeated the object, and it is not now probable that a single
foot of it will be misappropriated.
The American elm is celebrated abroad for its beauty,
and our Common has extremely beautiful groves of these
graceful trees, whose hanging boughs form arches on high,
which, either in summer, autumn, or winter, atti'act gen-eral
admiration for their fairv-like tracery '— Nature's own
70 BOSTON SIGHTS. ^ 1
\
draperj, woven by her most fantastic hands. Time and :
storm have dealt hardly with some of them, and they i
have been felled and supplanted by others, where repair !
was impossible. The extreme hardness of the malls has 1
operated injuriously upon the roots of many of them, and :
canker worms have occasionally made too free among the i
branches ; but great and judicious care and expense have j
done much to remedy these evils ; and the full foliage of ]
the Common, now shading the numerous paths with the •
magnificent garniture of their verdure, affords ample '
reward for years of intelligent husbandry. i
The richness of the soil on our Common has been one ;
reason why the multitude of trees which decorate it have i
been so long preserved in vigor and beauty. In the sum-mer
season the Common presents its most lovely aspect
;
'
all the malls are crowned with rich green canopies, and \
the carpet spread by Nature at man's feet is of the amplest \
and freshest verdure. The birds and squirrels frolic un- i
harmed amid the broad, ancient boughs, and the malls,
which intersect the undulating surface of the lawn, add i
vastly to its ornate appearance. The cathedral-like arches i
which overtop the elm-lined malls are ever charming to :
the artistic eye ; and indeed it is a question Math some i
whether they do not look as beautiful in their winter ;
robes, when the network of spray-like twigs is frosted over
with the fleece of snow, or a crystalline coating of ice ,|
THE GREAT ELM. 71
glistens with prismatic splendors in the sunlight. Truly,
the care which has been bestowed upon the Common has
been amply repaid.
Two of the walks in Boston were formerly designated
by the names Geeat Mall and Little Mall. The
Great Mall borders the eastern edge of the Common, and
the Little Mall the eastern edge of the Granary or Park
Street burying ground. The last named was planted with
EngHsh elms by Colonel Adino Paddock, in 1770. They
are therefore more than eighty years old. The trees in
^the Great Mall were planted, as appears from the plans,
between 1722 and 1729. Those that remain are therefore
about one hundred and thirty years old. The trees on
the Little Mall were a mixture of elms and buttonwoods.
Mr. Paddock was a loyalist, left Boston in 1776, and set-tled
in Nova Scotia, where his descendants still live.
The Great Elm is one of the hons —perhaps the
lion—of Boston Common. Still hale and strong, it
stands about the centre of the green, and is supposed,
from various data, to be upwards of two hundred years
old.
In 1825 it was sixty-five feet high, the circumference at
thirty inches from the ground being twenty-one feet eight
inches, and the spread of branches eighty-six feet. Li
1855 it was measured, and found to be seventy-two and a
half feet in height ; height of first branch from the ground,
72 BOSTON SIGHTS.
twentj-two and a half feet ; girth four feet from the ground,
seventeen feet; average diameter of greatest spread of
branches, one hundred and one feet. This shows that the
elm has grown considerably within the last quarter of a
century.
But this colossal plant has more interesting features
than its age or size, though they are great.
SUMMER ELM.
There was once a powder magazine near this tree, on
the little hill at whose foot it stands. This hill, also, dur-ing
the siege of Boston, was the site of a British fortifica-tion,
bombarded by Washington.
THE GREAT ELM. 73
In the war of 1812 its existence was endangered by the
encampment around it of American troops, destined to
protect the town. It has often been exposed to injury by
the custom of hanging and burning effigies upon its giant
branches ; and many turbulent occasions, on Election and
Independence days, have exposed the tree to violence.
•WINTER ELM.
Severe tempests have at times threatened to annihilate
this tree; and in 1831 or 1832 a violent storm separated
four of its large limbs, and so far detached them that they
rested partially upon the ground. They were raised and
bolted together ; the bolts are still visible, and the branches,
7 %
74 BOSTON SIGHTS.
at- the end of twenty-five years, appear to be perfectly
united.
For many years the interior of the trunk was rotten,
and much of it had disappeared, from neglect ; but finally
the spirit of improvement, which came upon the Common,
extended to the great tree, and the edges of the aperture
were protected, and the exterior covered by canvas. The
parts have thus been regenerated, and the opening filled
and obUterated.
Notwithstanding the years that have rolled over the
veteran colossus, it still presents an aspect of grandeur
which will ever be the admiration of the beholder. Dr.
Warren remarks, in his book upon the Great Tree,—
This tree, therefore, we must venerate as a visible
relic of the Indian Shawmut, for all its other native trees
and groves have been long since prostrated. The frail
and transient memorials of the aborigines have vanished
;
even the hills of Trimountain cannot be distinguished;
and this native noble elm remains to present a substantial
association of the existing with the former ages of Boston."
A handsome iron fence now surrounds it, through which
entrance is had by a gate. Flowers adorn the little circle
enclosed at its foot, seeming to pay the homage of beauty
to majesty ; and squirrels gambol among its branches, in
which a shelter and food are provided for them. The fol-lowing
inscription is on the fence ;—
THE GREAT ELM. 75
THE OLD ELM.
This tree has been standing
here for an unknown period.
It is beheved to have existed be-fore
the settlement of Boston, be-ing
full grovm in 1722. Exhibited
marks of old age in 1792, and was
nearly destroyed by a storm in
1832. Protected by an iron
fence in 1854. J. V. C.
Smith, Mayor.
The following lines, dedicated to the old Elm Tree on
Boston Common, by Geo. E. Rice, originally appeared in
the Saturday Evening Gazette.
TO THE GREAT ELM TREE ON BOSTON COMMON.
When first from mother Earth you sprung,
Ere Chaucer, Spenser, Shakespeare sung,
Or Puritans had come among
The savages to loose each tongue
In psalms and prayers.
These forty acres, more or less,
Now gayly clothed in Nature's dress,
Where Yankees walk, and brag, and guess,
Was but a " howling wilderness "
Of wolves and bears.
Say, did you start with the presenti-
Ment that you'd e'er be the centre
Of all that's known
76 . BOSTON SIGHTS.
About the sciences and arts ?
For we are men of mighty parts,
And strangers say that Boston hearts
With pride are blown
;
And fondly deem their Httle state
To be "jaar excellence " the great,
And look with pity
And sore contempt on those who say
That Europe boasts a to^^^l to-day
That's not surpassed in every way
By Boston City.
What wondrous changes you have seen
Since you put forth your primal green
And tender shoot
;
Three hundred years your life has spanned,
Yet cahn, serene, erect you stand,
Of great renown throughout the land,
Braced up with many an iron band,
And showing marks of Time's hard hand
From crown to root.
You, when a slender sapHng, saw
The persecuted reach this shore.
And in their turn
Treat others as themselves were treated.
To mete the measure that's been meted.
And cheat if he has e'er been cheated.
How does man yearn
!
Of tales perchance devoid of truth,
With wliich they would, in early youth,
My heart appall.
THE GREAT ELM. 77
"Was one the gossips used to tell
About a witch so grim and fell,
That here was hung for raising—well,
It wasn't Saul.
Since you beheld the light of day,
A race of men has passed away
—
A warlike nation.
Who, oft with fire water plied.
Lost all their bravery and pride,
And yielded to the rapid stride
Of annexation.
Behold, a mightier race appears.
And high a vast republic rears
Her giant features,
And westward steadily we drive
The few poor Indians who survive,
And barely keep the race alive—
Degenerate creatures.
For are we not the mighty lords
And masters of all savage hordes.
In our opinion ?
And when we with inferiors deal,
'Tis well to use the iron heel.
And make them wince, and writhe, and feel
'fheir lords' dominion.
You heard the first rebellious himi
Of voices, and the fife and drum
Of revolution,
7*
78 BOSTON SIGHTS.
And heard the bells and welkin ring,
When they threw off great George, their king.
And much improved by that same thing
Their constitution.
And you still thrive and live to see
The country prosperous and free,
In spite of all
The very sage prognostications
Of prophets in exalted stations,
Who could foresee the fate of nations,
And said she'd fall.
You've seen both the tremendous spread
Of commerce, and of those it made
Rich and ambitious.
Who flaunt with parvenu's true pride,
And in their showy coaches ride,
With arms emblazoned on the side,
Which any herald who descried
Would deem flagitious.
Majestic tree ! You've seen much worth
From little Boston issue forth,
And know some men
Who love their kind, and give their store
To help the suffering and the poor,
Nor drive the beggar from their door.
Heaven bless such hearts, and give them more,
I pray again.
And you shall see much more beside,
Ere to your root, old Boston's pride,
The axe is laid.
THE FROG POND. 79
And long, I trust, the time mil be,
Ere mayor and comicil sit on thee,
And find with unanimity
That you're decayed
;
For you are still quite hale and stanch,
Though here and there perhaps a branch
Is shghtly rotten
;
And you will stand and hold your sway
When he who pens this rhyme to-day
Shall mingle with the common clay,
And be forgotten.
The Frog Pond, now called " Cochituate Lake by
super-genteel people, or, as it has been called, " Quincy
80 BOSTON SIGHTS.
Lake," is situated near the Old Elm Tree, whose roots it
has moistened for so many years. The original form has
long been changed, and the natural pond in which the boys
fished for minnows and horn-pout is now supplied from
Cochituate Lake ; and in one portion a fountain sends up
its sparkling waters to the height of over ninety feet. A
variety of jets are connected with it at pleasure ; and
nothing can be more charming than the effect produced
on a summer's evening, when bands discourse sweet
music, and the strains blend with the sound of falling
waters : the effect is inexpressibly beautiful. Then is the
time to see Boston Common and its tiny silver lake.
CHAPTER IX.
PUBLIC GARDEN. PROVIDENCE DEPOT. PUBLIC
LIBRARY.
The Public Garden is situated at the foot of the
Common, and contains about twenty acres. Like its
neighbor, all walks and beauties are open to the inspec-tion
and enjoyment of visitors. Menageries and circuses
often pitch their tents here, and hold forth to the great
delight of the curious. Close by, on Pleasant Street, is
The Providence Railroad Depot, a fine brick
structure, and rather striking in its architecture. The
interior arrangements are good, and unusually convenient.
This road is forty-three miles in length, and, joined with
the " Stonington Line," which is properly a continuation
of it, connects Boston with Long Island Sound. The
branch roads uniting with this are the Dedham, Stough-ton,
Taunton, and Attleboro' roads.
Cars leave the depot, in Boston for Providence daily,
stopping at Roxbury^ which is two miles from the city,
Jamaica Plain, three and a half miles.
Canton, fourteen miles from Boston, is a beautifully-
(81)
82 BOSTON SIGHTS.
diversified and picturesque town, watered by tlie Neponset
River, which, with the numerous ponds in its vicinity,
gives it an extensive water power. The raiboad bridge
which crosses the river at Canton is one of the finest
pieces of masonry in the country. It is of hewn granite,
is six hundred and twelve feet long, and elevated sixty-three
feet above the foundation, resting on- six arches, withJ
a succession of arches on top. Its cost exceeded ninety j
thousand dollars. '
Sharon, seventeen and a half miles from Boston, occu- i
pies the highest land between Boston and Providence, j
PUBLIC LIBRARY. 83
I
Its natural scenery is exceedingly fine. Mashapoag Pond,
a beautiful sheet of water over a mile in length, rests upon
a bed of iron ore. During the low stages of the water,
the ore is extracted by machines made for tKe purpose.
Fishing and pleasure parties frequent this pond in the
summer season.
Mansfield is twenty-four miles, Attleboro' thirty-one
miles, Pawtucket thirty-nme miles, and Providence forty-three
and a half miles from Boston.
^
The Public Library building of the city of Boston
is situated on Boylston Street, opposite the Common,
84 BOSTON SIGHTS i
(although the library itself temporarily reposes in Mason ]
Street, until the new building is quite ready for its recep-tion.)
The building was designed by Mr. Charles Ku*by, ]
and is eighty-two feet in front, one hundred and twenty- i
eight feet deep, and two stories in height, besides the base- \
ment. The loM^er or basement story is situated below the i
level of the sidewalk. !
The first story of the building contains the large hall
j
of entrance, Avhich opens directly into the room for distri-bution,
which occupies the central part of the story. It
is intended to serve also as a conversation room. This
room is connected with a large hall in the rear of the
building, having a gallery and twenty alcoves, calculated
to contain about forty thousand of the books most fre-quently
demanded for use. On the front of the building,
and entered only from the room of dehvery, are two read-ing
rooms, one on the east for ladies, and one on the west,
amply supplied with the periodicals of the day, for gen-eral
use.
The second or principal story is one hall, approached
by visitors only by the staircase in the entrance hall.
This hall, which by calculation will contain more than two
hundred thousand volumes, has ten alcoves on each of its
sides,"* and the same number in each of its galleries, mak-ing
sixty alcoves in all. Each alcove contains ten ranges
of shelves, and each range ten shelves. The object of
PUBLIC LIBRARY. 85
this decimal arrangement of shefves is to simplify all the
details connected with the library.
Beneath the principal story, and immediately over the
delivery room, is a half story, designed for workrooms
and storerooms. At the corners on the rear of the build-ing
are towers for stairs and other conveniences.
The buildmg is constructed of brick, and the ornamen-tal
portions are of sandstone. The whole building is
strictly fire-proof; even the floors are constructed of brick
and iron, and no wood enters into their construction. The
corner stone was laid with great ceremony on the 17th of
September, 1855. The Hbrary contains thirty-three thou-sand
volumes, and is free to all of good reputation residing
in the city.
8
CHAPTER X.
WORCESTER DEPOT AND ROAD. OLD COLONY AND
, FALL RIVER DEPOT AND ROAD.
Leaving the Public Library, a stroll through Boylston
Street, (passing the spot where the Liberty Tree once
grew,) down Beach Street, brings us to The Boston and
Worcester Railroad Depot. It is a very plain
(86)
WORCESTER DEPOT AND ROAD. 87
brick building, but covering a large area of ground, facing
on Kiieeland Street, with entrances and exits on Kneelandj
Albany, and Lincoln Streets. The accommodations are
spacious, and the arrangements so well made that the
stranger, on his arrival, is not in danger of being pulled
in pieces by officious hackmen, for here each has his place
and must keep it. The vicinity of this depot presents a
busy scene on the arrival and departure of the New York
and Albany trains, and it is well worth the walk to wit-ness
it. The branch roads uniting with this road are, the
Brookline, Newton Lower Falls, and Saxonville ; the Mil-ford
branch, from South Framingham depot to Milford
;
the Millbury branch, from Grafton to Millbury ; and the
Agricultural, from South Framingham to Marlboro'.
Brighton, the first stopping place on this route, five
miles from Boston, is a pleasant town on the south side
of Charles River. It is noted for its cattle market, the
largest in New England. Monday is the market day,
when buyers and sellers congregate in large numbers to
traffic in live stock. This town has become the residence
of many persons of wealth and taste, who occupy beauti-ful
country seats, with splendid gardens attached. Win-ship's
Garden is famed for its nursery of fine fruit trees
and shrubbery, and for its grand display of fruits and
flowers of every variety. It is free to visitors.
Newton is both an agricultural and a manufacturing
88 BOSTON SIGHTS.
town. Its borders are washed by Charles River for sev-eral
miles. There are two sets of falls on that river in
this town, two miles apart, called the Upper and Lower
Falls, on which are extensive paper mills, and other man-ufacturing
estabHshments. There is a Theological Semi-nary
here, established in 1825.
Needham is now quite a manufacturing town, having
several paper mills, a chocolate mill, a coach and car
manufactory, and manufactories of shoes, hats, &c. It
has also quarries of stone, which are becoming yearly
more valuable.
Natick, seventeen miles distant from the city, (called by
the Indians " the place of hills,") is watered in part by
Charles River ; it contains several delightful ponds, well
stored wuth fish. The southern part of Long Pond is in
this town, and is seen from the cars while passing. The
first Indian church in New England was established here
in 1660, under the direction of the apostle Ehot.
Framingham, twenty-one miles from Boston, has the
Sudbury River passing through its centre. Its fishing,
fowling, and other sports make it an agreeable place of
resort.
Hopkinton is twenty-four miles from Boston, and Graf-ton
thirty-eight miles. The Western, Nashua, Norwich,
and several other routes pass over this road, and through
Worcester, to gain Boston.
OLD COLONY DEPOT AND ROAD. 89
Not fai' from this depot stands The Old Colony
AND Fall River Depot, at the corner of Kneeland and
South Streets. It is a plain, substantial building of brick,
and very convenient. This road was opened for travel
on the 19th of November, 1845, and extends from Boston
to Fall River, and from Braintree to Plymouth. The
branch roads connecting with it are the South Shore, Cape
Cod, Milton, Middleboro', and Taunton roads.
South Boston, the first stopping place, was, formerly a
part of Dorchester, and is connected with Boston by two
bridges, and also by the Old Colony and Fall River Rail-
8*
90 BOSTON SIGHTS. •
i
road. - Dorchester, four miles from Boston, lies on Dor- <
Chester Bay, in Boston harbor. It is under a high state i
of cultivation—fruits, vegetables, and flowers being raised
]
here in great abundance ; and tliis town, in consequence of
the facilities for reaching Boston, has become a favorite
place of residence for many of its citizens.
Neponset Village, five miles from Boston, situated in "\
the town of Dorchester, is on the Neponset River, near J
its mouth. It has considerable trade, and the population •
is rapidly increasing. ^
Quincy, eight miles from Boston, is situated on Quincy ]
Bay, in Boston harbor. The village, which is built on an i
elevated plain, is remarkable for its neatness and beauty.
J
The ancestral estate of the Quincy family, one of the
most beautiful residences in New England, is in this town.
In a church in the village, erected in 1828 at a cost of
forty thousand dollars, is a beautifiil monument to the ;
memory of John Adams and his wife. This town sup- '
phes the " Quincy granite," noted for its durabihty and i
beauty. Immense quantities are annually quarried and ;
sent to various parts of the United States. I
The first railway constructed in this country was in ;
Quincy, it being a short line of four miles, completed in
j
1827. It was built for the purpose of conveying granite .
quarried in the Granite Hills to vessels lying in the Ne- !
ponset River, and still remains in use. Of course horse
|
power only was used. I
OLD COLONY DEPOT AND ROAD. 91
North Braintree is ten and a half miles from Boston,
Braintree eleven and a half, South Weymouth fifteen,
North Abington eighteen, Abington nineteen and a quar-ter.
South Abington twenty-one. North Hanson twenty-three
and a quarter, Hanson twenty-four and three quar-ters,
Plympton thirty, Kingston thirty-three.
Plymouth, the termmus of the Old Colony road, is
thirty-seven miles from Boston, and is celebrated as being
the landing place of the "Pilgi-ims," who disembarked
here on the 22d of December, 1620. It is the oldest
town in New England. Pilgrim Hall, the building most
worthy of notice, contains a valuable painting represent-ing
the landing of the Pilgrims from the " Mayflow^er." It
is thirteen by sixteen feet, and is valued at three thousand
dollars. The cabinet of the Pilgrim Society contains
many valuable antiquities. From Burying Hill, in the
rear of the town, which is elevated one hundred and sixty
feet above the level of the sea, is a fine view of the vil-lage,
the harbor, and shipping beyond, with the coast for
some miles in extent. " Plymouth Rock," a deeply inter-esting
spot to New Englanders, is near the termination of
Leyden Street. The town contains about two hundred
ponds ; the largest, called Billington Sea, is about six
miles in circumference. It is two miles south-west of
the village, and contains a good supply of pickerel and
perch.
92 BOSTON SIGHTS.
The National Monument to the Forefathers, a
description of which we take from the Boston Ahnanac of
1856, is to be erected here. The design comprises an
octagonal pedestal, eighty-three feet high, upon which
stands a figure of Faith, rising to the height of seventy
feet above the platform of the pedestal, so that the whole
monument will rise one hundred and fifty-three feet above
the earth upon which it rests. Faith is represented as
standing upon a rock, holding in her left hand an open
Bible, while the other hand is uplifted towards heaven.
OLD COLONY DEPOT AND ROAD. 93
From the four smaller faces of the main pedestal project
wings or buttresses, upon which are seated figures em-blematic
of the principles upon which the Pilgrim Fathers
proposed to found their commonwealth. These are Moral-ity,
Law, Education, and Freedom. The sides of the
seats upon which they sit are decorated with niches, in
which are statues appropriate to the figures above.
Upon the larger faces of the main pedestal are panels,
which are intended to contain records of the names of the
Pilgi'ims of the Mayflower, the events of the voyage, the
prominent events in the early history of the colony, and
the events which occurred previous to their departure from
Delft Haven. Upon smaller panels, placed below these,
are to be inscribed events connected with the Pilgrim So-ciety
and the erection of the monument, with an appro-priate
dedication. Upon the faces of the wing pedestals
are panels designed to contain alto-reliefe of the departure
from Delft Haven, the signing of the social compact in the
cabin of the Mayflower, the landing at Plymouth, and the
first treaty with the Indians.
In the main pedestal is a chamber twenty-four f^et in
diameter, and from the floor of this a stone staircase leads
to the platform upon which stands the principal figure.
The pedestal is eighty feet in diameter at the base, and
the sitting figures upon the wings are forty feet high in
their position. The figures in the panels are eighteen feet
94 BOSTON SIGHTS.
in height. In magnitude the monument will far exceed
any monumental structure of modern times, and will •
equal those stupendous works of the Egyptians which for
forty centuries have awed the world by their grandeur.
The figure of Faith will be larger than any known statue
excepting that of the great Ramses, now overthrown, and
the Colossus of Rhodes ; and the sitting figures are nearly
equal in size to the two statues of Ramses in the plain of
Luxor. The architect of the monument is Mr. Hammatt
Billings, and it is to be erected at Plymouth under the
auspices of the Pilgrim Association.
CHAPTER XI.
BOSTON THEATRE. MELODEON.—BOSTON SOCIETY OF
NATURAL HISTORY.
Returning to Washington Street, a short walk brings
us to the Boston Theatre, one of the finest places of
amusement in the world, and by far the most beautiful in
America. It is situated on Washington and Mason Streets.
The entrance front on the former is a simple three story-building,
twenty-four feet in width, covered with mastic,
and with no attempt at architectural display. On enter-ing,
the visitor ascends the inclined plane of a spacious
and elegant outer vestibule, the walls of which, hand-somely
ornamented, support a finely-arched ceiling. Here
we procure tickets, and enter the inner vestibule ; before
us is a circular staircase, nine feet in width ; ascending,
we find it conducts to the first and second circles. Enter-ing
the auditorium, we find it to be about ninety feet in
diameter, and circular in form, except that it slightly flat-tens
in the direction of the stage; the depth from the
curtain to the back of the parquet being eighty-four feet.
The front of the stage projects into the auditorium eighteen
(95)
96 BOSTON SIGHTS.
feet, and the height of the auditorium is about fifty-four
feet. There are proscenium boxes on either side of the
stage, handsomely draped. A space of ten or twelve feet
from the parquet wall, and nearly parallel with the front
of the first tier, is separated and somewhat raised from the
middle portion of the house, the whole parquet floor,
V
BOSTON THEATRE. 97
however, being constructed in a dishing form, and varying
several feet. Ai'ound the auditorium above are the first
and second tiers, the gallery, and hanging in front, a little
below the first tier or dress circle, is a light balcony con-taining
two rows of seats.
In the parquet and balcony there are iron-framed
chairs, cushioned on the back, seat, and arms, and so con-trived
that the seat rises when not in use ; and the first
and second tiers are furnished with oaken-framed sofas,
covered with crimson plush, and the amphitheatre with
iron-framed and cushioned settees. The walls of the
auditorium are of a rose tint; the fronts of the balcony
and the second cu'cle are elaborately and tasteftiUy or-namented,
and the frescoed ceiling embraces in its de-sign
allegorical representations of the twelve months.
Adding to the effect of the painting, the ceihng is deco-rated
with composition ornaments, many of them richly
gilded. In front, over the stage, is a splendid clock, with
a movable dial.
Retm^ning to the vestibule, we turn to the right, under
the arches, and reach the parquet lobby. Passing through
this apartment, we reach the saloon and dressing rooms of
this story. The parquet corridor is gained by turning
to the left, through the arches, until we arrive at the foot
of the grand oaken staircase^ which is built of soUd oak,
and separates on a broad landing into two branches, nine
9
98 BOSTON SIGHTS.
feet in width, which terminate in the dress circle lohhy.
Opposite the staircase are open arches communicating
with the grand promenade saloon, which is forty-six feet
long, twenty-six feet wide, and twenty-six feet high, and
tastefully finished with ornamented walls and ceiling, and
is elegantly furnished. The corridors to the several stories
extend entirely round the auditorium.
The stage side of the theatre is on Mason Street, and
the doors and arches, breaking the sameness of the brick
wall, comprise a passage leading to the carpenter's shop
BOSTON THEATRE. 99
and steam works, a set of double doors for the introduc-tion
of horses, carriages, &c., should such ever be required
for the purposes of the stage, a private door for the use |
of the actors, and an audience entrance at the corner of j
the buildiQg nearest West Street. ;
The stage is sixty-seven feet deep from the curtain,
and, calculated from the extreme front, or foot lights,
measures eighty-five feet. The curtain opening is about
forty-eight feet in width by forty-one in height. There is
a depth of some thirty feet below the stage, and the height
from the stage to the fly floor is sixty-six feet. These dis-
100 BOSTON SIGHTS.
tances allow the raising and lowering of scenes without
hinges or joints, the use of which soon injures their ap-pearance.
There are seven rows of side scenes, or wings,
with considerable space beyond the most remote, for per-spective.
The stage is provided with traps, bridges, and
all imaginable contrivances for effect, and is believed to
unite more improvements, and to be the best arranged of
any structure of the kind in this country. The green-room,
on the level of the stage, is a decidedly comfortable
looking apartment, thirty-four by eighteen feet, neatly fin-ished
and tinted, handsomely carpeted, and furnished
around the sides with cushioned seats, covered with dark-grjeen
enamelled cloth. Adjoining it is a small "star"
dressing room, appropriately fitted, and near by is an
apartment for the manager, also a small property room.
Above these are the actors* dressing rooms, furnished with
water, heating apparatus, and all necessary conveniences
;
and still higher is the stage wardrobe room.
On the other side of the stage there are additional
dressing rooms ; above these a spacious property store-room.
Below the extreme front of the stage is located
the usual apartment for the use of the orchestra, with side
rooms for the storage of music, instruments, &c. Farther
back is a large dressing room for the supernumeraries,
and two or three stories of cellars arranged for the recep-tion
of scenes from above, and for a variety of other pur-
SOCIETY OF NATURAL HISTORY. lOl
poses. The walls separating the stage from the audito-rium
are of brick, and considered fire-proof, while the cur-tain
opening is provided with a safety screen of iron net-work,
balanced by weights, and managed with machinery
so arranged as to be operated from either side of the cur-tain
wall. Should any portion of the stage or its sur-roundings
ever take fire during a performance, this curtain
can be immediately lowered, and afford complete protec-tion
to an audience.
Close to the entrance on Washington Street is the Melo-
DEON, a small, comfortable hall, used for religious, pano-ramic,
and other exhibitions.
The rooms of the Boston Society of Natural
History are in the brick building adjoining the Boston
Theatre, in Mason Street. They are nine in number.
One of them is occupied by the librarian, and each of
the others by objects of interest in the different depart-ments
of natural history. All who desii-e have free
access to the cabinet every Wednesday ; and strangers in
the city, who cannot conveniently visit it on that day, can
obtain admission at any time by application to an officer
of the society. The main room, which is entered from
the first floor, contains skeletons of different animals from
all parts of the world, from that of the huge mastodon to
the slender bones of the sprightly squirrel. In an ante-room
are cases filled with rare specimens of geology and
9*
102 BOSTON SIGHTS.
mineralogy. Around the main room' is a light iron bal-cony,
giving access to the glass cases, which are likewise
filled with things strange and wonderful from all parts of
the known world. Here are skulls and mummies, fishes
and serpents, fossil remains and foot marks of those huge
animals that walked, or birds that flew, before Adam arose
from kindred earth. Ascending to the next story, we
enter a room nearly filled with every variety of birds,
from the albatross to the minute humming bird, while in
the centre are long cases filled with eggs of the different
species, and many kinds of nests. One of the anterooms
is filled with shells, seemingly in endless variety, while
specimens of moss, sponges, corals, and aquatic plants
enliven the collection with their singular beauty. Another
anteroom is filled with fishes. In yet another room the
various members of the serpent family are preserved.
Here we may see the enormous boa, the fairy green snal^e,
the agile black snake, the famed hooded snake of India,
and' the poisonous copper head of our own country. Here,
also, is the fascinating rattlesnake, and such numbers of
the creeping race that a crawling feeling comes over us,
and we quit the room with a feeling of relief.
Many strangers leave the city without seeing the splen-did
cabinet of this society, and many residents are not
even aware of its existence. But whether resident or
stranger, the visitor will be well repaid for the expendi-ture
of time.
SOCIETY OF NATURAL HISTORY. 103
The library belonging to the Massachusetts* Society of
Natural History contains several thousand volumes and
a number of valuable manuscripts. The society hold
monthly meetings, and several of their proceedings have
been published. The institution now owns the building
which was formerly occupied by the Massachusetts Medi-cal
College; but the building has been remodelled, to
adapt it to its present purposes. The whole estate cost
about thirty thousand dollars, which was obtained by sub-scription
from the hberal citizens of Boston.
CHAPTER XII.
MERCANTILE LIBRARY. LOWELL INSTITUTE. ORD-WAY
HALL. BRATTLE STREET CHURCH.
The Mercantile Library Association occupies the
second floor in Mercantile Building, at the comer of Haw-ley
and Summer Streets, the main entrance being from
the latter.
The Newspaper Room, which occupies the front of the
building, facing on Summer Street, is about fifty feet
square, and is ftirnished with twenty-two stands for papers,
made in the most approved form, and handsomely finished.
These stands are supplied with one hundred and sixty
newspapers, comprising nearly all of the better class of
daily papers throughout the country, and a well-selected
list of foreign weekUes and dailies, offering the largest
and best selection of any reading room in New England.
Besides the facilities for gathering news, there are other
attractions to interest visitors. Facing you, as you enter,
hangs a fine copy of Stuart's Washington, a gift from the
Hon. Edward Everett; and around the walls are sus-pended
portraits of Webster, Hamilton, Vespucius, Colum-
(105)
106 BOSTON SIGHTS.
bus, and some of our much-honored citizens of Boston,
viz. : Thomas H. Perkins, Peter C. Brooks, David
Sears, William Gray, Thomas C. Amory, and Robert
G. Shaw.
Prominent among the attractions and ornaments of the
room stands the marble statue of the " Wounded Indian,"
by Peter Stephenson. This truly American work, aside
from its excellence as a work of art, is celebrated as being
the first statue executed in the marble of this country, and
also as being the only piece of sculpture on exhibition at
the World's Fair at London that was designed and com-pleted
in the United States.
Passing from the Reading Room, you enter the periodi-cal
room. This room is about one third as large as the
other, and is furnished with ten reading tables and a con-venient
table in the centre, on which are displayed the
periodicals. There are also cases on one side of the
room, filled with encyclopaedias, lexicons, and other works
of reference.
Adjoining the Newspaper Room is a small cabinet con-taining
the curiosities belonging to the association, as well
as those belonging to the Marine Society.
The library room is seventy-five feet four inches long,
by twenty feet six inches wide. The books are arranged
on the walls and in twenty-two alcoves extending from the
walls on both sides, leaving a clear passage through the
MERCANTILE LIBRARY. 107
centre of six feet in width. The present shelving of the
library will contain twenty-five thousand volumes. Its
capacity may be doubled by means of a light gallery,
accessible by an iron circular stairway. The number of
volumes in the library at present is eighteen thousand,
and is increasing at the rate of two thousand annually.
By the terms of the constitution, any person engaged
in mercantile pursuits, who is more than fourteen years of
age, may become a member of the association by the pay-ment
of two dollars annually. Persons not engaged in
mercantile pursuits may become subscribers, and be enti-tled
to all the privileges of members, except that of voting,
b}' the payment of two dollars ; and ladies may become
subscribers on the same terms.
Mercantile Hall will accommodate about seven hundred
persons, is centrally located, easy of access, and lighted
from the ceiling. It is well ventilated, and furnished v/itli
two anterooms on each side of the rostrum. It is a pleas-ant,
cheerful room, and remarkably well adapted by its
construction for a lecture or concert room, and is in much
demand for these purposes.
The main entrance to the hall is from Summer Street,
by a broad and independent passage way from the top of
the staircase, which renders it unnecessary for persons to
pass through the other rooms in order to enter the hall.
There is another entrance from Hawley Street; and by
108 BOSTON SIGHTS.
this passage ladies who come to the library for books,
and do not wish to pass through the reading and period-ical
rooms, can reach the hbrarian's desk.
A course of lectures is delivered before the association
each winter by talented speakers. Tickets, admitting a
gentleman and lady, are sold only to members. The pop-ularity
of these lectures has been so great, that, although
delivered in the largest hall in the city, it has been found
necessary on several occasions, within a few years, to
establish two courses in order to accommodate all the
applicants for tickets.
This institution is the oldest of all the Mercantile Li-brary
Associations in the country, having been founded in
March, 1820. Among the many institutions founded in
this city for intellectual, moral, and social improvement,
none are exerting a more beneficial influence, or are more
firmly established in the confidence of the people.
The Lowell Institute, with an entrance from Wash-ington
Street, is the next object of interest. It was founded
by John Lowell, Jr., Esq., for the support of regular courses
of popular and scientific lectures. The sum bequeathed
for this purpose amounts to about two hundred and fifty
thousand dollars. By his will he provides for the main-tenance
and support of pubhc lectures on natural and
revealed religion, physics and chemistry, with their appli-cation
to the arts, and on geology, botany, and other use-
ORDWAY HALL. BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 109
ful subjects. These lectures are all free. The season for
delivering them is from October to April, during which
period four or five courses (of twelve lectures each) are
usually delivered. Mr. Lowell died at Bombay in March,
1836, in the thirty-seventh year of his age.
Ordwat Hall is situated in Province House Court.
The building is very old; and when Massachusetts was
a province, the colonial governors resided here. The
king's coat of arms, that once adorned this building, is
still treasured in the rooms of the Massachusetts Histor-ical
Society, and seems to have suffered more from the
tooth of time than the stanch old building it once adorned.
Perhaps the smoke from Lexington and Concord dimmed
its bright colors, tarnished its gilding, and caused it to
be laid aside forever. The walls of this old house, that
once echoed with kings' decrees, eloquent speeches, and
loyal toasts, now ring with the gay laugh, tender songs,
and humorous jests of the negro minstrel. The hall,
under the management of Mr. Ordway, has become de-servedly
popular, as order is preserved, and all that may
offend banished.
Brattle Street Church stands in Brattle Square.
The first house of worship, a wooden building, was taken
down in May, 1772, to make room for the present one,
which was built upon the same spot, and consecrated July
10
110 BOSTON SIGHTS.
25, 1773. In the front wall, near a window, may be seen
j
the veritable cannon ball shot from Washington's camp in ;
Cambridge, at the time Boston was in possession of the ..
British.
f^MnS
CHAPTER XIII
HOWARD ATHEN^UM. BOWDOIN SQUARE. NATIONAL
THEATRE. — LOWELL DEPOT.-— EASTERN RAILROAD
DEPOT. FITCHBURG DEPOT COPP'S HILL. MAINE
DEPOT.
The Howard Athen^um is centrally located, and
fronts on Howard Street, occupying the spot where once
stood the house in which Governor Eustis died. The the-atre,
although not large, is one of the most comfortable
places of amusement in the city, and is deservedly popular.
Not far from here is Bowdoin Square, surrounded by
some of the finest buildings in Boston. On one side rise
the lofty walls of the " princely Revere ; " on another,
" Coolidge Block," (a splendid building of stone,) the strong
granite walls of Bowdoin Square Church, the " United
States Courts" which occupy the " old Parhman mansion"
and massive " Gore Block ; " while from the centre start
tlie cars for Cambrmge, Mount Auburn, &c. There are
several objects of interest not properly in the route we
have marked out, and perhaps it were as well to diverge
here, although obliged to return.
(Ill)
112 BOSTON SIGHTS.
The National Theatre, fronting on Traverse Street,
is one hundred and twenty feet long by seventy-five feet
wide, exclusive of saloons, refreshment rooms, &c., which
are spacious and convenient. The leading architectural
features are Doric, presenting broad pilasters with slight
projections on the front, which support an. unbroken en-tablature
and a pediment eighteen feet high at each end.
The roof is covered with slate and ziitc, and is surmounted
by an octagonal lantern, twelve feet in diameter and
eighteen feet high, having a window on each of its sides.
The structure is covered on the exterior walls with cement,
BOSTON AND LOWELL DEPOT. 113
in imitation of freestone, which gives a uniform and beau-ful
appearance.
The main ceiling of the interior is a single arch, of
fifty-live feet span, rising within nine feet of the ridge.
The gallery is entirely above the level cornice of the
building, having an arched ceiling, which rises five feet
higher than the main ceiling, and is ventilated by a large
round window placed in the centre of the tympanum.
The proscenium presents an opening forty feet wide and
thirty-three feet high. The circle of boxes is so arranged
that in every part of the house a full view is had of the
stage. The pit is unusually large, and although removed
for many years^ has been reinstated, and now contains
about five hundred seats. The National has been a very
popular theatre, and in the hands of a good manager is
always profitable.
The Boston, and Lovtell Depot, at the foot of
Lowell Street, is a plain brick building, with no preten-sions
to architectural elegance. The length of the road ^
proper is twenty-six miles. The branch road connecting
is the Woburn Branch. The towns passed through on the
road to Lowell are,—
East Cambridge, a flourishing place, with many exten-sive
manufactories, of which the glass works are the most
important.
Somerville, three miles distant.
10*
114 BOSTON SIGHTS.
Medford, five miles from Boston, is at the head of navi-gation
on the Mystic River, and noted for its ship building.
Woburn, ten miles, has a varied and pleasing aspect,
and contains some beautiful farms. Horn Pond, in this
town, is a delightful sheet of water, surrounded by ever-greens,
and is so remarkable for its rural beauties as to
attract many visitors from a distance.
Wilmington is fifteen miles, Billerica nineteen miles,
Billerica Mills twenty-two miles, and Lowell twenty-six
miles from Boston.
The Eastern Railkoad Depot, which is built of
EASTERN RAILROAD DEPOT. 115
wood, Stands on Causeway Street, at the foot of Friend
and Canal Streets. The length of the road to Ports-mouth
is fifty-six miles, or to Portland one hundi^ed and
seven miles. On the w^y to Portsmouth the following
towns are passed through :—
Lynn, nine miles distant, is noted for its shoe trade.
Salem, sixteen miles, was formerly engaged in the East
India trade, but has declined in commercial importance,
most of its shipping having been removed to Boston,
although continuing to be owned in Salem. The Museum
of the East India Marine Society is well worth a visit, for
116 BOSTON SIGHTS.
which tickets of admission can be procured gratis, on ap-plication.
It is remarkable for the variety and extent of
its natural and artificial curiosities, collected from every
part of the world. The road passes through a tunnel
built under Essex and Washington Streets, and is thence
carried over a bridge of considerable length to Beverly.
Beverly, sixteen miles from Boston, is connected with
Salem by a bridge across the North River fifteen hundred
feet in length.
Wenham is twenty-two miles, Ipswich twenty-seven
miles, Rowley thirty-one miles, Newburyport thirty-six
miles. The celebrated George Whitefield died in this
town in September, 1770. Salisbury Beach is thirty-eight
miles, Seabrook forty-two miles, Hampton forty-six
miles, and Portsmouth fifty-six miles from Boston. The
branch roads connecting with this road are the Saugus,
Marblehead, South Reading, Gloucester, Essex, and Ames-bury
branches.
The FiTCHBURG Depot fronts on Causeway Street, at
the corner of Haverhill Street. The building, which is
three hundred and sixteen feet long, ninety-six feet wide,
and two stories high, is of Fitchburg granite, and one of
the handsomest depots in this country. Several roads
unite with this road, and the Lexington and West Cam-bridge,
Watertown and Marlboro', Peterboro' and Shirley
branches; and the Worcester and Nashua, and Stony
Brook Railroads connect at Groton Junction.
COPPS HILL. 117
Charlestown, the first place reached after crossing the
viaduct over Charles River, is built on a peninsula fonned
by the Charles and Mystic Rivers, and is connected with
Boston by two public bridges, by one with Chelsea and
Maiden, over the Mystic, and with Cambridge by a bridge
over Charles River.
Somerville is three miles, Waltham ten miles. Concord
twenty miles, Groton thirty-five miles, and Fitchbu]*g fifty
miles fii-om Boston.
Copp's Hill, not far fi-om the Fitchburg Depot, was
formerly called Snow Hill. It came into the possession
118 BOSTON SIGHTS.
of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company ; and
when, in 1775, they were forbidden by General Gage to
parade on the Common, they went to this, their own
ground, and drilled in defiance of his threats. The fort,
or battery, that was built there by the British, just before
the battle of Bunker Hill, stood near its south-east brow,
adjoining the burying ground. The remains of many
eminent men repose in this little . cemetery. Close by the
entrance is the vault of the Mather family, covered by a
plain oblong structure of brick, three feet high and about
six feet long, upon which is laid a heavy brown stone
slab, with a tablet of slate, bearing the following inscrip-tion
:—
BOSTON AND MAINE RAILKOAD DEPOT. 119 !
The Reverend Doctors Increase, Cotton, and Samuel Mather were
I
interred in this vault. -\
Increase died August 27, 1723, je. 84. ;
Cotton " Feb. 13, 1727, " 65.
Samuel " Jan. 27, 1785, " 79. i
The whole is surrounded by a neat iron railing. '\
t'Wt
The Boston and Maine Railroad Depot fronts
on Haymarket Square. It is a fine large brick building,
two stories high, and is more centrally located than any
other depot in the city. The lower part is used by the
Company, but the large upper hall is occupied as a carpet
wareroom by Tenny & Co. This road is seventy-four
120 BOSTON SIGHTS. '
" •
miles long, and reaches to Portland. The cars pass
through Charlestown, which is distant one mile, Maiden,
four miles, South Reading, ten miles, Reading, twelve
miles, Wilmington, eighteen miles, Andover, twenty-three
miles, Lawrence, twenty-six miles. North Andover, twenty-eight
miles, Bradford, thirty-two miles, Haverhill, thirty-three
miles, Exeter, fifty miles, Dover, sixty-eight miles,
and Portland, one hundred and eleven miles.
Most of the towns passed through by tljis road are
large manufacturing towns, Lawrence in particular being
a second Lowell, and bearing the name of one of Massa-chusetts'
noblest sons, through whose influence it gained its
present thriving position.
CHAPTER XIV.
MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL. MASSACHUSETTS
MEDICAL COLLEGE. CITY JAIL. EYE AND EAK
INFIRMARY.
Returning to Bowdoin Square, and resuming our
route, a short walk brings us to the Massachusetts Gen-eral
Hospital. This building is located in Allen Street.
11 (121)
122 BOSTON SIGHTS.
It had originally a front of one hundred and sixty-eight
feet, with a de
