Park Unit 104: Boston African-American National Site

We continued our exploration of Boston this morning by walking up to Bunker Hill Monument, which is another location in Boston National Historic Park. Like so many of the national park units, it brought history to life and it was fascinating imagining the time period and events. We declined the opportunity to walk up the monument, but enjoyed the views.

We then took the ferry back to the historic downtown area and stopped into Fanueil Fall Visitor's Center. We had a wonderful chat with two of the rangers about our plan to visit all the park units. When they found out that Catherine was a teacher, they bestowed every bit of swag they had, including lesson plan materials, buttons, stickers, pamphlets, pins. Talking to the rangers is always one of the highlights of our travels.

The Great Hall - Boston National Historic Park

Next we went upstairs to the Great Hall. There was a guide giving a lecture about the time period which we listened to, then spent a little while exploring the architecture and imagining the historical events.

We then took off on the Black Heritage Trail of the Boston African American National Historic Site. On the way we got to see the site of the first public school in the United States which had this wonderful mural in the sidewalk.

The Trail starts at the Robert Gould Shaw 54th Massachusetts Regiment Memorial at the far end of Boston Common. It's very impressive and we were delighted to walk around the other side of the memorial and see the sculpture by Saint Gaudens that we had just seen at the Saint Gaudens park unit. It was great to have these two sites tie together so well and we certainly appreciated the sculpture much more because of our travels!

Robert Gould Shaw 54th Massachusetts Regiment Memorial with Saint Gaudens Statue

We continued on the trail, visiting the George Middleton House and then the John J. Phillips School. According to the National Park Service website it was built between 1823 and 1825. The architecture of this building is typical of 19^th century Boston schools. The building was first used by the English High School, but it was converted to a grammar school in 1844. The grammar school was named after the first mayor of Boston, John Phillips, who was the father of famed abolitionist Wendell Phillips. It also represents a long history of segregation and the fight of African American families to enroll their children in the best schools in town. When Boston schools were finally integrated in 1855, by an act of the Massachusetts legislature, the Phillips School became one of the first integrated school in Boston. 

By now the August heat was becoming unbearable so we went back to Boston Common and relaxed for a while, enjoying watching the people, including seeing a man playing a Chinese instrument, and who we believe was Kyrie Irving with his daughter.

We decided to spend the rest of the afternoon at the Boston Aquarium which was a wonderful break from the heat. The exhibits were great, we did an imax movie, and we enjoyed feeling like kids exploring all the wonderful sights.
We then left to go get some dinner. It was Jason's birthday and we were celebrating by going to the Boston Opera House to see Book of Mormon. We didn't have much time for dinner so we went to a casual place for salads and sandwiches. We still sang happy birthday to Jason of course!

The Boston Opera House was over-the-top gaudy and amazing at the same time. Beautiful restoration of the early 20th century architecture. And the show was excellent! It was a great ending to a terrific day!



 

Boston Opera House