So this is a Harvard bar, huh? I thought there'd be equations and shit on the wall.
So this week, while busy didn’t take me too far afield. In fact a short trip over the Charles River was all that was needed or me to find myself in Cambridge. Not that this is a particularly unusual excursion, after all the Cambridgeside Galleria is very good for shopping and lunching if I am avoiding Newbury Street, and I do tend to find the stores more accessible than those at the Prudential Center…
However, as home to Harvard and MIT it does have a younger, quirkier, more collegy and vibrant feel than some parts of Boston; still walking around there are plenty of the narrow crooked roads, brick sidewalks and colonial style houses and churches that you find in historic Boston, maybe it is the mix of sidewalk cafes and open fronted bars that made it feel more laid back and friendly, or maybe it was the sunny weather that was drawing people out…
Cambridge itself (and bear with me here) was founded in 1630 by a group of English Immigrants and called New Towne, and in 1636 they founded a college to try and preserve their faith and educate their clergy. It wasn’t until 1638 that a prominent local minister- John Harvard left his library to the college and New Towne College was renamed Harvard! The town was later renamed Cambridge after a large and famous university town in England- that I can’t quite place at the minute J Cambridge came to play a bigger part on the world stage after the invention of the printing press- with a university and a large printing industry it became a center for political activity during the turbulent eras of the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. This feeling as Cambridge as a political center probably still holds true today, quite possibly due to the fact that over half of the residents are linked with universities…
The old mansions on Brattle Street are now part of the National Historic Longfellow site- and no apparently even with resident parking stickers you still can’t part outside- The main site here was built by British colonialists loyal to the crown but was seized by revolutionaries during the War of Independence and served as George Washington’s headquarters during the Siege of Boston. From 1843 until 1888 it was also the home of that often mentioned poet, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Not that I spent any time on Cambridge Common, but it was observable I feel I should also mention that this is where George Washington took control of the Colonial Troops on July 3, 1775, it then served as a army encampment until 1776.
No sightseeing trip to Cambridge would be complete without a wander around Harvard Square, full of cafés, restaurants and cute, quirky, little boutique stores and street entertainers (there was one man playing the piano on the sidewalk). Or without a stroll through Old Harvard Yard, surrounded by university buildings and including the statue of “John Harvard” or the Statue of Three Lies… the first being that it is dated as founded in 1638- not 1636 when the university was founded, second that John Harvard was the founder, again not true, he was a contributor and a benefactor not the founder, and the third being that the statue does not actually depict John Harvard himself. As the sculptor, Daniel Chester French, had no true likeness to work from he used another model, possibly a student, however even this is in debate. The Yard does have some imposing buildings- the Widener Library is apparently the third largest in the US, and the church opposite was built in 1931 and modeled on the Old North Church in Boston.;
Anyway, enough of the history for this week, I felt with Independence day nearly upon us it was perhaps time for some more of the areas links to George Washington, next week will be 4th July, and while I will be impressed with the fireworks and I will be out enjoying the celebrations, there will also a be a bit of the George Washington tirade I have building in my head…
So this week, while busy didn’t take me too far afield. In fact a short trip over the Charles River was all that was needed or me to find myself in Cambridge. Not that this is a particularly unusual excursion, after all the Cambridgeside Galleria is very good for shopping and lunching if I am avoiding Newbury Street, and I do tend to find the stores more accessible than those at the Prudential Center…
However, as home to Harvard and MIT it does have a younger, quirkier, more collegy and vibrant feel than some parts of Boston; still walking around there are plenty of the narrow crooked roads, brick sidewalks and colonial style houses and churches that you find in historic Boston, maybe it is the mix of sidewalk cafes and open fronted bars that made it feel more laid back and friendly, or maybe it was the sunny weather that was drawing people out…
Cambridge itself (and bear with me here) was founded in 1630 by a group of English Immigrants and called New Towne, and in 1636 they founded a college to try and preserve their faith and educate their clergy. It wasn’t until 1638 that a prominent local minister- John Harvard left his library to the college and New Towne College was renamed Harvard! The town was later renamed Cambridge after a large and famous university town in England- that I can’t quite place at the minute J Cambridge came to play a bigger part on the world stage after the invention of the printing press- with a university and a large printing industry it became a center for political activity during the turbulent eras of the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. This feeling as Cambridge as a political center probably still holds true today, quite possibly due to the fact that over half of the residents are linked with universities…
The old mansions on Brattle Street are now part of the National Historic Longfellow site- and no apparently even with resident parking stickers you still can’t part outside- The main site here was built by British colonialists loyal to the crown but was seized by revolutionaries during the War of Independence and served as George Washington’s headquarters during the Siege of Boston. From 1843 until 1888 it was also the home of that often mentioned poet, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Not that I spent any time on Cambridge Common, but it was observable I feel I should also mention that this is where George Washington took control of the Colonial Troops on July 3, 1775, it then served as a army encampment until 1776.
No sightseeing trip to Cambridge would be complete without a wander around Harvard Square, full of cafés, restaurants and cute, quirky, little boutique stores and street entertainers (there was one man playing the piano on the sidewalk). Or without a stroll through Old Harvard Yard, surrounded by university buildings and including the statue of “John Harvard” or the Statue of Three Lies… the first being that it is dated as founded in 1638- not 1636 when the university was founded, second that John Harvard was the founder, again not true, he was a contributor and a benefactor not the founder, and the third being that the statue does not actually depict John Harvard himself. As the sculptor, Daniel Chester French, had no true likeness to work from he used another model, possibly a student, however even this is in debate. The Yard does have some imposing buildings- the Widener Library is apparently the third largest in the US, and the church opposite was built in 1931 and modeled on the Old North Church in Boston.;
Anyway, enough of the history for this week, I felt with Independence day nearly upon us it was perhaps time for some more of the areas links to George Washington, next week will be 4th July, and while I will be impressed with the fireworks and I will be out enjoying the celebrations, there will also a be a bit of the George Washington tirade I have building in my head…
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