The weather forecast was for it to be cooler and foggy again this morning but luckily they are about as reliable in Boston as they are in England and although there was a bit of fog first thing it was really warm and probably the nicest day we have had so far. Our plan for today was to head through Boston Common to Beacon Hill which between 1780 and 1880 was one of the most sought after neighbourhoods and it is easy to see why when you walk round it. The south slope of Beacon Hill evolved as home to the more affluent of Boston society and originally the houses were built to a ‘gentleman’s agreement’ where the houses were set back from the street, however all this changed during the economic depression of 1897-12 when another row of houses was built right out onto the street. The crowing glory of Beacon Hill was Louisburg square which was built in the 1830s and is still Boston’s most desirable addresses. The north side of Beacon hill was populated by the African American community in Boston. In the decades before the Civil War just over half of the city’s 2,000 blacks lived on Beacon Hill just below the homes of wealthy whites. In 1783 the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts declared slavery unconstitutional, therefore when the first public census was taken in 1790 Massachusetts was the only state in the Union to record no slaves. The free African American community in Boston was concerned with ending slavery in the rest of the nation and as such the residents of this area were either born free or escaped slaves a number of the residents worked to raise awareness of how unjust slavery was while others helped runaways evade capture from the slave catchers or continue their journey north to freedom on the underground railway. After we had finished walking round this area we set off to Otis House Museum, this was once the home of Harrison Gray Otis and his wife Sally. He was a congressman and real estate entrepreneur and had this house built by their friend Charles Bulfinch in 1796, between them they built a lot of the housing on the south side of Beacon hill and Harrison and his wife moved to ever larger houses as they became more successful. The layout of the house is as it would have been when they lived there and for the era is very brightly decorated, it is also interesting the difference in decoration between the public and private rooms. Once we had finished walking round the house it was time for a rest and lunch then we set off to the Back Bay Area of the city. This is where the wealthy moved when they moved out of Beacon hill and again the houses are very grand, although personally I think I would rather live on Beacon Hill overlooking the common. We walked round Commonwealth Avenue which was designed to mimic the Champs Elysees obviously by someone that hasn’t been there, or possibly it looked rather different in the early 19th century when this area was built! We walked around a couple of the streets and ended up at the Public library which was one of the first free public libraries in the world. It is a spectacular building and actually used by students which is nice, although I have to say they don’t have many books, hopefully they have a number out the back that you can order! By the time we had finished walking round it was time to head back to the hotel to relax and prepare for the next stage of the journey as we leave Boston tomorrow.
