Boston History 101

Lots of history and boringness included below... but at the very bottom is some news we've been waiting to share for a while, so if you skip the rest of the post, be sure to check that out. :)

Day 2 of our Boston trip was spent by myself.  But I put on my big girl undies and went to tour the town anyway!  I saw lots of great things, including...

This neat statue of Ben Franklin (the second picture) it had a little bronze scene on each of the four sides of the base.  I thought it was pretty cool.  This statue is in front of the Old City Hall building (which is the 3rd picture down).

This was out in front of the Old City Hall building grounds, we saw it the previous night but it was too dark to get a good picture.  I'm lucky I found it again (I had a big problem with getting lost).  I just thought it was amazing, all the intricacies.  I think the significance of its location is that this lot was the location of the first public school in America in 1635.

If you read the comments when I asked for ideas on traveling to Boston a couple people mentioned the painted line in the city that is a walking tour... well this is it.  The Freedom Trail.  Its really quite neat, a lot of the sidewalks have red bricks in a two wide stripe directing you to historical sites.  Where the trail's brick path ends a painted red stripe takes its place.  You can see tiny snippets of both on this photo.

The Massachusetts State House, again.  I actually decided to take a tour of the building and it was so much fun.  One of the big highlights of the trip for me.  The following pictures are from that tour... its more information than you probably ever wanted to know about Massachusetts, but I hope to remember it, so here it is.

This portrait of Abraham Lincoln stands  in the original portion of the building.  It is unique in that President Lincoln is standing at his full height and there are very few portraits of him this way.  Being that he was 6'4" and the average man was about 5'6" at the time he was quite self-conscious.  Also, there are only 4 of these portraits out there, so Massachusetts takes great pride in it.

Another interesting tidbit... did you know that a majority of portraits do not include hands or feet because artists found it very difficult to paint them, so they would charge a lot more if you wanted them included.  That is the reason one hand is behind his back, to save a little money.

This is a statue of George Washington.  It was quite controversial originally.  The artist was trying to render Washington as an intellect, hence the Greek style toga and scroll.  However, Bostonians didn't want to think of Washington as an intellect, he was a great, strong General.  They were calling for its removal from the State House when the Boston Globe (I think) presented a new interpretation... this is General Washington as he would have been at Valley Forge, wrapped in a blanket to keep out the cold and with war maps always in his hand.  The people adopted this interpretation and here it still stands today.

Governor Andrew holds a place of high esteem as the governor during the Civil War.  He was the first governor to get troops to the battle front when President Lincoln called.  He was also the governor who organized the Massachusetts 54th Regiment.

I don't remember what is going on here, but it was magnificent...

This is a flag room.  They have a flag from each city/town in the state hung in chronological order or their establishment.  Its actually a big ballroom that used to be open to the elements that they put a roof on to house gala type events.  The flags were hung in an effort to reduce the echo of the vast chamber.

The governor has a budget allotment each year for "functional art" or something.  This is one such piece.  Its shape is reminiscent of the lantern that was so important in our history.  Its function is that of a clock.  Seems kind of silly that they "have" to spend money on stuff like this... but its cool.

I thought this was just fascinating.  The evolution of the state seal... It started out as a propaganda piece, the British were trying to get people to come to their new colony and what better way than by having a native asking for help...

Then the seal took on the face of the revolution.  A soldier wielding a sword, ready to defend his liberty holding a copy of the Magna Carta.

And the current state seal, going back to the depiction of a native, but holding a arrow down to symbolize that he is at peace.  The star above his right should is to symbolize that they were among the original 13 colonies.  The arm and sword at the top signify that they are still willing to defend their freedom.  And the blue background is because the name Massachusetts can be translated to mean, "by the blue hills."

In the hall where the House of Representatives meet, there is this giant fish hanging from the ceiling, the Sacred Cod. The story goes that a fisherman gave it to the House as a reminder to always pass laws that were good to the fishing industry as that was so integral to Massachusetts' economy.

There were so many interesting things during my tour, but the funniest thing was at the end when we were in the Governor's office waiting room.  The tour guide was asked if the Governor was there that day and he was telling us that he didn't know, but he did know that the Governor was gone a lot because he had to travel a lot because, "Massachusetts is a pretty big state."  Honestly, I laughed out loud and asked him to repeat himself.  I know it was rude of me, but come on, Massachusetts is NOT a BIG state!  In all fairness, I know I live in a big state that takes its bigness very seriously.  AND, this tour guide was from Rhode Island originally, so to him, I guess it is...

After the tour, I walked around outside the building for bit and found some more history...

Then I headed back to the hotel, stopping to shop for a little while.  I bought way too much, but had fun.  I forgot what shopping without kids is like!

And then I headed out to meet Ethan at his conference.  I was pretty grouchy when I got there, but soon got over it as he told me his good news...

Ethan got the residency with the VA!!!!!


We are so excited.  We don't know where we'll be moving next year, but we do know we will be moving next summer to one of 5 VA hospitals, so Ethan can work with patients with traumatic brain injuries.  It is going to be quite the experience for him and I couldn't be more proud.


Just so you know, we got the news this day on our trip, but were told to keep it on the down low until "official word" came directly from his commander.  That came today, so hooray! We can finally shout it from the rooftops!