Category: Architecture

Completed and Stunning: The Provincetown Library

After watching the progress of its renewal for years, it was a great pleasure to see the Provincetown Library completed and totally beautiful on a recent visit.

Here's a bit about the history of the library and the building.

Related Posts:

Clams Card, Don't Go To Cape Cod Without it!

Our Provincetown Post Collection: We just love this place!

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Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photography: © 2012 Penny & Ed Cherubino

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April 28, 2012
Thanks to Faithful Trustees

In big ways and small they preserve our heritage by caring for historic properties.

"These old buildings do not belong to us only, they belong to our forefathers and they will belong to our descendants unless we play them false. They are not in any sense our own property to do with as we like with them. We are only trustees for those that come after us." William Morris

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Words: Penny Cherubino
Photography: © 2012 Penny Cherubino

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April 21, 2012
The Freedom Trail: Our Patriots’ Day Friday Link

Have you ever walked The Freedom Trail? I know that I walked parts of it years ago, but I've never walked the entire length. If you're looking for a nice, long tramp some lovely spring weekend, follow the red line and explore that route that brings visitors to Boston.

The Freedom Trail Foundation has every type of tour you might want from maps and self-guided walking tours to ticketed guided tours.

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Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photography: © 2012 Penny & Ed Cherubino

Note on Comments: We monitor comments constantly and anything that is pure spam, inappropriate, or nasty is swept away. In addition to readers comments, we welcome hearing from the people, places, and services we cover. Often those add a great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you.

April 13, 2012
Tranquil Cloister

On a quiet morning,

Sun streaming through the arches,

Turquoise tiles shimmering in the light,

Marsh Chapel's cloister was tranquil.

Sunday coffee with friends

And, one very good dog.

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Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photography: © 2012 Penny & Ed Cherubino

Note on Comments: We monitor comments constantly and anything that is pure spam, inappropriate, or nasty is swept away. In addition to readers comments, we welcome hearing from the people, places, and services we cover. Often those add a great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you.

March 24, 2012
Out and About from Paris to Boston

Last week, Mary Kay from Out and About in Paris was in Boston for a few days and we met for lunch. She had been following our food truck coverage, so my friend Laurie and I met her at The Dining Car in front of the library.

After a lingering lunch and some good conversation in the courtyard, we took Mary Kay on a brief tour of a couple of our favorite spots in the McKim building: the main staircase, the Puvis de Chavannes Gallery, the Abbey Room, and Bates Hall.

With a spectacular day outside, this appetizer was enough to tempt Mary Kay to explore more of one of my favorite buildings on her own. The three of us took to the outside world. We made a quick stop at the Society of Arts and Crafts and then strolled down Commonwealth Avenue Mall.

It is such fun to meet the people behind blogs. Mary Kay is as warm, friendly, and interesting as her persona on the web.

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From another great blogger Clotilde's Edible Adventures in Paris

From the wonderful Patricia Wells, The Paris Cookbook

Learn to Speak French

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Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photography: © 2012 Penny & Ed Cherubino

Note on Comments: We monitor comments constantly and anything that is pure spam, inappropriate, or nasty is swept away. In addition to readers comments, we welcome hearing from the people, places, and services we cover. Often those add a great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you.

March 14, 2012
Free Open House at Washington HQ in Cambridge on the 22nd

Today may be the Federal holiday called Presidents' Day, but in Massachusetts today is officially Washington's Birthday.

And, this year, on Thursday the 22nd, you can tour the house in Cambridge that served as Washington's headquarters during the Siege of Boston. While the building is officially closed for the season, it will be open on Washington's birthday to celebrate the new designation of this National Parks Service property as the Longfellow House – Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site.

Details of the change are here.

The Parks Service Invites You to:

"Celebrate George Washington's birthday! Join NPS staff as they guide visitors through General Washington's Brattle Street headquarters. Washington used the house at 105 Brattle Street as his headquarters during the Siege of Boston in 1775-1776.

Tours given every half hour, starting at 11:30 a.m to 3:30 p.m."

Related Posts:

Did you know that anyone age 62 and over can get a lifetime Senior pass to our National Parks for $10?

And, check: What's Open On Presidents' Day in Boston 2012 and MBTA Schedules

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Details:
Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photo of Washington statue in the Boston Public Garden: © 2012 Ed Cherubino
Photo of the House: From the collection of the Library of Congress, taken February 1963.

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February 20, 2012
See Anyone You Recognize?

This is the south facing side of the frieze on the tower of the First Baptist Church of Boston.

This work of art was designed by Frederic Auguste Bartholdi, the same sculptor who created the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor.

Bostonian Edward Everett Hale wrote, "…he told me himself that the heads which you will see there are portraits of distinguished citizens of Boston of that time. If you buy the right photographs, and magnify them with the right glasses, you will find Sumner and, I think Garrison, and probably Everett and Phillips."

Next time you're walking near here, stop and look up. The tower is 176 feet high. The frieze was carved by Italian craftmen, after the stones were set in place. They worked up where we see the figures.

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Words: Penny Cherubino
Photos: © 2012 Penny Cherubino

February 11, 2012
A Bunch of History Tipping & Tilting

Inside the King's Chapel Burying Ground the stones tilt and lean into, and away from, one another. Like a group of people at a gathering, they stand in clusters of two, three, or more. Perhaps, this is what those they memorialize once did in life.

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King's Chapel

Tremont & Beacon Street, Boston, Massachusetts (map)

Words: Penny Cherubino
Photos: © 2012 Penny Cherubino

Note on Comments: We monitor comments constantly and anything that is pure spam, inappropriate, or nasty is swept away. In addition to readers' comments, we welcome hearing from the people, places, and services we cover. Often those comments add great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you. We reserve the right to remove adverstising from comments.

January 28, 2012
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Reopening

We're making the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum our Friday Link, this week, to remind you that it's about to reopen.

Preview events for members are scheduled on Monday the 16th through Wednesday the 18th. It opens to the public on Thursday the 19th and for three days admission is free, if you snag one of the reserved time slots. The Gardner Museum site says,

"The Gardner Museum reopens in January, and admission is free Jan. 19-21! Timed tickets are required and limited, and must be reserved in advance. Reserve online, or by calling the Box Office at: 617-278-5156 ."

Café G

And, of particular importance to those of us who have missed the Café, the wonderful food from Chef/Owner Peter Crowley will be back. They're already taking reservations for the new Café G as it is now called.

It has been relocated to the new wing of the Gardner and after years of working in very tight quarters, we're confident they have provided this fine chef with everything he needs to stretch his culinary reach.

We'll be reporting back on our first visits to one of our favorite places in Boston.

Related Posts:

Hanging Nasturtiums at the Gardner Museum

Romance at the Gardner Museum– Valentine's Weekend Destination

The Gardner Museum Cafe's Edible Nasturtium Menu

Gardner Museum’s “Frank Hatch First Day Free!”

If you are one of our readers from outside the Boston area, you can do your research on the Gardner Museum right there at home and enjoy your visit more when you get here.

Details:

Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

280 The Fenway, Boston, MA 02115 (map & reviews)

(617) 566-1401

gardnermuseum.org‎

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Screenshot: courtesy of the Gardner Museum

Note on Comments: We monitor comments constantly and anything that is pure spam, inappropriate, or nasty is swept away. In addition to readers' comments, we welcome hearing from the people, places, and services we cover. Often those comments add great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you.

January 13, 2012
Gibson House Museum Holiday Open House

The Gibson House Museum Holiday Open House is our Friday Link. The staff and volunteers have decorated the house in appropriate Victorian style. On Sunday, December 11th, they are opening their doors to friends and neighbors from 1 to 4 p.m. Admission will be free for this event.

They invited us in while they were decorating, so we could give you a sneak preview.

If you can't make the open house on Sunday, or if you have a holiday guest who would love to see what the homes in the Back Bay looked like a hundred years ago, you can take a guided tour of the Gibson House. And if you do that while the decorations are in place, you'll have a bonus dose of holiday spirit at no extra charge!

We hope you've enjoyed another year of recommendations and tips from BostonZest. If you have, you can support the site by using links like this to start your Amazon shopping from here.

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Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photos: © 2011 Penny Cherubino

Note on Comments: We monitor comments constantly and anything that is pure spam, inappropriate, or nasty is swept away. In addition to readers' comments, we welcome hearing from the people, places, and services we cover. Often those comments add great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you.

December 9, 2011