Finding Christmas Atop Beacon Hill

In all the years I've visited Boston, I never once traipsed along the cobbled streets of Beacon Hill. Having explored it's remarkable historic charm today, it seems very strange to me that I always missed it. For it is precisely the type of neighborhood I love the most-

a maze atop a hill filled with tiny lanes that squeeze in between large, elegant townhouses, houses that bear the mark of the previous century and the one before that, where the very streets lined with gas lamps and wrought-iron fences harken back to a different age.

 After I took a tour of the Harrison Gray Otis House located on Cambridge Street, the kind docent provided me with valuable directions to lead me through the neighborhood, though I quickly found myself meandering on my own path. Measuring only a half-mile square, it is a very small but mesmerizing oasis from the rest of the urban city life. Though of course it is distinctively American, Beacon Hill reminded me of taking tours through quiet, confident European villages or neighborhoods, places that have the support of long history on their side as well as sophisticated design. One can escape within its enchantment and December is a perfect time of the year to do so, as you may have noticed from the photographs I took. 

Le Soir

Nothing serious or significant to share tonight-merely some photos of Boston that I've captured during the long December evenings. Hope you enjoy! 

Charm of the Common

Though I have visited Boston Common many times before, I don't believe I had ever seen it as beautiful as I did the other day, when the winter sun shined during her brightest hour on a crisp December afternoon. In the past, I was ignorant of its long, remarkable history and took its presence for granted. Certainly I knew it occupied a special place in our colonial past, but I had no idea it was founded as early as 1634. It proudly bears the name of "America's oldest park," though it was the site of many a public hanging until the 19th century. The Common has played its part in both Revolutionary and Civil War history and continues to stage important rallies and events to this day. When I attended high school in neighboring Connecticut, I often visited Boston on school trips but never truly embraced what the city had to offer, despite what used to be a fervent obsession with colonial America. My interest mainly lied in colonial Virginia and most especially Williamsburg. Now, years later, it seems quite odd that I was so arbitrarily against what was near and available, but then the mind of a teenager is never easy to understand. So here I am, ready to embrace what lies before me and ready to absorb all the knowledge each inch of the city provides.