The Ivy World of Beacon Hill

This is the Beacon Hill of two weeks ago-it's stately buildings draped in magical ivy, preparing for the annual exchange from green to red. Now, fourteen days later, that exchange is well underway for the ivy and leaves of Boston, not only in Beacon Hill, but in each neighborhood. The sun rises later and later on our changing world and sets early enough for me to use my candles once more. So goes October in New England,  a time of balancing where we wave goodbye to summer with one hand and hello to winter with the other.

A Hint of Summer in Beacon Hill

Summer has nearly arrived! Some pictures from the wonderful Beacon Hill-

The African Meeting House

Tucked away in a corner of Beacon Hill lies the African Meeting House, along with the Museum of African American History. In honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, I ventured out to visit both. In truth, the museum was much smaller than I imagined it to be, but I was struck by the loveliness of the meeting house, which was originally built in 1806. A recent, $9.5-million-dollar project has restored the meeting house to its 1855 appearance and I found it both warm and inviting. 

The meeting house was actually home to a number of different activities. First, it served as a church (to which it bears the title of the oldest black church edifice still standing in the country today). Secondly, the space was used for private educational classes. But most importantly, it was the site of anti-slavery meetings and discussions. It was here that the most famous of abolitionists conducted much of their business, abolitionists like William Lloyd Garrison and Frederick Douglass. Before today, I had no idea that the north slope area of Beacon Hill, where the meeting house is located, was home to the all-free black community of Boston. 

The African Meeting House is just one stop of many along the Black Heritage Trail. 

Other landmarks include:

-Robert Gold Shaw and 54th Regiment Memorial

-George Middleton House

-The Phillips School

-John J. Smith House

-Charles Street Meeting House

-John Coburn House

If you're exploring the Freedom Trail, consider visiting the stops along the Black Heritage Trail as well and most especially this beautiful, newly restored African Meeting House. 

A Rose on Beacon Hill

Over the weekend I found myself once again venturing into the historic neighborhood of Beacon Hill. This time it was to visit the Nichols House Museum located at 55 Mount Vernon Street. As soon as I entered through the doorway, I was greeted by two cheerful and very friendly docents. The house was originally built in 1804 but the rooms have been preserved and kept in the style of its last owner, Rose Standish Nichols, who I learned was quite an extraordinary lady. She lived in the house from 1885 until 1960 and decorated it with her own particular, exquisite taste. Nearly everything in the house belonged to her and it was hard to keep track of all her treasures- everywhere I looked I seemed to find one. But she was not only a remarkable collector, she was also a suffragist, a pacifist (they always seem to go hand in hand) as well as a landscape gardener who produced three books on the subject. As a lover of good conversation, she regularly used her home as a salon and threw countless tea parties as well (she made her own tea, but I was told it wasn't very good-still, I would have gone despite that). She had two sisters who were also somewhat unconventional women for their time: Marian ran for the State Legislature in 1920 and the youngest daughter Margaret taught carpentry (not surprisingly, they shared Rose's passion for social issues). What a pleasure it was to hear the history of such strong, interesting women. 

When I returned home, I read an article Rose had written for House Beautiful in 1910 on "Individuality in Interior Decoration," that was available to read on the Nichols House Museum website. I loved her opening lines:

"Simplicity and sincerity should form the keynote of the interior of our homes. If the inside of a house is pretentiously elaborate or if it does not suggest its owner's individuality, it is an obvious failure. Try to turn your home into a haven for rest and work and recreation, make it a real home..." 

and

"Comfort and convenience should never be sacrificed for the sake of following worn-out precedents or of exhibiting a forced admiration for 'high art.' Where we live and love and have the best part of our being is no place for any sort of pretense." 

Perhaps my favorite part of the house was the simplest part of all: the butler's pantry, which I photographed above (it is the seventh picture). I wanted it for myself! And I left Beacon Hill wanting it to be my very own neighborhood. I am falling in love with it. 

Special thanks to Emma and Maureen who were so very kind to me on my visit. I cannot wait to return and share the museum's special space with my mother. 

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.