The Old State House in Boston

This is a quick drawing of the Old State House in Boston. I drew it with ink, but turned it into a negative on the computer because this reminds me of some old historical prints.

Yesterday I mentioned the Massachusetts State House near Beacon Hill, which was built after the American Revolution. This building, on the other hand, located at the corner of State and Washington streets downtown, was the centre of Bostonian public life and was the scene of some of the more dramatic moments of the pre-revolutionary period.

While Boston was still a British colony, within the walls of this house, the men who would go on to eventually become the founders of the United States of America, debated the future of the colonies (John Hancock and John Adams, to name but two). Just outside its walls, about where the bus is, five civilians were killed by British soldiers in 1770 in what would become known as the "Boston Massacre." The incident and its aftermath would be one of the sparks that led to the Revolution.

The Declaration of Independence was read aloud a few years later to the citizens of Boston from the balcony where the flag pole stretches out.

Notes:
1. Click here to see a photograph of the State House from approximately the same position.
2. Read the Bostonian Society's web page about the State House Museum.
3. If you'd like an overview of the Massacre, see this article, with the famous Paul Revere engraving.

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Beacon Hill, Boston

If you're ever in the Boston area, be sure to visit the Beacon Hill district.

Located just north of Boston Common park, Beacon Hill is one of the oldest and most desirable neighbourhoods in the Eastern United States. 

It's narrow streets date back to the early days of New England (1790s) and they are a great place for a quiet stroll, steps away from the hustle and bustle of the big city, but also a world away. My wife Patti and I visited on the weekend and really enjoyed it.

According to Wikipedia, the Beacon Hill district has been home to many famous people, including John Hancock (the boldest signatory of the Declaration of Independence), Senator Edward Kennedy, musicians David Lee Roth and Carly Simon, and actress Uma Thurman. 

The Massachusetts State House is also located a short walk away.  The seat of State government was designed by Charles Bulfinch (another Beacon Hill resident) and was completed in 1798 after the American Revolution.

Notes:

1. For more information, see Beacon Hill in Wikipedia

2. The neighbourhood has its own website: Beacon Hill Online

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Harvard University digs up its Native American past

Something unusual is happening at Harvard University.

America's oldest institution of higher learning, founded way back in Puritan 1636, is rediscovering it's Indian heritage. The Boston Globe reports that in the middle of Harvard Yard, where students sun themselves on warm days, an archaeological dig is unearthing artifacts from the university's brick building where whites and Native Americans studied side by side.

It's a long forgotten fact that Harvard, the venerable Ivy League school of the elite, early in it's history welcomed the area's native inhabitants. It was an age when the future of the university and of New England was anything but certain.

In a rare precursor to our more modern notions of integration and multiculturalism, the university's 1650 charter laid out its mission as "the education of the English and Indian youths of this country, in knowledge and godliness."

Students working on the archaeological project, led by the school's Peabody Museum, are finding lots of small items, including pieces of a printing press that may have produced the first Bible printed in North America. It was a 1661 edition written in the Wampanoag dialect of the Algonquin language.

Coincidentally, one of the students working on the dig, Tiffany Lee Smalley, 18, of Martha's Vineyard, is -- the Globe writes -- the first Aquinnah Wampanoag admitted to Harvard as an undergraduate since the 1660's. She says the experience is bringing her closer to her ancestors.

Researchers hope to learn more about how the early English settlers interacted with the local Native American population.

Four hundred years ago, wampum -- beads of polished shell --were legal tender in New England. According to the Globe, Native students paid 1,900 beads for their tuition, while the equivalent sum for English settlers was 1 pound, 6 shillings, 8 pence in English currency.

Sadly, the link of multicultural scholarship was broken in 1675 when war broke out between the settlers and local inhabitants in the region. Many years passed before Native American students returned.


The Boston Globe article, with slide show, is located here.
(You may have to register on the site to get to the free page.)

For details on the archaeological project conducted by the Peabody Museum, here's the museum's newsletter page.

For more information on Harvard's history, see the Harvard web site.

The 1650 Harvard Charter is photographed here.