Only in Boston by Duncan J.D. Smith

10 Introduction Land reclamation for wharves has long ago subsumed the original shoreline but the old streets (and the city’s oldest church) remain, now bustling with Italian shops and cafés. Much of the neighbouring West End was razed in the 1960s. For- tunately its colourful memories are preserved in an eponymous mu- seum, with new attractions dedicated to science and sport. By con- trast Beacon Hill remains intact, its gas lit streets lined with red brick Federal-style townhouses built in the early 19th century for the Boston Brahmins, the city’s Protestant merchant elite. Below is Boston Common, the nation’s oldest public park and start- ing point of the well-trodden Freedom Trail. This runs through Down- town taking in such sites as the Old State House, which today share the tangled Colonial-era street plan with tower blocks. Also here are China- town (the last in New England), and the Leather and Theater Districts. The residential South End stretches south-west along Tremont and Washington Streets. Blessed with a remarkable concentration of Vic- torian architecture, it subsequently attracted Irish Catholics, African- Americans, and Puerto Ricans. Such diversity has drawn the artistic community, too. The Irish and artistic presence continues across the Fort Point Channel in South Boston (known affectionately as Southie). Annexed by Boston in 1804, the area’s industrial and maritime herit- age is now finding new uses. The vast ‘Streetcar Suburbs’ of Dorches- ter, Roxbury and Jamaica Plain sprawl southwards from here. Flanking the South End is Back Bay, another example of the am- bitious land-from-water reclamation that has so extensively reshaped post-Colonial Boston. A grid-iron of streets here is lined with Victorian brownstone row houses and mansions, interspersed with several im- pressive churches. Fenway–Kenmore Square beyond boasts the vener- able stadium of the Boston Red Sox, as well as Back Bay Fens Park, a link in Frederick Law Olmsted’s Emerald Necklace. A final selection of locations covers Cambridge, a separate city on the north bank of the Charles River. Old Cambridge is dominated by Harvard University, a byword for academic excellence. By contrast the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is renowned for its mod- ern art and architecture, in an area once famous for candy factories. Whilst walking is the best way to explore central Boston, the sub- urbs are quickly accessed using the extensive MBTA subway and bus system, known locally as the T (www.mbta.com) . Whether exploring America’s oldest subway in Downtown, drinking Guinness in Southie, visiting mansions in Back Bay, or spending a night in a Cambridge monastery, it is hoped that Only in Boston will encourage readers to set out on their own urban expedition. Happy Exploring!