Boston Architecture Boat Tour, Charles River and Harbor

 

We finally made it on a boat tour, we chose the architecture tour of Charles River/Boston Harbor and were able to have the Johnsons and Mandarinos joining us. So nice driving in on a Saturday morning and plenty of parking quite cheap with validation. that's not a small thing around here!

Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge is one we've been on several times and see often, it's not a suspension bridge but cable-stayed, and was part of the "Big Dig" project that moved a big raised highway to underground and changed the face of Boston enormously.

 When it was opened they used the "Pachyderm test" which was done mainly as a stunt by Carnegie when the Eads bridge in St. Louis was built, as many people were quite nervous about it since previous attempts had failed. It seems that elephants are thought to have a knack for knowing when things are safe to cross so they had an elephant go across first, and when the Zakim Bridge opened the circus happened to be nearby so they decided to reenact and did a pachyderm test with 14 of them.

 Also interesting is that there are openings to let light through, because many fish will not swim in darkness and there were concerns about the fish ("alewives" and others) being able to keep  up their regular movements. Now many fish have found that it's easier to follow boats through the lock instead of using the fish ladder supplied off to the side.

Boston "granite style" started about 1820-30, (previously "red brick" style), due to transportation development to move the stone. 

The city wanted cultural draw, chose aquarium (unfortunately you cant really see Brutalist bldgs (from French "unfinished concrete")  behind it

Arch access to harbor Rose Wharf, made people much happier than previous builds that were cutting off Boston from the waterfront.

There are a couple of old "swing span" bridges not in use or replaced 

Courthouse - glass atrium opens each floor to water view, helped kick off revitalized whole new area 7-10 years  (John Joseph Moakley United States Courthouse)

Dive competition off building cantilevered out over the water - the light rectangle you see above and behind pilings

Giant wool sorting facility commonwealth pier, Then huge fish processing to get it out of Boston

Once one of dirtiest harbors now one of cleanest thanks to big new treatment facility

1923 airport built - in area that was not land before - not so much that ocean was filled in but swampy marshy areas were drained filled dried-

"Light ship" - for where no lighthouse is possible, beacon can be seen for 20 miles, this one is a replica or rebuild of one struck by a large ship & went down with several crew members, the cruise line paid for it and it is being renovated into a museum.

Clipper ship record 89 days, "fast" is relative 

Clock tower 500 ft tall, at one point this height wasn't allowed but it was a federal building and so ti got done. Now Marriott timeshare. The original clock was wood, got waterlogged so was inaccurate and called the "4-faced liar". 13ft minute hand same as Big Ben but looks smaller due to distance

Navy yard 1800 with "new innovation" -  dry dock

500+ ships built here up to 1970’s

Fletcher class 46 knots? Cassin Young whose ship was next to Arizona , he was blown off, gets back and saves ship-

USS Constitution. frigate class,  one of 6 "super destroyers" 

Cannonballs were bouncing off giving rise to nickname Old Ironsides, mostly live oak, 20 inch thick-

Frederick Tudor "ice king" shipped ice all over world even mideast, sometimes 90% would be melted but still made good profit. And he ties into Nahant where we went last week - he inherited his family's place there, was once mostly sheep grazing and such - 

Early 1926 parking garage site of famous Brinks Robbery

Lechmere Viaduct - we pass under often, carries trains along near dam between Charles River and ocean (Lost Mile) to help river stay cleaner and nicer by not being tidal - when we went through locks the tide was out so we went down ten feet. (two small and one bigger lock, we barely fit into the one we went through)We also went under a railway bridge with huge concrete weights to swing down while rail part goes up out of way - the yellow metal you can see through windows.

At one point there was an outdoor exercise area for tenement folk built, now start of Esplanade -old west Boston was a mess so the city just cleared it out, out thousands displaced, but now they are much better at  creative reuse- After Big Dig the road was put there so the esplanade was moved out farther into the river and the park and trees hide the road from the water.

Any inaccuracies in this report are solely due to the writer.

Coast guard station was a candy factory, Coast Guard covers to New Jersey