Art, History, and Bookshops — A Love Letter to Boston

With the hood of my coat pulled over my head, I walked into the cemetery and pressed play.

It was my first visit to Boston, Massachusetts. To be honest, one of the main draws of the place was affordable airfare and car rentals, coupled with close-ish proximity to Acadia National Park in Maine — the main draw of this trip.

I had never been to New England before. I thought I would spend a couple of days in Boston — see the sights, mainly just to say I’ve been there — and then get on the road to Acadia.

Something shifted though when I arrived in Boston. When talking to a friend on my second day there, this is how I described it:

You know how you tend to look back on memories with rose-tinted glasses? Well, I feel like I’m wearing them right now in this moment!

Despite being alone in a big city, I felt safe. I navigated around from place to place with ease, whether it was by foot, subway, or bus. I enjoyed the places on my itinerary. I enjoyed the pacing of my days. All in all, I was pleasantly surprised with Boston.

Art Museum, Art Museum

I had the privilege of visiting not one, but two art museums! Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. I loved both for different reasons. MFA is a classic art museum, so large you can easily get lost in there. ISG is unlike any art museum I’ve been to. Everywhere you go, you can find personal touches of Isabella herself. The story of ISG is so unique, too.

Gardner moved into the private fourth-floor living quarters and devoted herself to personally arranging works of art in the galleries on the first three floors. In 1902, Isabella installed her collection of paintings, sculptures, tapestries, furniture, manuscripts, rare books, and decorative arts. She continued to acquire works and change the installations for the rest of her life.

— Building Isabella’s Museum, gardnermuseum.org

Walking Along the Freedom Trail in the Rain

“If you’ve never been in a 17th-century cemetery before, you might be surprised by the grave markers here. Many of them are craved with winged skulls and other ornaments that seem overly morbid these days…”

— Ben’s Freedom Trail Tour, podcast

The podcast played quietly as I took in the greenery around me. The cool, cloudy day combined with the lot of trees growing around the small plot left us all in the shadows.

I had started in Boston Common, surprised to learn that following the Freedom Trail was as simple as following a brick path that winded down notable landmarks. It was a cloudy, fall morning. A tour group was gathering by the visitor’s center. I crossed paths with them several times that afternoon.

It was an interesting experience to walk through Boston, following the Freedom Trail while people around me were doing the same and others were just going on with their days. Some of these places are over 200 years old, and I can hardly fathom it. Walking by a place Paul Revere once passed while my iPhone sits in my pocket — it’s like this city exists on more than one plane.

Bookshops, Oh My!

There’s nothing like wandering around towering shelves of books and then going upstairs to more towering shelves of books. And what’s that? Another staircase?! Brattle Book Shop is three floors of amazingness. They’re actually overflowing with books, so watch your step!

On my Freedom Trail adventure, I stumbled upon Commonwealth Books a little ways down a sidestreet downtown. (Is there nothing cooler than stumbling upon a bookshop?) They had a smaller selection, but a prominent rare books collection. I easily could’ve spent hours combing through the two shops, especially if I hadn’t had to worry about the limited space in my travel bag.

Boston definitely caught me off guard! I wasn’t expecting to love it so much. I love the art, the history, the bookshops. I loved the parks and gardens. I loved the public transit system, and the places I stayed, and the places I ate. I know I’ll be back one day.

Hi there, thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this content, feel free to check out the rest of my work here. If you want to be notified when I publish new content, you can subscribe to my email list here. If you are not yet a member of Medium, you can sign up for unlimited access to everything Medium has to offer! Consider using my referral link here. (I receive a portion of your membership fee at no additional charge to you.) Coffee is my main source of writing fuel. Kindly consider dropping by my Ko-Fi page :) Till next time!

— Breanna