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Showing posts from April, 2014

Photo essay - Beavertail State Park RI

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Beavertail State Park is in the town of Jamestown RI on an island in the Narragansett Bay. It has a light house that dates to the 1890's and some beautiful rocky shorelines. Here are some photos I took that day.

Walking the Freedom Trail in the Tea-Party Era

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I had to think a long time before writing this entry. We live in a time where "The Founding Fathers" are thrown around to justify any right-wing anti-government policy and nut-job. So I had a lot of second thoughts before I sat down to put pen to paper (or finger to keyboard in this case). But I learned several things during my walk and in doing some research during the past week. Let's start by putting the American Revolution into historical perspective. The era from the 1600's to the 1800's was one of change from feudal societies to capitalist societies. This was a progressive movement at the time. And along the spectrum of the leaders of the American Revolution the Boston leaders were among the most liberal. Many were influenced by the reaction to a movement towards Puritan orthodoxy in the 1760's and then by the arrival and formation Unitarian Universalist congregations in the early 1770's. Read about the history of the UUA here . Massachusetts St...

A Walk Around Boston Public Gardens and Beacon Hill

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Looking over the shoulder of Trinity Church Boston is a wonderful walking city. one of the very nice walks is from Copley Square, through The Boston Public Gardens and on into Beacon Hill.  (see map) Copley Square is a public space that may be best know as the finish line of the Boston Marathon. On its South side sits the Boston Public Library - designed by architects McKim, Mead and White. On the north side Trinity Church. Built in 1877 by Henry Hobson Richardson. It has beautiful masonry work: North side of Trinity Church North side of Trinity Church and tower The church also has a lovely wooden interior, but I didn't get to see it because of all of the business going on in preparation for this years Marathon. On the east side of Copley Square sits The Fairmont Copley Plaza. Built in 1912 the Copley Plaza is the Grand Dame of Boston Hotels. It still maintains the luxury and opulence it has always shown: The Amazing Ms D. in the Copley Pl...