More sights from Boston, one of my favorite cities, pt 1

Paul Revere presided over the the cornerstone laying for the Massachusetts State House in 1795; for the building's design, architect Charles Bulfinch was inspired by two buildings in London: William Chambers's Somerset House and James Wyatt's Pantheon

Fenway Park, built in 1912 and the oldest stadium in Major League Baseball, is the second smallest (Tampa is smaller); home to the Red Sox, the stadium is famous for the Green Monster in left field with the small confines resulting in plenty of home runs

Old South Church is a historic United Church of Christ congregation (members have included Samuel Adams, Benjamin Franklin and Phyllis Wheatley) first organized in 1669; its current building, built in Gothic Revival style on Copley Square, dates from 1873

John Glover was a brigadier general in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War; his units, composed almost entirely of seamen, mariners and fishermen, were famous for their nautical skills; his statue is on the popular Commonwealth Avenue Mall

The Fairmont Copley Plaza (w/ John Hancock Tower at left) opened in 1912; Frederick Kerry, paternal grandfather of Senator John Kerry, committed suicide here in 1921; in the 1920s, John Singer Sargent kept rooms here where he painted portraits

These granite spires, which are lit at night, form part of the Boston Marathon bombing memorial dedicated to the 5 lives lost in April 2013; the marathon was always the highlight of my running year as a million enthusiastic spectators would cheer us on

Trinity Church, a Romanesque Revival masterpiece, was completed in 1877 on Copley Square; Phillip Brooks, the 9th rector of Trinity Church, wrote the beloved Christmas carol O Little Town of Bethlehem in 1868 after visiting the Holy Land

The Boston Public Garden was established in 1837 and was the first public botanical garden in America; adjacent to Boston Common, the Garden is designed in the style of an English landscape garden with formal plantings and popular swan boats

1975 Fiduciary Trust Building; what should be a Jeopardy! answer some day - the only state capital in the contiguous United States with an oceanic coastline - with the correct response, what is Boston?

The Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway stretches more than a mile across 17 linear acres where the JFK Freeway once stood; each block of the Greenway is different with gorgeous parks and public art making this one of the best new attractions in the city

First Baptist Church, established in 1665, is one of the oldest Baptist churches in the US; this building dates from 1872 and is best known for sculptures by Bartholdi (of Statue of Liberty fame) atop its tower (currently under restoration)

A small plaza across from Boston Common is named in honor of Edgar Allan Poe who was born here; the statue, dedicated on the 200th anniversary of Poe's birth, shows a giant raven flying from his baggage

Beacon Hill's Acorn Street is described as the most photographed street in the country (what about SF's Lombard St?); the area retains much of its original Federal, Greek Revival and Victorian architecture in structures built from the early to mid-1800s

The Athenaeum is one of the oldest independent libraries in the US; treasures include the largest portion of Washington's library from Mt Vernon;Houdon busts of Washington, Franklin + Lafayette owned by Jefferson; 1st edition of Audubon's Birds of America

Little Italy, in Boston's North End, is the city's oldest residential community, where Europeans have continuously lived since it was colonized in the 1630s; I noticed the cannolis at Mike's Pastry were extremely popular

TD Garden, home to the Celtics + Bruins, opened in 1995 replacing the original Boston Garden (and hosted the 2004 Democratic convention w/Obama's keynote address); it's the most visited sports arena in New England, with 3.5+ million people visiting each year

The 1875 Cathedral of the Holy Cross is the largest Roman Catholic church in New England; on October 1, 1979, Pope John Paul II held a 38-minute prayer service for 2,000 priests in the cathedral during his first pilgrimage to the US

Duck boats have been linked to more than 40 deaths since 1999 so, despite the enticing graphics, I didn't take their tour; Boston's Beantown nickname came as a result of a love among the city’s earliest settlers for baked beans in molasses