Thursday, November 25, 2010

Walking around Historic Cambridge, Massachusetts

The Georgian style Longfellow National Historic Site built 1759. Look out for a up and coming post on this lovely home


Happy Thanksgiving!!! I have a wonderful walking tour not of Plymouth, Massachusetts, Where it is commonly believe that the first Thanksgiving happened in 1621. But of Historic Cambridge, Massachusetts. Cambridge of one of those lovely New England towns that one thinks of when thinking about traditional Thanksgiving. Cambridge a lovely city I visited in August of 2009 for five days during my 2 week stay in Boston. The well preserved city is rich in architecture from every area of American history. The city was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England. Cambridge is home to two internationally prominent universities, Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Between 1790 and 1840, Cambridge began to grow rapidly, with the construction of two bridges, the first West Boston Bridge in 1792, that connected Cambridge directly to Boston, making it no longer necessary to travel eight miles (13 km) through the Boston Neck, Roxbury, and Brookline to cross the Charles River.



The new bridges and roads made what were formerly large rich estates and marshland into prime industrial and residential districts. In the mid-19th century, Cambridge was the center of a literary revolution when it gave the country a new identity through poetry and literature. Cambridge was home to the famous Fireside Poets—so called because their poems would often be read aloud by families in front of their evening fires. In their day, the Fireside Poets—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, James Russell Lowell, and Oliver Wendell Holmes—were as popular and influential as rock stars are today.



The Georgian style Longfellow National Historic Site built 1759


Longfellow's beautiful garden


Bunny in Longfellow's beautiful garden  



Rose from Longfellow's beautiful garden



Longfellow's beautiful garden


Gothic Revival home


 A red brick Greek Revival building now turned into as Starbucks coffee


18th century building that George Washington stayed in at Harvard University




The 1844 Greek Revival villa Oliver Hastings house next to the Longfellow home




The 1844 Greek Revival villa Oliver Hastings house next to the Longfellow home






Turn of the century Colonial Revival home


Home with a Federal style doorway


Second Empire villa


Second Empire villa


Second Empire villa


Second Empire villa


A Federal style home


A nice Italianate villa


A nice Italianate villa


A nice Italianate home


Late Federal doorway with Greek Revival columns


A nice Italianate home


Nice blue door


Large Federal home


Delicate Federal doorway


Roses growing on a wood fence




Federal home


 This home is new but is a very good copy of a Federal period home


Federal home


Detail of Federal doorway


18th century Georgian Doorway


18th century Georgian building


Greek Revival home


1846 Greek Revival home

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