Walking The Ruins

More than 100 years ago, inside these granite walls, large granite cylinders, 3' x 22', were turned on lathes and polished by jennies.  The Lyon's Turning Mill is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.  Happy Monochrome Monday!

United First Parish Church

The bell tower of this National Historic Landmark in Quincy Center was recently restored.  This church building is considered to be one of the finest standing Greek Revival church buildings in New England.  It was designed by noted architect Alexander Parris, who also designed Quincy Market in nearby Boston.  Presidents John Adams and John Quincy Adams are buried here with their wives.  This magnificent building was made of Quincy granite and completed in 1828.

I also included a little spring green for "Earth Day".  Go outside and enjoy!

"A Hill Too Dearly Bought"

Breeds Hill in Charlestown, is the site of the Bunker Hill Monument where the first battle of the American Revolutionary War took place. The 220 foot obelisk was the first and tallest to be built in America. Architect Solomon Willard designed the monument and had a railroad built to haul the Quincy granite to a barge which took it to Charlestown for assembly.

Daniel Webster spoke at the commemoration, asserting that the “monument stands a memorial of the past, a monitor to the present, and to all succeeding generations.”

Garden Visit

Flowers are still in bloom on the grounds at Peacefield, aka the Adams Mansion. Visitors by the busloads are stopping by to tour the Adams National Historic site. Rangers will be on duty for tours until November 10th.

Waiting For The Bell To Toll

Scaffolding was erected this past July to restore the bell tower of the United First Parish Church (Church of the Presidents) in Quincy Center. Restoration should be completed by November at a cost of $600,000. This magnificent edifice, built of Quincy granite donated by John Adams, was designed by Alexander Parris and completed in 1828. You can read more about the church here and see the tower here.

Happy Skywatch Friday everyone! We're into a rainy spell once again.

Lighting The Way To Boston

About an hour's boat ride from Quincy is the first light station established on the North American continent, and the last in the United States to be automated. It’s also our country's only light station that still retains an official keeper. Located on Little Brewster Island, Boston Light is part of the Boston Harbor Islands National Park system. It's on my "must see" list.

Thursday is "This Old House Day"

Part of this old historic house dates from 1686. The Dorothy Quincy Homestead on the corner of Hancock Street and Butler Road, will be open to the public on June 11th. I took this angle in early spring before the trees blossomed and covered the view.

Blossoms & Books

The Thomas Crane Public Library grounds provide a gorgeous setting in which to enjoy a couple chapters.

Winter At Peacefield

This snowy winter, the Adams Mansion definitely lives up to the name John Adams gave it - "Peacefield".

Thursday is "This Old House Day"

Today's "old house" is the 1885 keepers house on Little Brewster Island in Boston Harbor. The friendly "keepers" came out and waved to everyone on our winter harbor cruise. Tours of the lighthouse are offered in the summer only. This is the last lighthouse in the U.S. to be staffed with a "keeper". Boston Light was automated in 1998, but is still staffed by a resident civilian keeper assisted by the U.S. Coastguard.

Boston Light is almost 3 centuries old and has a fascinating history that you can read more about here.

The Ideal American Lighthouse

Boston Light is located on Little Brewster Island in outer Boston Harbor and is the site of the first lighthouse in North America, which was destroyed by the British as they were leaving Boston in 1776. The tower was rebuilt a few years later and is made up of rubble stone, granite and brick. It gets its electricity from Hull Wind. This is a designated National Historic Landmark and the only lighthouse in the U.S. to still have a keeper.

I added a little Photoshop "magic" to bring out the lines in the lighthouse and the craggy rocks it sits upon. Come back tomorrow to see the light keeper's house.

Blue Sky!

The blue skies have returned and provide a beautiful back drop to the Josiah Quincy House. This house was built as a family estate in 1770, and is a National Historic Landmark. For generations, the Quincys, like the Adamses, to whom they were related, played important roles in the social and political life of Massachusetts. The family produced three mayors of Boston and a president of Harvard.

Twilight at the Tower

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This Quincy landmark is the Church of the Presidents in Quincy Center. You can see previous informational posts of this National Historic Landmark here and here.

Demilune

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This is one of Fort Warren's unique features: a demilune. What is a demilune you ask? It is a semi-circular or semi-lunar shaped masonry defense which was attached to the main fort to defend against an amphibious assault on George's Island in Boston Harbor. The well-built fort served the military for 100 years as a patrol point and training ground. It gained a favorable reputation for the humane treatment of Confederate prisoners during the Civil War and was never fired upon.

The dark grey stone with the chisel-edge border, known as quarry-face finish, came from Quincy. Stone for the fort's construction also came from Cape Anne and quarries in Vermont.

History Lesson

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This Park Ranger is beginning a tour of Fort Warren, a pentagonal shaped fort strategically located at the entrance to Boston Harbor on Georges Island. The fort was constructed between 1833 -1861 and lots of Quincy granite wasused in it's construction. Fort Warren was named for the Revolutionary War hero, Dr. John Warren, who sent Paul Revere on his famous ride. Click here for more fascinating history about this fort. The fort is a National Historic Landmark.

Granite Railway 3

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Today's continuing series brings us to a pile of rocks at the end of Bunker Hill Lane. What looks like a plain ol' pile of rocks is called a grout pile or the rejected stones for a project. It looks like "quality control" was in effect here. This is where the Granite Railway loaded up to begin its 3 mile run.

The large size stone with the split, in the image below, is a rejected stair made for the Bunker Hill Monument. The Bunker Hill Monument's rounded, conical` staircase has 224 stone stairs and moving stone there was the first commercial venture for the Granite Railway back in the 1820s.

I sure would like a stone wall made out of those rejects . . .

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Granite Railway 2

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This is where the first commercial railway got started: at the end of Bunker Hill Lane. The overgrown rail bed here was once used to move massive hunks of granite from the quarry site to the Neponset River where it would be loaded onto a barge and brought to the building site of the Bunker Hill Monument. It would be a challenge to move the massive blocks of stone specified for this project. Quincy architect Solomon Willard was determined to get it done and enlisted the aid of Gridley Bryant who conceived of the idea for a rail system and got it operating by 1827.

If you enlarge the picture below you can see some of the details in a model of this railbed that is based on work done by Quincy archaeologist, Richard Muzzrole. The roadbed is essentially a dry stone wall three feet deep. The "wall" supported massive granite sleepers that are spaced eight feet apart. The first rails were wooden, but they were eventually replaced with granite ones to help transport stone loads of 21 tons or more for a distance of 3 miles. The horse drawn railway cars were loaded from the bottom so as not to damage the stone blocks. This was a pioneering design achievement which has earned this site a designated National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark.

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I just discovered an excellent blog post about the Granite Railway: click "Stories in Stone" to see the old rail car and find out more about this fascinating piece of Quincy's history.

Granite Gatehouse

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This is the Egyptian Revival Gateway to Mt. Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge. What is the Quincy connection you ask? You may have guessed that this Gatehouse was made of Quincy Granite for a mere sum of $9,500 in 1842. The designer, Dr. Jacob Bigelow, designed this Gateway to be imposing, enduring, sacred, and sublime. I don't know that this picture does it justice but it is all those things.

Mt. Auburn Cemetery began the "rural" cemetery movement out of which grew America's public parks. It has been designated a National Historic Landmark and is recognized as one of the country's most significant cultural landscapes that was founded in 1831 and modeled after Pere Lachaise Cemetery in Paris.

If you have an interest in trees, birds, sculpture, monuments, granite carving, walking or visiting the final resting place of many famous residents like Charles Bulfinch, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Winslow Homer, Buckminster Fuller, Amy Lowell, Fannie Farmer, or art patron, Isabella Stewart Gardner, to name only a few, this is a "must visit".

Numerous monuments and gravestones were made with Quincy granite here. Come back tomorrow to see the incredible Gothic Revival style chapel that Quincy architect Gridley Bryant designed along with Dr. Jacob Bigelow. Also visit my compardre's blog, Clulessinboston for his take on this special place.