Boston Public Garden - The Next Phase Blog

King Husky is a large dog that sits on a plinth in Ell Hall just inside the front doors and he looks outward toward the Krentzman Quadrangle. University tradition says that students who pat his nose will have good luck and bring good fortune to the school. All the attention has made the dog’s nose suitably shiny and somewhat worn.

King Husky inside and outside

When I was a student at Northeastern University, I walked through Boston a lot. Really. A lot. I worked my way through school after my freshman scholarship ran out and held on to every quarter I could find. Some of these quarters would have saved me a lot of time by riding the MBTA but, instead, I walked.

I passed buildings in the Back Bay without knowing what they were, who had built them, or when they had gone up and why. I didn’t even know that the Back Bay had once been a stinking mud flat converted by three entities into the Millionaire’s Mile. That meant I paid these structures little attention, even though I would have enjoyed knowing more. (Note to Northeastern University: How about an orientation lecture on this?)

Training with Boston By Foot

Fortunately, I began making up for that lack when I took Boston By Foot’s course for Guides in Training. I started reading books on history and architecture. I found that I could no longer see just a building because now I knew more. After graduation, I went on to give tours of the Back Bay, among others, and learning even more. To paraphrase Tyrion Lannister: That’s what I do. I read and I know things. It’s a good motto for a tour guide.

Then I began writing this blog and added posts about Boston on a fairly regular basis. Some fit into a series: Hidden Gems, Angels in Boston, Animal Statues, Doors, etc. Other posts did not match a pattern—they stood on their own. I did, however, group them by their part of Boston.

You might have seen these posts or you might be a new reader for whom they have not been visible.

36 Back Bay Posts

The courtyard at the Boston Public Library is free. A series of open-air concerts is given there in June, July and August, offering a variety of music from jazz and folk to classical and contemporary. In addition, the BPL runs the Courtyard Restaurant serving lunch and afternoon tea.

Courtyard of the Boston Public Library

Today, I’m am publishing a list of all the posts I have written about the Back Bay—36 plus. I define the Back Bay thusly: From Arlington Street west to Massachusetts Avenue and from the Charles River south to Copley Square.

The posts appear in rough alphabetical order and I have added the series, if applicable.