Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Trailing Off
If you don't feel like retracing your steps at the end of the Freedom Trail, you
have two public transit options. Return to the Charlestown Navy Yard for the
ferry
to Long Wharf, which leaves every half-hour from 6:45am to 8:15pm on
weekdays (every 15 min. 6:45-9:15am and 3:45-6:45pm), and every half-hour
on the quarter-hour from 10:15am to 6:15pm on weekends. The 10-minute trip
costs $1.70 (or show your 7-day LinkPass), and the dock is an easy walk from
Old Ironsides. Alternatively, walk to the foot of the hill; on Main Street, take
bus no. 92 or 93
to Haymarket (Green or Orange Line).
Tips
3 More Museums & Attractions
Boston Athenæum
Both a private library and an art gallery, the Athenæum
gives outsiders an insider's perspective on Boston Brahmin society. The city's leading
families founded the members-only library in 1807 to make “the great works of learn-
ing and science in all languages” available to members. The arts component was added
in 1827, and the building is now filled with artwork. Only the first floor is open to
the public, but that's plenty—you'll get a sense of the spirit of self-improvement that
inspired the members. Docent-led tours (offered twice weekly, by reservation only;
&
617/227-0270,
ext. 279) show off the Palladian-inspired sandstone building,
replete with soaring galleries and hideaway nooks, that backs up to the Old Granary
Burying Ground. Completed in 1849 and expanded in 1913-15, it was extensively
renovated around the turn of the 21st century. Offerings within usually include
exhibits in the compact art gallery; sometimes there are also readings, concerts, and,
on rare occasions, public viewings of the library's most famous holding: an 1847 vol-
ume bound in the author's skin.
10
1
⁄
2
Beacon St.
&
617/227-0270.
www.bostonathenaeum.org. Free admission. Year-round Mon 9am-8pm, Tues-
Fri 9am-5:30pm; Sept-May Sat 9am-4pm. Free tours (reservations required) Tues and Thurs 3pm. Closed Sat
June-Aug, Sun and major holidays year-round. T: Red or Green Line to Park St.
Boston Public Library
The central branch of the city's library system is an archi-
tectural and intellectual monument. The original 1895 building, a National Historic
Landmark designed by Charles F. McKim, is an Italian Renaissance-style masterpiece
that fairly drips with art. The
lobby doors
are the work of Daniel Chester French
(who also designed the Abraham Lincoln statue in the memorial in Washington, the
Minute Man
statue in Concord, and the John Harvard statue in Cambridge). The
murals
are by John Singer Sargent and Pierre Puvis de Chavannes, among others.
Visit the lovely
courtyard
or peek at it from a window on the stairs. The adjoining
addition, of the same height and material (pink granite), was designed by Philip John-
son and opened in 1972. The lobby holds changing exhibits. The restaurant,
Novel,
serves lunch and afternoon tea Monday through Friday, and
Sebastian's Map Room
Café
is open 9am to 5pm Monday through Saturday.
Free
Art & Architecture Tours
(www.bpl.org/guides/tours.htm) begin Monday at
2:30pm, Tuesday and Thursday at 6pm, Friday and Saturday at 11am, with an addi-
tional tour October through May on Sunday at 2pm. Visit the website and click
“Guides to the Library” to find information about the McKim building. Call
&
617/
536-5400,
ext. 2216, to arrange group tours.
