Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
dense
Charles Street,
but if ever there was an area where there's no need to head in a
straight line, it's this one. Your travels might take you past the former homes of Louisa
May Alcott (10 Louisburg Sq.), Henry Kissinger (1 Chestnut St.), Julia Ward Howe
(13 Chestnut St.), Edwin Booth (29A Chestnut St.), and Robert Frost (88 Mount
Vernon St.). One of the oldest black churches in the country, the
African Meeting
House
(p. 160), is at 8 Smith Court.
These days, Alcott probably wouldn't be able to afford even the rent for a home on
Louisburg Square
(say “Lewis-burg”), better known today as the home of John and
Teresa Heinz Kerry. Twenty-two homes where a struggling writer would more likely
be an employee than a resident surround the lovely park. The iron-railed square is
open only to residents with keys.
Your wandering will probably lead you down to Charles Street. After you've had
your fill of the shops and restaurants there, you might want to investigate the archi-
tecture of the
“flats,”
between Charles Street and the Charles River. Built on landfill,
Welcome to the North End
The Paul Revere House and the Old North Church are the best-known build-
ings in the
North End
, Boston's “Little Italy” (although it's
never
called that). Home to natives of Italy and their assimilated children, numer-
ous Italian restaurants and private social clubs, and many historic sites, this
is one of the oldest neighborhoods in the city. It was home in the 17th cen-
tury to the
Mather family
of Puritan ministers, who certainly would be
shocked to see the merry goings-on at the festivals and street fairs that take
over different areas of the North End on weekends in July and August.
The Italians (and their yuppie neighbors who have made inroads since
the 1980s) are only the latest immigrant group to dominate the North End.
In the 19th century, this was an Eastern European Jewish enclave and later
an Irish stronghold. In 1890, President Kennedy's mother, Rose Fitzgerald,
was born on Garden Court Street and baptized at St. Stephen's Church.
Modern visitors might be more interested in a Hanover Street
caffè,
the
perfect place to have coffee or a soft drink and feast on sweets.
Mike's
Pastry
, 300 Hanover St. (
&
617/742-3050;
www.mikespastry.com), is a
bakery that does a frantic takeout business and has tables where you can sit
down and order one of the confections on display in the cases. The signature
item is cannoli (tubes of crisp-fried pastry filled with sweetened ricotta
cheese); the cookies, cakes, and other pastries are excellent, too. You can also
sit and relax at
Caffè dello Sport
or
Caffè Vittoria,
on either side of Mike's.
Before you leave the North End, stroll down toward the water and see
whether there's a
bocce
game going on at the courts on Commercial Street
near Hull Street. The European pastime is both a game of skill and an excuse
to hang around and shoot the breeze—in Italian and English—with the
locals (mostly men of a certain age). It's so popular that the neighborhood
has courts both outdoors, in the Langone Playground at Puopolo Park, and
indoors, at the back of the Steriti Rink, 561 Commercial St.