North Shore/North End

["Motif No. 1" in Rockport Harbor, Rockport MA; 7/18/09]

Rockport is a little seaside town on Cape Ann, a peninsula about 25 miles north of Boston. It attracts lots of tourists on summer weekends, but no matter - we were happy to play tourist. After an overcast and very humid morning, the air cleared and it turned into a spectacularly beautiful sunny day, a rare treat. Once in Rockport, we parked the car and wandered out on Bearskin Neck among the galleries and tacky gift shops, clothing stores, kayak rental outfits, restaurants and ice cream parlors (there had to be 4 or 5 of these within spitting distance of each other, so we picked one that had a back patio with a lovely view of the harbor). You can see more photos from Rockport here.

[Antiques shop window, Bearskin Neck, Rockport]

Humidity and scattered thunderstorms are predicted every day for the foreseeable future. But Sunday turned out to be another lovely sunny, dry day, and we wanted to get out and enjoy it - without driving. So we hoofed it around Boston - up to the North End and the waterfront. Among other things, we stumbled across one of the North End's many summer Italian Saint's Day Festivals (the calendar says St Dominick's, but a sign on the statue reads San Rocco, so who knows?).

 

Nearby, in Paul Revere Mall, we found a war memorial featuring blank dog tags for the "men and women of the Armed Services and the civilians who have lost their lives in the Afghanistan and Iraq Wars."

 

The war memorial is in the shadow of an icon of the American Revolution, the Old North Church, where in 1775 the church sexton, Robert Newman, hung two lanterns as a signal from Paul Revere that the British were coming by sea, not by land ("one if by land, two if by sea") - the start of the Revolution.

The church was open, and beautiful inside.

 

There's also a lovely garden beside the church, the Washington Memorial Garden. The walls of the garden feature plaques, such as one dedicated to John and Priscilla Alden, made famous by Longfellow's The Courtship of Miles Standish (in which Priscilla famously tells Alden, courting on behalf of Standish, "why don't you speak for yourself, John"). There are more photos in my Boston Summer 2009 Flickr set.

[In the Old North Church; 7/19/09]

Comments

[Kat]

Beautiful photos, Leslee. I always have a fondness for seaside towns on the East Coast. I've always dreamed of living in one (who knows, I tell myself, maybe someday). Your weekend seems to have been a wonderful combination of scenery and history.

[Lorianne]

There's only one question worth asking of any trip to the North End: where and what did you eat?

[Leslee]

Thanks, Kat. My folks lived at the seacoast for many years - it's always a draw for me.

Lorianne: We stopped in at a waterfront seafood place in the afternoon for shrimp cocktail and fries and lemonade! Then we weren't hungry anymore. Next time...

[Lorianne]

Sounds like an excellent excuse to return for dinner next time. :-)

[sky]

your photographs are always seductive and amplify my desire to revisit the boston area. that last photograph displays the casting of light so beautifully! the shots in flicker of you and your guy were fun to see - a very attractive couple. :) looks like a delightful weekend for you 2. hope the sun stays out for a few more this summer.

[April]

I want that antique band of cats!!