2022 Boston Guide to Preservation Month

May is National Preservation Month which gives us a perfect excuse to show off our beloved historic city. We pulled together a list of cool things to see, do, taste, learn, support, or think about throughout the month of May. 

Before we dive in, the Boston Preservation Alliance is supported by you, our neighbors and community members. We have a Preservation Month goal to raise $25,000 in support of our work protecting, promoting, and preserving Boston’s architectural heritage. We bring people and organizations together to influence the future of Boston’s historic buildings, landscapes, and communities.

Any level of support is an immense help in our efforts to keep Boston a vibrant place to live, work, and visit. Together, we make Boston better.
 

Support Our Work


Now, lace up those shoes and get ready for preservation adventures. Here are nine ways to honor, enjoy, and experience our vibrant city.

North End Street that zigs and zags.
1. Explore Boston’s Green Spaces

This year marks Frederick Law Olmsted’s 200th birthday. He is known as the Father of Landscape Architecture and Boston is lucky to be home to a number of his parks. We have Olmsted to thank for the concept of the Emerald Necklace and several of Boston’s parks. (Note: He created the concept of the Emerald Necklace, but did not design all the parks. For example, the Public Garden was designed by George Meachum.) His parks range from unexpected mini oases like Charlesgate Park to grand landscapes such as Franklin Park and the fragrant Arboretum. 

List of Olmsted Parks:

1.  Franklin Park
2. The Arnold Arboretum
3. The Fens, Arborway, and Riverway
4. The Emerald Necklace
5. Dorchester Park (designed by Olmsted, Olmsted & Eliot, a firm led by Frederick Law Olmsted’s sons.

2. Celebrate Boston’s 200th Birthday as a City

May 9: Boston at 200 with the Massachusetts Historical Society. Free to attend.

The Massachusetts Historical Society is hosting an event, both in-person and online, that examines Boston as a city. 

The Boston Preservation Alliance is serving on the newly-formed Commemoration Commission that will not only celebrate upcoming historical anniversaries but will also reexamine and update our preservation toolkit.  

It’s been 200 years since Boston was incorporated in 1822. An excellent panel will discuss Boston’s past, present, and future. What will Boston look like moving forward? How will the city face rising costs pushing out innovators and artists? What will climate change’s effects be on this coastal city? In 2122, will Boston remain the innovation hub of America? 

Register

3. Wake Up Your Garden with the Loring-Greenough House 

May 7: Wake Up Your Garden 11 am — 1 pm.
May 14: Summer Kitchen Opening 1 pm — 3 pm.

To celebrate the advent of spring, the Loring-Greenough will host a plant sale on May 7 featuring clippings from their heritage and native plants. There will also be opportunities for soil testing, chats with Massachusetts Master Gardeners, a book swap, and children’s activities.

Keep the fun going and join the Summer Kitchen Opening on May 14. Come visit the last remaining example of an early 19th-century summer kitchen in Boston! Tours of the summer kitchen and drying space will be offered, plus fun activities such as butter making, rug beating, 19th-century games, and view items from the Loring-Greenough collections related to cooking and food preparation.

The Loring-Greenough is also one of Boston’s oldest buildings. (a hint for a future item)

4. Take a Walk.

May 14: Jamaica Plain Historical Society Walking Tour of Monument Square
May 15: Boston By Foot Tour, Reinventing Boston
May 21: Jamaica Plain Historical Society Walking Tour of Sumner Hill
May 28: Jamaica Plain Historical Society Walking Tour of Stony Brook
May 29: Boston By Foot Tour, Reinventing Boston

There are few better ways to see the city than by foot. 

The Jamaica Plain Historical Society is hosting a series of walking tours around Monument Square, Sumner Hill, and Stony Brook. Stroll around Monument Square and see architecture that spans three centuries including the oldest community theater company in the United States, roam around the finest collections of Victorian houses in Sumner Hill, and sip your way through Boston’s beer history by exploring Stony Brook.

Book a Tour

Boston By Foot is leading a tour titled, “Reinventing Boston” with two tour dates. A walk through Boston is a walk through time. On this guided walk through the Greenway and along the Waterfront, observe how Boston’s urban landscape has changed as you uncover the clues left behind.

From cobblestone streets to the first subway to the Big Dig, Boston has led the way in urban transformation. For hundreds of years, the city has changed to meet the demands of people, business, transportation, and public health.

Walk from the narrow streets of 17th-century Boston to the modern city, exploring a city re-engineered!

5. Be an Armchair Time Traveler with the Help of the Atlascope
An old map sharing the area of Uphams Corner in 1910

Atlascope is a tool made by the Leventhal Map Center for exploring historic urban maps in metropolitan Boston and telling stories about how places have changed over time.

Urban atlases offer some of the most important sources of information about the historical geography of cities in the United States, with extraordinary detail about buildings, owners, and city infrastructure. Until now, browsing these atlases has involved looking through volumes and pages for a specific area of interest. The Atlascope project brings nearly 100 atlases of Boston and its surroundings into a seamless digital interface.

Go Explore With Atlascope


Visit the Norman B. Leventhal Map Center to see the current exhibit, “More or Less in Common: Environment and Justice in the Human Landscape.” Or attend an online event in conversation with Dudley Square Neighborhood Initiative on community land trusts, sustainable development, and community resilience in Roxbury.

6. Track Down Boston’s Oldest Buildings. 
One of Boston's oldest buildings on minot street.

Boston City Archaeologist, Joseph Bagley, tracked down Boston’s 50 oldest buildings and organized them in a book called, “Boston’s Oldest Buildings and Where to Find Them.” It is a great guide to the city and reveals unexpected histories hidden within wood and brick. The book won a 2021 Preservation Award. One building from the book has sadly been demolished, but the others remain. See if you can find them all and share them with us via Instagram. Of the top five, three are in Dorchester, and two are in the North End. 

Buy the Book
 

The AIA Guide to Boston App is another great resource as you roam the city. The app includes the history of thousands of buildings at your fingertips and is available for free.
 

DOWNLOAD FOR IPHONE    Download for Android

 

7. Dive into the History of Your Own Home.

There are several local organizations and resources to help you discover the history of your own home. Most are based on the neighborhood you live in. 

If you live in…

  • Back Bay: Then you should explore the award-winning www.Backbayhouses.org, an extensive list of house and neighborhood history. Be warned, this is a proper rabbit hole of information.
  • Charlestown: Then the Charlestown Preservation Society is for you. They have a great house research guide complete with Charlestown Resources.
  • Dorchester or Mattapan: Look to the Dorchester Historical Society. For just $75, a researcher at the Dorchester Historical Society will help you unravel the stories of your home. 
8. Dine Out at One of Boston’s Legacy Businesses
Facade of Pleasant Cafe in Roslindale

Legacy Businesses – mom and pop shops – make Boston unique and our neighborhoods vibrant. They are so unique that no other city in the world has places quite like them. 

The character of a place rests in more than the physical architecture. People make memories, not buildings, and Boston’s Legacy Businesses are the retainers of neighborhood identity and generation’s worth of memories.

See our list of Boston’s Legacy Businesses.

Some suggestions:

  • Classic candlepin bowling at Central Park Lanes, Ron’s, South Boston Candlepin.
  • Jazz at Slades, Darry’s, and Wally’s.
  • Tour the world through food with stops at Cafe Polonia, Merengue, Singhs Roti Shop, Tawakal Halal Cafe, and Hei La Moon (now in a new location).
9. Subscribe to our Newsletter for More Preservation Updates and Adventures.

Our Preservation field guides are sent out every two weeks and are sure to make you fall in love with Boston. They are full of advocacy updates and neighborhood preservation news.

Subscribe

Happy Preservation Month!

 

Help the Boston Preservation Alliance raise $25,000 this Preservation Month. Every amount helps and every gift of $20 or more automatically makes you a member of the Boston Preservation Alliance.

Support the Alliance

 

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2019 Preservation Achievement Awards 

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The City of Boston invites you to a

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The Preservation Bucket List + Photo Competition

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Citgo sign here to stay, but maybe not surrounding buildings

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Citgo sign here to stay, but maybe not surrounding buildings

Developer Related Beal on Tuesday went before the Boston Civic Design Commission to submit its updated plans to redevelop buildings on Commonwealth Avenue near Deerfield Street.

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Defending Fenway’s Heritage

Emily Kahn, Boston Preservation Alliance Intern

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Announcing the 2018 Preservation Achievement Award winners!

As neighborhoods change over generations, it’s important that touchpoints to their past both remain in place and sensitively evolve to maintain their relevance.

Announcing the 2018 Preservation Achievement Award winners!

As neighborhoods change over generations, it’s important that touchpoints to their past both remain in place and sensitively evolve to maintain their relevance.

Announcing the 2018 Preservation Achievement Award winners!

As neighborhoods change over generations, it’s important that touchpoints to their past both remain in place and sensitively evolve to maintain their relevance.

Announcing the 2018 Preservation Achievement Award winners!

As neighborhoods change over generations, it’s important that touchpoints to their past both remain in place and sensitively evolve to maintain their relevance.

Announcing the 2018 Preservation Achievement Award winners!

As neighborhoods change over generations, it’s important that touchpoints to their past both remain in place and sensitively evolve to maintain their relevance.

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By David Nagahiro, AIA, LEED AP

7 Buildings Living Their Best Second Lives

From old fire departments to post offices that succumbed to the demise of snail mail, buildings across the country have fallen prey to shifting markets and the rise of technology.

Paramount Theatre and the Boston Opera House Honored for Their Remarkable Makeovers

Last week, the National Trust for Historic Preservation

Thank you to all our corporate members, including: