"From the Summit to the Square" Walking Tour

I am a bit behind on my posting. Last weekend was so fun-filled it seems to be taking me a week to get it all on the blog. So, tonight I've vowed to heat up some cider and and get caught up on my posting...while also avoiding the ripping back that must occur on my cardigan. It seems I was a bit overzealous when decreasing for the armholes.

On Sunday afternoon, after my morning of baking apple goods, I met up with Sam to take a walking tour called "From the Summit to the Square". The tour was focused on residences in the Prospect Hill and Union Square area of Somerville. It was over 2 hours long but barely seemed to scratch the surface of all the amazing architecture and history of the area.

The tour was organized by the Somerville Historic Preservation Committee and led by Edward W. Gordon. A filming crew from Somerville Community Access Television took the tour with us so you just may see us on TV!

In this photo you see Edward Gordon gesturing towards a house with "appropriate paint colors". He was big on the paint color thing. He likes it when people have chosen colors for their houses that would have been used in the time period in which the house was built.

We had a fairly big crowd and nearly everyone on the tour was a Somerville resident (Sam was the only non-Somervillian on the sign-up sheet, but since she came with me we can count her as an honorary member of the Somerville gang). I thought it was cool that so many people were interested in coming out on a Sunday afternoon to walk around and learn about their own neighborhood. One gentlemen who observed our group walking down his street asked me, "Where are you guys from?" and was totally befuddled by my answer of "Somerville!".

This house has a thingie on the side that used to shelter people as they arrived in their carriages. The covering allowed them to get out of their carriage and go inside without getting rained or snowed on. Apparently not many of these still exist in this neighborhood.

The houses we looked at on this tour had such great details. My photos don't really do these homes justice. Sam got some nice shots.

At the top of the hill there is a park called Prospect Hill Park. The park and this castle-like monument mark the site where General George Washington's Continental Army watched the British evacuate from Boston in 1776. The Grand Union Flag was first raised here to show defiance towards the British and each January 1st they have a little reenactment of the flag raising. There is quite a view from the top of the tower.

I very much enjoyed the tour but it left me feeling a little bummed that I am unlikely to be able to ever own a house here. The real estate is just too darned expensive. I have been having major home ownership urges but that will definitely have to wait. For now I will just have to remain a looky loo.