Life Lately: History Edition

It’s been a while since I’ve done a “life lately” post. My last one was professional themed and today I am excited to share a history focused post!

Independence Day

Let’s go back to the start of July – Independence Day! This is my favorite holiday and I wrote a post explaining that “July 4th” might not be the best day to actually celebrate independence, but I won’t get into that again, you can read the post.

Joe and I went down to FiDi to Federal Hall, where Washington was sworn into office. We got to see the actual stone slab he stood on and the bible used. I got my picture with him and Franklin, and I was so, so excited.

The NY Stock Exchange is right next store and it looked thoroughly patriotic.

We also checked off a summer bucket list item and took a walk over the Brooklyn Bridge.

Historical Walking Tour

My lovely friend Chrystalla came up with a great birthday gift idea in January that I had to patiently wait for until the summer – a historical walking tour in the city. I was so excited to go through all of the options and ultimately selected the 3 hour Downtown Manhattan tour. The company is called Free Tours by Foot and they operate in cities around the world. You can take a look at their calendar and book your free (actually free, it’s incredible) tour super easily.

After brunch, we made our way over to Federal Hall for the start of the tour. It was jam packed with interesting historical information, references to present day important figures, and was perfectly paced. I learned why Wall St. is called Wall St., some crazy stories about the gangs who used to rule NY, and a story about Alexander Hamilton/Aaron Burr that set me off on a reading/researching spree (and brought me to the revelation of my most recent blog post).

The Oculus

Trinity Church

The Oculus and One World Trade

Chinatown

We loved our tour guide, Eric, who we completely inadvertently ended up riding the subway with! We were on our way to Astoria (Joe and Chrystalla’s boyfriend James both live in the neighborhood) and looked over to see Eric in the same car as us.

Boston 

Boston Tea Party Museum

Public Gardens

Acorn Street

 

A model I spotted

 

Public Library

Public Library

 

Isabella Stewart Gardener Museum

 

Fenway Park

 

I wasn’t able to take a picture of the most exciting thing that happened on the trip. We went to the Massachusetts Historical Society on a whim and got to see the letter that John Adams wrote to Abigail when the vote for Independence went through that I quoted in my blog post!!!! Oh my goodness, I freaked out, and then I saw that they have the oldest known original portraits of John and Abigail and I can’t believe what a hidden gem the museum portion of the society building is.

 

I am so happy to have had a month filled with learning about the history of our country and can’t wait to see what else is discovered this summer.

 

What have you been up to? Anything blowing your socks off?

 

-AJF

Follow