The rest
of Hidden Boston:
Jamaica
Plain
Galleries and antiquarian bookstores, Irish pubs and Hispanic bodegas are
at the center of a melting pot bordered by woods and ponds.
The Chestnut Hill pumping
stations
Possibly the most beautiful public structures in America.
Stonybrook
Reservation
Imagine: A 500-acre forest within the Boston city limits.
Museum of Bad Art
A roomful of really, really bad art. In Dedham, conveniently located just a couple blocks from the Dedham Mall and the Norfolk County Courthouse (where Sacco and Vanzetti were convicted).
Tank's for the memories
One of the world's largest pieces of art, off the Southeast Expressway (OK, this one's not exactly hidden, but we bet you won't find it in Fodor's).
The
Jackson Homestead
Classic example of Federalist architecture and a stop on the Underground
Railway in Newton.
Charlestown historic houses
Take an online tour of the neighborhood's houses, which date back to the 1700s.
Boston has a long tradition of exquisite architecture for public buildings (a tradition some might argue died with such edifices as City Hall and the JFK and Tip O'Neil federal buildings). Among the most inspiring, oddly enough, are two buildings whose sole purpose is to house the pumps that provide Boston with its drinking water.
The Chestnut Hill pumping stations, built by the former Metropolitan District Commission across the street from the Chestnut Hill Reservoir, have two radically different styles. One is a sort of classical Italianiate mansion, the other is one of those Roxbury-Puddingstone creations unique to the Boston area (think Trinity and Old South Churches). Both are architectural marvels.
- Getting there:
Drive west on Beacon Street. Go straight through Cleveland Circle; the stations will be on your left. Or take Commonwealth Avenue west to Chestnut Hill Avenue. Turn left, then right onto Beacon. The C line on the Green line terminates at Cleveland Circle, the pump stations are roughly the equivalent of two blocks further down Beacon (the B and D lines also have stops nearby).