North End Historical Society of Boston, MA

01/11/2024

Old byways become passageways - this one on Garden Court Street particularly well-swept!

01/11/2024

Real pleasure to see so many of you at Prof. Sammarco's lecture last night! Thank you to North End Branch of the Boston Public Library for hosting the event, and to all who braved the winter weather to come out and learn more about the taste, trade, and Twinings of tea.

01/11/2024

In honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, First Floor Admission to the Boston Athenæum including "Make Your Own Museum" will be free to all visitors on Monday, January 15, 2024. No reservation necessary.
(building tours also free - you might get a NEHS director as your guide ;-)

There’s always something new here. Book clubs, gallery talks, concerts, and panel discussions are just a few of our in-person and online events. View Upcoming Programs.

01/10/2024

"The Boston Landmarks Commission (BLC) received a complete application to demolish the residential building at 149 Salem Street/ 71 Prince Street in the North End. Staff has determined that this property is historically significant. 149 Salem Street is one of the last remaining wood-framed structures left intact in the North End from the late 1700s. It was surveyed by the Boston Landmarks Commission as an individual building and as contributing building to the Salem; Prince Street Neighborhood Area, locally known as Bova’s corner. 149 Salem Street is the oldest building in this neighborhood area. Old wooden clapboards and corner boards are visible behind the imitation brick siding which was installed in the 1960s.

We post each complete Demolition Delay application of historically significant properties to provide the public with information about proposed demolitions as early as possible in the Article 85 process. BLC staff has 10 calendar days from receiving an application to make a determination about historical, architectural, cultural, or urban design significance."

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01/10/2024

In-person event tonight (10 January 2024) at North End Branch of the Boston Public Library, 25 Parmenter Street, Boston, at 6 p.m.
Come meet North End Historical Society directors and members, be updated about NEHS's 2024 programming, and learn how to become involved. Anthony M. Sammarco, author of dozens of books about local history will talk about the Boston Tea Party and those North Enders who helped stage the scene. Free and open to all.

01/10/2024

"Tra due mondi: L'avventura americana tra i migranti italiani di fine secolo : un approccio analitico" (1994), studies the social and economic conditions of migrants to the North End of Boston from Lapio (AV). Those who could afford to, might work in America for a while in order to save up to buy some land, returning periodically to the town to check up on affairs, marry, and bring news of other lapiani emigrants. They helped to fund public monuments and other town activities like festivals. The book includes North End family trees. For decades, there was active family exchanges between the "two worlds".

01/10/2024

Tileston Street cellar door.

01/09/2024

Stairways on Cooper and North Margin.

01/09/2024

Also on sale at I Am Books at discounted price: "Italian Americans of Greater Boston: A Proud Tradition". More discounted Boston titles in comments below.

The first published history of the Italian-American community in this area, Italian Americans of Greater Boston: A Proud Tradition traces the migration of Italians to America through the developmen…

01/09/2024

Right now there's a sale at I Am Books of Bennett and Richard Molinari's North End-based novel, "Quattro Donne" - almost half off cover price ($9.47 instead of $18.85):

Four Women is a historical fiction taking place in Boston’s colorful North End, “Little Italy” in the summer of 1949, a time when families lived together in a close-knit community, slightly larger …

01/09/2024

Caught in the act! Boston tour guide Doug purchasing Journal of the North End Historical Society vol 2 (2020) at I Am Books!

01/09/2024

Just enough room for bay window and fire escape over an alley off Hanover. Not much of a view, but it's yours.

01/09/2024

Prado Pigeon Patrol

01/09/2024

Preview of Cutillo Park renovations (between Morton and Stillman Street) - including an exercise station!

01/08/2024

Recent question posed to NEHS: given the stories about smugglers' tunnels to Boston waterfront from area of Copp's Hill, were there any Underground Railroad "stops" in the North End? Hard to pinpoint locations, but at the time the emancipation network was particularly active as we know it - the Harriet Tubman era, so to speak - there was a small number of Blacks living in the North End not far from Copp's Hill, in what was a predominately Irish area at the time. This Boston National Historical Park interactive map reveals information we weren't aware of regarding this settlement. And there's no doubt more to uncover outside of the confines of Boston African American National Historic Sites on Beacon Hill.

This interactive digital map showcases the people and places associated with the Underground Railroad in Boston. While featuring notable safe houses and Underground Railroad operatives, this map also highlights sites of public protest and concerted action against the fugitive slave laws. Additionall...

01/08/2024

https://www.wcvb.com/article/george-washington-sculpture-old-north-church-cleaned-restored/46303490

Carved in 1790, the marble bust of the nation's first president was donated to the historic Boston church nearly 210 years ago.

01/08/2024

NEHS director Victor Passacantilii helps to launch "Questo North End" to preserve oral and written histories of North End residents. Please get in touch with him at the email in his message below to share your stories!

01/06/2024

When you are on school field trip and say you live in the North End and get into The Paul Revere House for free just because you can!

01/05/2024

https://www.bldup.com/posts/hemenway-construction-wrapping-up-work-on-north-end-condo-renovation?utm_content=277463422&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&hss_channel=tw-2584273410

Hemenway Construction Wrapping up Work on North End Condo Renovation

01/05/2024

And so the proverbial... hits the fan.

The owners of 21 North End restaurants and the North End Chamber of Commerce yesterday sued the city over its 2022 fees for restaurants in the neighborhood that wanted to use public sidewalks and streets for patio seating - and its ban on such patios last year - alleging the Wu administration and a....

01/05/2024

First week of 2024 - almost over! Take a break.
Boston Harborwalk.

01/05/2024

Join us on Saturday, January 13, 2024 from 11:00am to 12:30pm for a Legacy Letter Workshop, sponsored by the Fiends of the North End Library and presented by Jay Sherwin!

A legacy letter (also called an “ethical will”) is a written document that allows you to share your life lessons, express your values and transmit your blessings to future generations. A legacy letter is not a formal legal document or a full-length memoir; it’s a brief personal statement, typically just a few pages. Writing one is a rewarding experience that creates an enduring gift for your family, friends and loved ones.

This workshop is designed to introduce the concept of legacy letters and to help you craft your own legacy letter. It includes discussion and brief writing exercises. Jay will offer advice to help you complete your legacy letter, share it with loved ones and preserve it for future generations.

Jay Sherwin has practiced law, given away money for five charitable foundations and served as a hospital chaplain. Drawing on all those experiences, Jay created the Life Reflections Project to educate people about legacy letters and ethical wills; he now teaches classes and workshops on legacy writing and helps people create their own legacy documents. You can read more on Jay’s website at: www.jaysherwin.com. Please register in person, by phone, or online at: www.bit.ly/legacy_letter

01/05/2024

Hawkeye.

01/05/2024

Add to that "to-do" list for 2024... a North End neighbor, now in his mid-80's, asked us to find out what really happened to that marble bust of Italian king Umberto I that used to be in the North End North End Branch of the Boston Public Library and long claimed to be "in storage" somewhere in Boston Public Library's main branch in Copley Square. Carved from Carrera marble c. 1880, it was a life size bust said to have been the result of live sittings and given by King Humbert I to the City of Boston through the Directors of the Foreign Exhibition in 1883. It was moved to the North End library branch not long after it was opened in 1913, but went missing some decades ago (someone recalled it being stored in a trash can). You can tell from that last tidbit of information that it's probably not going to be a happy ending, but let's stay optimistic, at least for the first week of the new year!
BPL does provide plenty of info about the Dante memorial by sculptor Luciano Campise: "The North End branch of the Boston Public Library opened at 3A North Bennett Street on Feb. 27, 1913. The Dante sculpture is mentioned in a news article about the event and it is said it will be “placed later”. According to the Boston Globe, the sculpture was dedicated on June 1, 1913 but according to our internal records the unveiling was June 14, 1913. The branch relocated to its present site in 1965. The Dante sculpture was moved to the new building where it remains today. "

01/05/2024

Thanks to expert advice of The Paul Revere House staff, we were able to correctly place Filippo A. Goduti Cigar not at the actual Paul Revere house at 19 North Square but in a nearby and now destroyed structure at 187 North Street, where Goduti was listed as "Negoziante all'ingrosso di Sigari, Si*****te, Tabacchi e Pipe". Goduti did very well, financially, and some of his family are still around. He vacated the Paul Revere house around 1902.

01/04/2024

Connah Store no mowah.

01/04/2024

Meanwhile, another North End "Connah Store" long vacant, in wood frame building missing windows, pieces of siding, and nearly all of its dignity. Built in late 1700s by a guy buried in newly restored crypt of Old North Church, also instrumental in getting City of Boston made an actual city in 1822.... hello, Boston Landmarks Commission?.