Mark Bulger takes a look at the carving up of part of the old Greenough estate into 50-foot-wide parcels for Irish immigrants in the 1850s, after they'd arrived in the neighborhood in the preceding decade. The land in question is along what is now McBride Street.

Georgy makes the ride from Somerville, discovers it's pretty cool. And has good sushi.

John Quincy Adams discovers ye Twitter:

I received this morning from the Secretary of State, a letter, enclosing the credential to the Emperor of Russia ...
10:18 AM Jul 29th from web

Via Bostonist.

J.L. Bell begins a new discussion on the colonial equivalent of the Combat Zone:

... So Bostonians were referring to Mount Whoredom many decades before the Revolution, and it was already a site of iniquity—of sorts. On this night the worst behavior the Puritan authorities found was "Nine Pins." (Make your blood boil? Well, I should say!) ...

J.L. Bell continues his examination of John Adams's horse troubles: Seems John found himself in Philadelphia without a horse in July, 1776 and Abigail got so sick of his whining in letters she finally convinced a neighbor to go all the way down there with an extra horse so Adams could get home.

Interesting to see how much has changed - and hasn't - since the 1920s:

Via ArchBoston.org.

Even back in 1869, our little streets confused tourists, as Mark Twain notes in his account of a trip here, starting with his effort to get from the train station to the hotel with the aid of a little kid who charged him 30 cents:

"Boy, why do you wind around in this way -- why don't you go straight?"

"Sir?"

"Why do you poke in and out and wind around and about in this involved and sinuous way? Why don't you go straight?"

The boy turned and surveyed me impressively for many minutes, and then said, as if to himself:

"Go straight in Boston -- ain't he innocent, though?"

He then marched on. But I had lost all confidence, and so I took refuge in the first hotel I came to and discharged James, satisfied that no virtue could abide in a boy whose ways were so crooked. In going from the depot to the hotel we passed one spot seven different times and approached it from a different direction every time.

J.L. Bell reports.

Howie Carr thinks those little-known state and county holidays were created by hacks for their own enrichment. Apparently Howie thinks these holidays are on the books purely to enable all those Boston teachers, court clerks and sanitation workers to sail their 35-foot boats on the taxpayers' dime. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

Volunteers are needed at the American Jewish Historical Society on the campus of Hebrew College to do preliminary processing of collections, scanning and digitizing of documents under the direction of the archivist. Duties will include: photograph sleeving, paperclip and staple removal, Xeroxing, refoldering of documents in acid-free folders, creating box lists, and scanning and indexing documents for digital research. No experience necessary; training will be provided. Help preserve local Jewish heritage while learning preservation techniques for your own family papers.