As we walked along Boston Common, I noticed a sign to my left that said, Public Garden.
Wait a minute, isn’t that the place where Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey and The Trumpeter Swan by E. B. White hung out?
Those books might be the happiest of my childhood.
Needing to see these gorgeous gardens and swan boats made famous by these endearing books, I detoured from Johnny Tremain to swan boats in the Boston Public Garden.
CHARLES STREET 18TH CENTURY ROPEWALK
Needing access to areas as long as 1,000 feet to twist hemp into rope, ropemakers often used a portion of designated land, or a very long building (as we saw in Mystic Seaport in Connecticut) to provide sailors the lengthy roping needed for their rigs.
Due to mercantilism, the Massachusetts Bay Colony heavily relied on England for its finished goods, while in turn supplying the mother country with raw material.
By 1642 the English Civil War reduced the mercantilism, allowing the colonists to produce their own rope from locally grown hemp.
Because hemp dust easily combusts, raging fires sometimes occurred, as exemplified in 1794.
Wednesday morning, about four o’clock, the melancholy cry of fire grated on the ears of our citizens. They immediately assembled to stop, if possible, the ravages of this destructive element. The fire caught in the Rope Walk of Mr. Howe, by an accident in heating some tar, and before the Inhabitants could be alarmed and assembled, it had gained so great a head as to render abortive all attempts to secure, from the flames, any of those elegant and valuable Rope Walk, which formed a row from Milk Street, to the west part of Fort Hill; their attention, therefore, was turned to the preservation of the dwelling houses, which from the intense heat arising from the burning tar and hemp, were taking fire in every direction at the distance of several rods…By this accident, many citizens, who by many years laborious industry had acquired a little property–in one instant the ‘twinkling of an eye’ are reduced to poverty. – August 1, 1794 [Boston] Mercury
As a result, the city of Boston designated an area west of the Boston Common (now Charles Street) for the new ropewalk, under the condition that the ropemakers build a seawall and fill in the new ropewalk area, including the surrounding land.
By 1824 the ropemakers relocated, so the city of Boston purchased the land back from them.
BOSTON PUBLIC GARDEN FIRST OF ITS KIND IN AMERICA
Initially designating the area for a graveyard, the plans failed in 1825 by an overwhelming vote of 1632 to 176.
The parcel of land surrounded by tidal marshes was eventually established, in 1839, as the first public botanical garden in America, thanks to amateur horticulturalists.
Planting the green space came to a sudden halt when philanthropist Horace Gray lost his fortune in 1839.
Twenty years later Boston appointed a committee to study ideas for improvements for the area:
While other cities are expending fabulous amounts in the improvements of parks, squares, gardens, and promenades, what should we do? To be behind in these matters would not only be discreditable to our city, but positively injurious to our commercial prosperity, and in direct opposition to the wishes of a vast majority of our citizens…The area of our city is too small to allow the laying out of large tracts of land for Public Parks, and it behooves us to improve the small portions that are left to us for such purposes. (City of Boston Report, 1859).
Initiating a design competition, Boston awarded George Meacham for his imaginative formal garden with a pond with curved paths surrounded by formal flowerbeds.
On July 3, 1869, a 16-foot tall equestrian statue of George Washinton upon a 16-foot granite pedestal debuted, funded by local townspeople and created by local artists.
By 1880, installations included a cast-iron bordering the property, a suspension bridge spanning a pond, 1,500 trees, and 90,000 flowers and greenery.
Swan boats were added in 1877.
The Victorian aesthetic continues to adorn this jewel nestled between the Charles River and the Boston skyline.
MAKE WAY FOR DUCKLINGS
Published in 1941, the beloved Caldecott Award winning children’s book, Make Way for Ducklings, was written and illustrated by Robert McCloskey.
Robert McCloskey shares: I first noticed the ducks when walking through the Public Garden every morning on the way to art school. When I returned to Boston four years later to work, I noticed the traffic problem of the ducks, and heard a few stories about them. Then the book just sort of developed from there.
Entirely set in Boston, the adorable story of Mallard ducks centers around the swan boats of the Public Garden, and Michael, the friendly policeman who aids them on their most important journey.
In 1987, a bronze duck statues reenacting the hallmark scene from the beloved children’s book were added to the Public Garden.
THE TRUMPET OF THE SWAN
Published in 1970, author E.B. White of Charlotte’s Web fame, wrote another chapter book for kids, The Trumpet of the Swan.
Having completed my seatwork in fifth grade, and bored, I perused the nearby bookshelf, and found this book.
Having adored E.B. White’s previous book of Charlotte’s Web, I looked forward to trying this new adventure to warm my bookworm heart.
It did not disappoint.
A young boy named Sam Beaver, who annually vacations in the Red Rock Lakes of Montana, quietly observes nature with his new journal.
Observing trumpeter swans building a nest, Sam returns daily to observe and quietly jot down what he sees.
The parent swans meanwhile, keep wary eyes on Sam, but the boy’s respectful distance is consistent.
Meanwhile the eggs are laid, tended, and hatched.
The ugly cygnets adorably befriend Sam, however one of them, Louis, is mute.
Sam returns home, but the swan story continues.
Father swan is increasingly concerned as Louis grows up, still mute.
Trumpeter swans rely on their namesake trumpet calls to mate.
Will Louis ever find a mate?
Fast forward to my third-grade classroom, where I pull out a copy of E.B. White’s Charlotte’s Web to read aloud to my students.
Gleefully the kids proclaim their adoration for the book, since their second-grade teacher had read it aloud to them the year before.
Hmmm…
The next day I tell my students that if they liked Charlotte’s Web so much, I wanted to use our valuable but limited time to share with them another wonderful book by the same author.
Disappointed at missing out on the retelling of Charlotte’s Web, they patiently gave me a chance to prove the author wrote another terrific story.
Quickly, the kids were consumed by the adventures of Sam Beaver who helped Louis, the mute trumpeter swan, find his voice.
How many papers written by my students, who by their own choice, created new adventures for the established E.B.White’s cleverly beguiling plot line about Louis and Serena, the trumpeter swans…who find love in the Boston Public Garden among the swan boats!
