The City Record and Boston News-Letter

The Britannia Arrives in Boston, 18 July 1840

From the Boston Almanac for 1841

18 July 1841  The Britannia, the first of the large size packets of Cunard's line, arrived at East Boston in 14 days and 8 hours from Liverpool.

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In comparison, the voyage of the Mary and John, which brought the first settlers to Dorchester in 1630, took about seven weeks.  More on the Britannia and other steam powered ships can be found here.  I found it interesting that in January 1844 the Britannia was trapped in Boston Harbor when the Harbor froze and Bostonians paid to have a seven mile channel cut through the ice so the Britannia could escape Boston Harbor and remain on schedule.

Walking Tours of Boston's History and Architecture

The Editor of the City Record and Boston News-Letter on a West End Tenement Fire Escape, c. 1990

Now that the weather is apparently improving (as if it could get worse) the time is right to announce that I will begin leading Boston history and architecture walking tours soon.  I've given hundreds of walking tours of Boston, and the walking tours will include Beacon Hill, the Back Bay, South End, North End, Dorchester--almost any neighborhood in Boston.  I also do a walking tour for children through Beacon Hill based on the classic children's book Make Way for Ducklings--I have led hundreds of school children on this tour during the spring.  Tours are generally 1.5 hours long, and the cost is $10 in advance for adults, $12 day of the tour.  Children aged 6 and up are $5, under 6 are free.  I am still working out a schedule, but in general tours will be an evening or two during the week, and on Saturdays.  With sufficient notice and numbers other times can be worked out and custom tours are also possible.  If you are interested, please email me.  More information and a walking tour website will be coming soon.  We won't be going up on any fire escapes (the building I'm in front of has since been torn down) but you will get my knowledge of Boston's architecture and history for the price of movie and some good exercise to boot.  I hope you will join me.

Read This First

Attention visitors arriving via Google:  we've changed our categories, which means that some of the Google links will take you to pages that no longer have the information you seek.  This should all sort itself out as the new pages get spidered by Google.  Thank you for your patience.  If you don't need the information immediately, bookmark this site and come back in a few days.

I have been making some changes to the configuration of the City Record and Boston News-Letter in anticipation of more frequent posting.  I've cut down on the number of categories and added a little more information to the sidebar.  I'm also designing a new masthead.

Regards,

The Editor