A City Upon a Hill

For we must consider that we shall be as a City upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us. Soe that if we shall deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken, and so cause him to withdraw his present help from us, we shall be made a story and a byword throughout the world.

- John Winthrop, governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony

Whatever you might think of Puritan John Winthrop's 1630 sermon, "A Model of Christian Charity," that he proclaimed to his fellow passengers aboard the Arabella before they disembarked on the whole Massachusetts Bay Colony venture, you've got to wonder if he had Beacon Hill as the specific hill in mind.  As I took my own walking tour of Beacon Hill today, I thought often of Winthrop's "city upon a hill" comment.

Ironically, development of Beacon Hill grew in a divisive way.  Wealthy and powerful Bostonians congregated in their beautiful homes on its south slope facing the Commons while the northern side sliding down to the mouth of the Charles River was populated with tradesmen, apprentices, servants and freed blacks.  Still, Beacon Hill with its gas street lanterns and interesting architecture remains one of the most picturesque neighborhoods in Boston.

Lewis & Harriet Hayden's House at 66 Phillips Street

Located on the north side of Beacon Hill, the Hayden House was a station on the Underground Railroad in the years between 1850-1860.  Lewis Hayden himself was an escaped slave.  The front porch, although perhaps not the stone steps I saw today, is actually the most interesting feature of this house.  When slave hunters came to this stop on the route to Canada, the Haydens would greet the white men with lit candles and threaten to drop them on the gunpowder kegs hidden below the porch if they tried to come inside.  That threat would certainly make one pause, as I did, to take another look.

No. 20 Pinckney Street

Near the northern top of Beacon Hill is Pinckney Street.  As a child, Louisa May Alcott's family rented rooms in this house located at No. 20 Pinckney Street where her father often hosted his friends, Ralph Waldo Emerson and William Lloyd Garrison.  Worried by her family's persistent poverty, Louisa vowed at age 15:  "I'll be rich and famous and happy before I die, see if I won't!"

No. 10 Louisburg Square

I saw that Louisa achieved two of her goals and perhaps all three, that is if one believes that happiness results from living at a prestigious address!  This house at No. 10 Louisburg Square in Beacon Hill's most illustrious area was where Louisa spent her final years once her fortune was secured by the popularity of Little Women and her other books.

Louisburg Square

Home to the wealthiest Bostonians, Louisburg Square is a tiny green gem of a garden surrounded by a wrought iron fence, cobblestone streets and narrow Greek Revival bow-fronted townhouses.  The square has been home to many famous people, including...

Senator John & Teresa Heinz Kerry's home on Louisburg Square

No. 87 Mount Vernon Street

One of the most famous American architects was Charles Bulfinch who designed this home on Mount Vernon Street for Stephen Higginson, Jr.

Nos. 13, 15 and 17 Chestnut Street

Bulfinch also designed the houses at 13, 15 and 17 Chestnut Street as wedding gifts presented by wealthy Boston merchant James Swan and his wife, Hepzibah, to each of their three daughters. 

No. 29A Chestnut

Notable 19th century actor, Edwin Booth, brother of John Wilkes Booth who assassinated President Abraham Lincoln, lived at No. 29A Chestnut Street.  Look carefully at the window pane in the lower left.  Do you see its purple tinge?  That tint resulted when too much manganese oxide was added to the glass during its manufacture.  Over time, as the glass was exposed to air, it turned purple.  Although few original purple-tinted panes remain in Beacon Hill homes today, such glass was a must-have fashion in Victorian Boston.

Acorn Street

Narrow Acorn Street with its gaslights, its grass growing between its cobblestones, and its classic Victorian houses is a perfect example of this quaint neighborhood.

Does Beacon Hill live up to Governor Winthrop's vision of a "city shining upon a hill?"  Certainly, had Winthrop walked through it with me today, the outward appearance of this neighborhood, glowing with gaslights, would had led him to conclude that his dream had come true.