|
|
|
|
Harvard Square Review
Read our Boston sights reviews. Or post your own.
Harvard Square 
Fodor's Review:
Tides of students, tourists, political-cause proponents, and bizarre street creatures are all part of the nonstop pedestrian flow at this most celebrated of Cambridge crossroads.
Harvard Square is where Mass Ave., coming from Boston, turns and widens into a triangle broad enough to accommodate a brick peninsula (above the T station). The restored 1928 kiosk in the center of the square once served as the entrance to the MBTA station (it's now a newsstand). Harvard Yard, with its lecture halls, residential houses, libraries, and museums, is one long border of the square; the other three are comprised of clusters of banks and a wide variety of restaurants and shops.
On an average afternoon, you'll hear earnest conversations in dozens of foreign languages; see every kind of youthful uniform from Goth to impeccable prep; wander by street musicians playing Andean flutes, singing opera, and doing excellent Stevie Wonder or Edith Piaf imitations; and lean in on a tense outdoor game of pickup chess between a street-tough kid and an older gent wearing a beard and a beret, while you slurp a cappuccino or an ice-cream cone (the two major food groups here). An afternoon in the square is people-watching raised to a high art; the parade of quirkiness never quits.
As entertaining as the locals are, Harvard Square has fine inanimate attractions, too. The historic buildings are worth noting and it's still a thrill to walk though the big brick-and-wrought-iron gates to Harvard Yard, past the residence halls and statues, on up to Widener Library.
Across Garden Street, through an ornamental arch, is Cambridge Common, decreed a public pasture in 1631. It's said that under a large tree that once stood in this meadow George Washington took command of the Continental Army on July 3, 1775. A stone memorial now marks the site of the "Washington Elm." Also on the Common is the Irish Famine Memorial by Derry artist Maurice Herron, unveiled in 1997 to coincide with the 150th anniversary of "Black '47," the deadliest year of the potato famine. It depicts a desperate Irish mother sending her child off to America. At the center of the Common, a large memorial commemorates the Union soldiers and sailors who lost their lives in the Civil War.
- Metro: Harvard
Get Advice From Other Travelers
- Mini Boston GTG
18 responses; most recent on 11/17/2008, 10:01 am - Boston Fodors GTG 2008 Final Notice
87 responses; most recent on 11/05/2008, 01:17 pm - Christmas in Boston/
23 responses; most recent on 10/20/2008, 04:33 pm - Boston for Three Days in Mid October
18 responses; most recent on 10/09/2008, 07:11 am
Visit the Travel Talk forums for help on planning your trip >>
- Travel Deals
-
Boston hotel rates in top neighborhoods50% off
Priceline.com -
Coast-to-coast autumn hotel saleUp to 50% off
Hotels.com -
Mid-week stays at bed & breakfasts$50 off
BedandBreakfast.com -
Classic style Boston hotel w/free bkfst$224+
Taj Boston - More >>
Buy the Guidebook
-
$21.95
-
$16.95
Get the Fodor's Newsletter
Read the current issue
For more travel ideas, tips, and deals, sign up for the Fodor's newsletter here. Browse previous issues.
