Introduction

Jake:

[0:04] Welcome to Hub History where we go far beyond the Freedom Trail to share our favorite stories from the history of Boston, the hub of the universe.
This is episode 299 starlit old North. Hi, I’m Jake.
This week, I’ll be talking about a long forgotten moment from the American bicentennial celebrations of 1976.
While Boston bustled with fireworks, concerts and historical reenactments.
A unique spectacle quietly unfolded at the old North Church.

Jake:

[0:38] The iconic lanterns forever linked to Paul Revere’s midnight ride were illuminated not by candlelight but by the distant light of a star.
Some 200 light years away.
This episode touches on the technological challenges involved in capturing Starlight and converting it into an electrical signal that traveled thousands of miles, as well as the promotional challenges for Hawaiian officials who wanted their state to feel like a part of the bicentennial celebration.
Buckle up as we journey from the volcanic peak of Hawaii’s Mauna Kea to the heart of revolutionary Boston all under the ethereal glow of a distant star.
But before we talk about the light of distant stars, I just want to pause and say a big thank you. To some stars closer to home.
Kay Martin, Judy S and Michael and Tom, our latest supporters on Patreon H history has been on the air for almost eight years.
Now when I recently re-released our old episodes about eclipses and dark days in Boston, I had a chance to listen to those old clips and reflect on how much we’ve grown in that time.
The first thing you notice is that my delivery seems a lot more natural now, at least most of the time.
And when you get over that, you realize how much cleaner our sound is.
I don’t know, a few listeners would pick up on it, but I definitely noticed points where my writing could have been better or when there are holes in my research.

Jake:

[2:06] Thanks to the support of listeners like Kay Martin, Judy and Michael and Tom, I’ve been able to continuously grow and improve the show.
Our generous sponsors have made this improvement possible, enabling me to pay for the growing expenses of the show for things like podcast media, hosting, web hosting and security A I tools, access to research databases and also online audio processing tools, to everyone who’s already a sponsor of the show. Thank you.
And if you’re not yet supporting the show and you’d like to start, it’s easy.
Just go to patreon.com/hub History or visit hubor.com and click on the support us link and thanks again to all our new and returning sponsors.
Now it’s time for this week’s main topic.

Lanterns and Luminary Celebration

Jake:

[2:58] As I draft the script for this episode, I’m getting ready to head to Old North for their annual lanterns and Luminary celebration.
Their annual fundraising event that commemorates the lantern signal sent from the steeple on April 18th, 1775.
That night, the intelligence network set up by Boston physician Joseph Warren, noted increased movement among the British troops who were encamped on Boston common following the powder alarm and other escalations.
Over the preceding year, Boston Whigs had been anticipating a British march on Lexington to capture the provincial Congress.
The colony’s revolutionary shadow government.
The only question was when they would make the March and now that their preparations were underway, how they would do it?
Option one was to take the land route out of Boston out Orange Street through the newly fortified gates at Boston Neck through the punch bowl that we now know as Brookline village to the great bridge at today’s Harvard Square, which was the first crossing of the Charles River.
The other choice was to take boats across the tidal back bay to the shoreline on the other side, nearly a mile away, knowing that these options existed, Paul Revere arranged for a signal for his allies on the other side of the river.
Longfellow’s famous one if by land, two if by sea.

Jake:

[4:21] When the night arrived, Church, Sexton, Robert Newman, Investor Man John, pulling hung the two lanterns signifying that the red coats were boarding long boats and preparing to cross the back bay.
While Revere himself rode to Charlestown and started his famous ride to the Middlesex County countryside.
The next morning, the American revolution began on Lexington Green.

Jake:

[4:44] Ever since Longfellow’s 1860 poem made Revere’s ride famous.
The churches used the memory of the lantern signal to commemorate special occasions and nothing was as special as the bicentennial.
However old North had kind of used up its lantern hype the year before for the 2/100 anniversary of the lantern signal.
President Gerald Ford visited the church in 1975 helped light the lanterns in the steeple and was presented with a third lantern.
His visit officially kicked off the bicentennial year. But after all that hoopla, how could Old North get in on the bicentennial action?

Jake:

[5:23] At that same time, the youngest state in the country was eager to find a connection to the cradle of liberty and a way to get its residents more engaged with the nation’s bicentennial celebration, California Sky Watcher D Wilson Benward had the idea to use light captured from a star 200 light years away to ring the liberty bell in Philadelphia.
He made the proposal to the Hawaii Bicentennial Commission which in turn made the proposal to the bicentennial commission in Philly, which promptly said, oh, heck no, the cracked and incredibly fragile liberty bell was not getting rung by anyone for any reason.
And the reproduction bicentennial bell was gonna be used for other things.
You get the impression that the state of Hawaii was desperate to be included in the bicentennial celebration somehow.
But in 1776 native Hawaiians still hadn’t been contacted by European or American sea captains.

Jake:

[6:23] In Boston. The proposal for a bicentennial world’s fair had long since fallen through.
So local sites were eager to spice up their Fourth of July celebrations to try to compete with the Grand Festival being held in Philly.
They are a far cry from the Liberty Bell, but the electric lanterns in the steeple of Old North provided a unique opportunity for Hawaii, for Boston and for Old North to get in on the action.
An article in the July 5th, 1976 Honolulu Star bulletin outlines how the proposed plan would have worked.

Jake:

[6:57] The telescope with an enormous mechanism guided by computer is set to focus on epsilon Lyre, a star in the constellation Lyra.
The light from epsilon Lyre began its journey to earth 200 years ago.
Its rays that will be captured by the telescope left the star 200 years before.
In 1776 the dawn of the United States with special equipment, Wolf will convert the light into an electronic signal.
Then with special telephone equipment, the signal would be transmitted on circuits to Boston.
In Boston, more electronic equipment will make the impulse trigger a switch that will illuminate a pair of lanyards in the steeple of the old North Church as well as a floodlight on the steeple.
The project is a joint venture by the Hawaii State Bicentennial Commission and the Boston 200 commission.
Depending on your point of view. It’s either a space age Rube Goldberg method of turning on a light or a symbolic unification of the nation’s newest state with a bit of a historic.

Jake:

[8:04] With the involvement of a distant star in a giant telescope.
This has suddenly become a continuation of my accidental astronomical history podcast.
I just reran the eclipse show. And before that, we had our show about Cotton Mather and the northern lights and the 1833 Leonid meteor storm.
And before that, the story of the human computers who worked at Harvard observatory, also part of an accidental series on the relationship between Hawaii and Boston, with episodes involving Joseph Chapman, a Boston whaler who was kidnapped in Hawaii, the Columbia stopover in Hawaii during the first American circumnavigation of the globe.
And most importantly, to me, our episode about the bond between Boston and Lahaina forged by missionaries from Park Street Church.
In retrospect, I’m proud of that episode for demonstrating the cultural significance of Lahaina and what was lost in the 2023 fire.

Jake:

[9:00] Despite the elaborate preparations to turn on a light switch from 5028 miles away, the lantern lighting at Old North was just a small part of the planned festivities in Boston.
The main event was the fireworks show and orchestra concert to be held at the hatch shell and the July 3rd Holyoak transcript.
Telegram reported on a special appearance that was expected from America’s ship of State in Boston.
The USS Constitution will be the center of attention.
The Constitution nicknamed Old Ironsides during the war of 1812 will fire its guns at noon on Sunday for the first time in 95 years.
Her captain Commander Tyrone Martin promises a very satisfying crack from the 21 gun salute.
We fired six test rounds last Wednesday said Martin, we got a 4 ft flame out of the muzzle.
And the museum curator next door thought a bomb had gone off until he heard the second one and remembered that the firing was scheduled.
Boston and Hawaii will also team up to use light emitted by a star 200 years ago to light the lantern in the old North church where legend says one, if by land two, if by sea guided, Paul Revere on his midnight ride, the light will be captured by a telescope at the Mauna Kea observatory in Hawaii, which in turn will trip a sensor that’ll flip a switch, lighting the lantern in the old North church.

Jake:

[10:29] Meanwhile, back in Hawaii papers there did their best to build excitement by tying the remote observatory at the peak of the state’s highest mountain to the festivities planned in Boston.
The July 1st 1976 Honolulu advertiser reported, the light from epsilon Lyra that will arrive on Mauna Kea Saturday night started its journey toward the earth in 1776 at a velocity of 100 86,000 miles per second.
And it reached the halfway point after the end of the civil war, as Americans celebrated the flapper era in the late twenties.
Unaware the depression was just around the corner.
It reached the three quarter mark and it was 90% of the way when Hawaii and Alaska became states.
Once on Mauna Kea, the light in the form of electrical impulses will take less than a third of a second to travel the 5600 miles to Boston over Hawaiian telephone company lines.

Capturing Starlight from Epsilon Lyre

Jake:

[11:29] Epsilon Lyre was chosen for this exercise mostly because of its distance from the earth.
The idea that its light had taken 200 years to reach the earth relied on a series of pretty broad approximations.
It’s part of the constellation Lyra so named because the Greeks thought it looked like the harp like musical instrument.
The Lyre epsilon Lary is more than just any star.
However, in a 2023 article for Earth Sky that happened to be posted on July 4th Bruce mcclure wrote, Epsilon Lyre also known as the double, double star is full of surprises through binoculars.
What appears as one star to the unaided eye resolves into two through a telescope.
Each star in that pair resolves into two again making four stars.
And in the mid 19 eighties, astronomers detected 1/5 star in the system bound together by gravity.
These five stars appear as wan or unaided eyes 100 62 light years away.

Jake:

[12:36] Epsilon. Larry’s unique nature was first understood in 1781, German astronomer Christian Meyer built an observatory in Mannheim in 1771 and used it to study the movement of stars, in a 2007 article Js Schlimmer describes how Mayer discovered the existence of double stars.
During his observations, he often remarked on stars that stood close together.
During the time from 1776 to 1777 he found about 100 such close systems.
He gave an account of his observations in the Academy in Mannheim.
In 1777 Mayer believed in the physical togetherness of such systems called Doppel Stana.

Jake:

[13:21] His account was published in newspapers in different countries.
Mayer had a rival in Vienna named Maximilian Hell, who didn’t really believe that what Mayer was seeing could be called double stars, rather than two stars bound together by gravity.
Hell believed that Meyer was misidentifying stars in the distant background.
So he challenged Meyer to publish a catalog of double stars that other astronomers could use to reproduce his findings.
And that’s exactly what Meyer did, publishing a catalog of 72 double stars in 1779 and a second edition that included 81 double stars in 1781.
The second edition included the first description of epsilon lyre is a double star, the closest one to earth that Mayer described.

Jake:

[14:12] Now, if you need a reminder of just how far communications technology has come in the past 50 years.
The July 1st 1976 Honolulu advertiser reported breathlessly on the long distance lines that would allow a signal to travel from a remote volcanic crest to an east coast city.
Referring to astronomer Doctor Sidney Wolf. The paper noted she will focus the star’s light on the sensors and get the signals on their way to Boston.
Special electronic equipment and the telephone hook up to Boston are being provided by Hawaiian telephone AT&T long lines and New England telephone company, microwave radio links from Mauna Kea to Oahu will be transferred to either a communication satellite or undersea cable to the mainland from the west coast.
They will go into the Intercontinental telephone network to Boston.
There’s a great graphic above that last Honolulu advertiser article showing how it was all intended to go down.
It shows the light of the star shining down on the observatory.
Then a jagged line that probably represents a radio wave going back up to a satellite which in turn beams it back down to the West coast where telephone wires stretch across the continent to the steeple of Old North with Paul revere galloping by outside.

Jake:

[15:34] I’d love to post a copy of the image in the show notes. But longtime listeners will know that I’ve had some issues in the recent past with posting images that aren’t in the public domain.

Jake:

[15:44] Even today. Getting a message from the top of Mauna Kea to the mainland would be no small feat while the Hawaiian Islands are as blanketed in cell towers as any other American state.
The observatory at Mauna Kea remains incredibly remote and surrounded by often hostile conditions.

Jake:

[16:02] In a detailed story published in the Honolulu star bulletin on July 5th, 1976.
The reporter details his struggle with elevation sickness relating how we had to take bottled oxygen to keep from passing out so we can continue covering the preparations, unfolding in the observatory at almost 14,000 ft above sea level.
It was 22 degrees in the observatory on the evening of July 3rd.
When upstairs under the dome, Wolf is at the telescope imperceptibly.
The dome is moving tracking epsilon. Larry Che is in the control booth next to the dome.
So is Silva it’s 1111 pm, two minutes from the 513 am dawn in Boston.

Jake:

[16:49] Under the procedure, someone in Boston will place a telephone call to the observatory to establish the circuit that will transmit the impulse created by epsilon.
Lary a few seconds later, the telephone rings.
It’s United Press International in Honolulu. They want to know if the setup has worked up.
I gets off the line a minute passes and the phone rings again.
It’s Boston on a conventional television set.
The movie John Paul Jones is tuned into channel seven a scene sporting many colonial costumes as play.
The reporter is in the corner with a mint green cylinder breathing pure oxygen.
Yeah. Ok. Says Silva over the phone. You ready?
Boston says, ok, 15 seconds stand by says silver tell her, says Krieger now says Che Mark, he calls into the dome to Wolf.
Boston reports. The lights went on. Krieger takes the phone.
How o La Hanau America? He says he’s been coached by some of the visitors who are part Hawaiian happy birthday America. He says.

Completing the Connection: Mauna Kea to Old North

Jake:

[18:10] On the other end of that very long distance call was the Vicar of Old North on July 5th.
The Boston Globe reported on his experience of the call which was held under much less daunting conditions than the Mauna Kea end.
The Vicar of Old North Church, very reverend Robert W go made the phone call that completed the link between the observatory and the church steeple at 5:13 a.m.
Sunrise on the nation’s 2/100 birthday, I made the call and boom, the lights came on. Said doctor Go.
I literally felt the surge of power. He said there was no actual sound except for a little snap which occurred when the connection was completed.
A small crowd was on hand and cheered when the lanterns came.

Jake:

[19:01] I think this story is just a fascinating little intersection between history and science with a dash of state jealousy thrown in despite the interest, the story of epsilon, Larry’s light beaming.
Well, sort of beaming out of old North steeple basically got lost among all the hubbub of the bicentennial celebration.
I personally wasn’t around yet, but everybody says that it was a coast to coast party and here in Boston.
There were other stories that pushed Starlight right off the front page, Arthur Fiedler and the BS O brought the largest crowd ever up to that date.
At least to the esplanade.
The US S Constitution fired her guns for the first time in 95 years and 350 new citizens took the Oath of allegiance at Old North.
Just a couple of hours after the lanterns were lit.
Also here in Boston, two domestic terrorists were arrested and charged with a series of bombings in Boston and the surrounding area as well as an ongoing plot to set off bombs during the Independence Day party in Boston.
But that’s another story for another episode.

Jake:

[20:09] The celestial lantern signal was briefly mentioned in Time Magazine in their July 19th, 1976 roundup of stories relating to the nation’s bicentennial celebration in Boston.
The ceremonies began with an otherworldly touch light from the star epsilon lire, 200 light years from Earth was converted into electrical current at the University of Hawaii’s observatory transmitted to Boston’s old North Church and used to light two replicas of the lanterns that signaled the midnight ride of Paul Revere in 1775, that night, some 400,000 people, the biggest throng in the city’s history crowded onto the narrow esplanade along the Charles River to hear a Boston pops concert, as the orchestra reached the finale of Tchaikovsky’s 1812 overture, 105 millimeter howitzers boomed church bells, pealed fireworks showered the skies with color and the crowds roared for more.

Jake:

[21:10] Mrs Opal E Eckert wrote an editorial in the July 16th Maryville Missouri Daily Forum describing her experiences in Boston for the bicentennial while she was born and raised in Nottoway County. Missouri.
Mrs Eckert had recently discovered that she was descended from a Boston area patriot named Basil Calver.
So she decided to spend her Independence Day in the hub.
It sounds like she had a heck of a time from watching the crowds gather on the esplanade from the observation deck at the prow to walking the Freedom trail to viewing the immersive video project. Where’s Boston?
A ton of listeners may remember that. Where’s Boston replaced the wildly over ambitious plan for a world’s fair on made land near Thompson Island.
Find out more about that boondoggle In episode 219, Missus Eckert and her friend stood inside the globe at the marium.
They visited the hallowed ground at Lexington and Concord.
They even saw the tall ships arriving in the harbor as their plane home took off from Logan.
However, the most column inches of her editorial are devoted to her experience at Old North.

Jake:

[22:22] In 1976 the Fourth of July fell on a Sunday and Boston’s historic churches were packed with locals and visitors.
Missus Eckert chose to worship at Old North where the electric lanterns were a focal point for the day.
We joined hundreds of other persons from many areas of the world in worship at the old North church where two lanterns sped Paul Revere on his way to alarm the residents of Middlesex villages and farms.
As we sat boxed in a front pew with six strangers, we faced a replica of the two steeple lanterns.
All three lanterns had been lighted early that morning from light energy emitted from an outer space star in 1776 and were laid from the Mauna Kea Observatory at the University of Hawaii.
The Reverend Robert W College Vicar explained it to us.
I made the call to Hawaii at 513 this morning and snap, the lights were on.
I literally felt the surge of power. There was no sound except that little snap as the connection was made.

Jake:

[23:29] Needless to say, we listen to his symbolic message. The Third Lantern in perspective with electrified interest, America is not a ball game.
He stressed where one team wins and the other loses.
It’s a continuing concept, a forever ongoing process.
Sometimes this continuing process is exciting, sometimes boring, changing slowly.
It means trying, making mistakes, but always try.
If you’re disappointed because we haven’t reached a final total.
You don’t understand America.
It will always be a world of changes, problems, struggles. That’s not our weakness. It’s our strength.
That’s the way our forefathers designed the system. Even our system of government is a great experiment here.
The people hold the awesome power of authority yet many scarcely know how our government works.
The vicar ended with a challenge. How can we expect the justice we all want?
If we don’t help to install it, to make the system work, the people must act with the fervor of an Isaiah with much righteousness and compassion.

Starlight at Old North in Bicentennial Celebrations

Jake:

[24:41] The story of Old North Starlight became part of the wire service roundup of odd or interesting bicentennial news warning.
Just a couple of lines in most stories amongst all the weird ways that America celebrated.
This description is taken from an associated press story that ran across the country on July 5th, 1976 the Starlight was received at 5:13 a.m.
Boston time sunrise on the nation’s 2/100 birthday there.
They not only activated the replica lanterns but also a larger lantern visible throughout Boston.

Jake:

[25:17] And as odd as this story seems, it turns out that it’s not completely unique.
The July 1st edition of the Honolulu Advertiser noted, although this is not the first time that the light from a star has been used to mark a special event.
It is far more complex than earlier efforts.
Light from the star Arcturus. 40 light years from earth was used to open the Chicago World’s Fair in 1933, in 1933 telescopes at a half dozen university observatories including Harvard Observatory, all focused the light of Arcturus on photovoltaic excels which turned the light into an electric current and which when combined was enough voltage to throw the switch that lit up the sky over Chicago with search lights.
It was a gimmick. Sure. But photo cells were new technology at the time and lots of exhibitors at the fair had products to show off that took advantage of the new invention.

Jake:

[26:17] So 1976 wasn’t the first time that Starlight in a photovoltaic panel closed a switch and it still may not be the last, it will be the last time that the telescopes of the University of Hawaii’s Mauna Kea observatory will be involved.
However, just last week as I write this, the university began dismantling their Hoku Ka observatory with the plan calling for the site to be restored to its natural state by August 2024.

Jake:

[26:47] The summit of the mountain Mauna Kea is considered to be one of the most sacred sites in traditional Hawaiian religion.
There’s been opposition to building on them since the first telescope was erected in the 19 sixties.
Since then, a total of 13 different observatories have been billed as the thin atmosphere, an arid climate, make it an ideal site for infrared telescopes.
Recent proposals to build more and larger telescopes sent the opposition into overdrive and U eventually agreed to gradually remove the telescopes from the peak.
The first to be decommissioned was the California Institute of Technology submillimetre observatory which should also be gone by this fall.
Next time we need Starlight to light the lanterns at old North.
Maybe NASA can find a way to beam it down from the James Webb Space telescope. Instead.

Jake:

[27:40] To learn more about how the signal lanterns at Old North were lit by a distant star.
Check out this week’s show notes at hubor.com/two 99, I’ll have links to all the news articles that I quoted from and the Honolulu advertiser and star bulletin the Boston Globe and wire service stories that ran in papers around the country.
I’ll also link to a couple of articles about the Star epsilon Lire and calls to dismantle the remaining observatories at Mount A Kea.
It was special debt of gratitude this week to Erica Tower for the article she published on the Old North blog last summer, which was titled 1776 Starlight Illuminated Old North’s Lanterns for the Bicentennial.
Without her research in her article, I would never have known about this fascinating but forgotten footnote to the nation’s bicentennial.

Listener Feedback and Stories

Jake:

[28:37] Before we wrap up today, I have some listener feedback to share.
And judging by the dates on some of these notes, it’s been a while.
Almost two years ago, Terry R wrote in to talk about our two part episode about Joshua Slocum’s solo circumnavigation of the globe and how Slocum helped inspire his Appalachian trail through hike, a little more recently, meaning a couple of months back, Terry wrote in with a follow up email and a small world type of story.
Hi, Jake, a friend and unbeknownst listener pointed me to episode 253 where you read my letter at the end of the episode to say I was surprised and thrilled is to put it mildly.
But knowing the friend, I’m not surprised that he listens to hub history, to tie the bow even more neatly. I met this friend as a trail angel who hosted me for a weekend of R and R when I was in Vermont during my through hike of the A T.
It all comes full circle. Thank you so much, Terry.

Jake:

[29:44] Listener. Kylie also took inspiration from an episode about someone living on a boat. In this case, the Boston Harbor hermit.
Sorry to be so dramatic. But I came to Boston from Great Falls Montana to attend grad school at Emerson.
When I came here, my ex husband and I began to fight even more.
I listen to your podcast about Anne Windsor Sherwin since my kids a 1st and 2nd grader got to Boston.
We’ve been desperately trying to survive here.
My youngest kid is on a litany of waiting lists for mental health services.
Anne Windsor Sherwin inspired me in a way. I’m looking for a harbor boat that doesn’t necessarily harm our dock membership.
Anyways, if I can manage to stay here in a boat, I will name the vessel, the in Windsor Sherwin.
Like Anne, I won’t leave here unless they drag me away.

Jake:

[30:41] Best of luck, Kylie, I hope you and your family find a way to make Boston work, be safe out there in the harbor.
A listener named Justin must have been listening to some very old episodes and he wrote in to say Nikki has a terrible voice for radio and makes the show, unlistenable helpful tip.
If your only feedback for a podcaster is about how much you hate their voice, consider just keeping it to yourself.
It’s the one aspect of the show that we have the least control over Chris D from Salem listened to an old episode about the alleged secret tunnels under the north end and wrote in with some much more helpful feedback.

Jake:

[31:26] You mentioned a tunnel built in Captain Henchman’s house around the 16 sixties, England was enforcing the navigational acts, forcing merchants in the Caribbean to only trade with English ports and to sail to England to pay duties before sailing to America.
Governor Andros was enforcing these acts and the locals grew quite hostile to him.
Tunnels were built in the Daniel’s house and the house of seven Gables in Salem, the Trask House in Beverly and the porterhouse behind Connor’s farm in Danvers.
At the time, the tunnels in Salem were used to smuggle to the sea and those in Beverly and Danvers were used to hide cows in.
It seems Andrews also imposed a tax on livestock today, modern cow tunnels run under route 128 in front of the Trask house and Putnam pantry under route.
One porter was so angry about the tax that he headed a group that kicked Andros out of the colonies, behind his house is a Nike site where kids from Clark school played in the tunnels of the base and the one under Porter’s porch stories say that there’s a tunnel leading from the Nike site to its targeting location on North Street in Danvers.
So I can assume that in Boston, there could be a ship captain who could have been smuggling at that same time for the same reason.

Jake:

[32:48] I have to say that my more recent research makes me all the more sure that the north end was never crisscrossed by a network of secret tunnels.
Independent researcher Richard Dean actually dug his way into the henchman tunnel in the 19 seventies.
And his documentary research may have uncovered a deed to that tunnel from 1714.
I’m convinced that while there were some tunnels in the north end, they are mostly small and mostly used for cold storage.
However, that was a fact based response that had nothing to do with my speaking voice. So I appreciate it.
Susan L has become a frequent correspondent. So I’ll just include a sampling of her recent notes here.

Gardner Museum Architectural Secrets

Jake:

[33:30] First up is a fun addendum to the famous story of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Heist.

Jake:

[33:37] If you ever do an episode on the Gardener Museum, there’s some interesting information about the architecture.
I was recently delighted to find out that there was a secret door behind Christ and the storm in the sea of Galilee.
You can see the open door in one of the crime scene photos.
The Dutch room was built with windows across the back at some point, these were covered with wallpaper in order to hang the paintings.
Later, an annex was built next to the museum in the 19 thirties.
Someone had the clever idea to use the window as a door hidden behind the painting.
The door led into the second floor of the annex and was used by the art curators on the first floor.
An original outside door became an inside door leading to the annex.
The window next to the door became part of the man trap to get into the museum.
After hours, you had to go through two doors.
After entering the first door, the security guard could see the person through his window and decide whether or not to let them through the second door was the man trap.
Thus, the security guard, Rick Abbot buzzed the thieves in twice for them to enter the museum.

Listener Experience of the Total Eclipse

Jake:

[34:50] Susan also wrote to share her experience of the recent total eclipse since I’ve spent a lot of time talking about my eclipse plans on the podcast recently.
Hi, Jake. I hope you and Nikki enjoyed the total eclipse. On Monday.
My family traveled to Newport Vermont and had a glorious clear sky to see this incredible celestial phenomena.
The three minutes when you could take off your glasses and see this giant black orb in the sky with a white corona was incredible.
I finally understand why people thought this pretended the end of the world or at least was a very bad Omen seeing the black orb in a bluish gray sky was more eerie than had it been completely dark?
The 360 degree sunset at the edge of the shadow on the horizon was also eerie.
A person that I know said that where she was in Vermont, the mosquitoes came out when the sky darkened.
Fortunately, that did not happen for us.
It would be interesting knowing what you and Nikki experienced.
Thanks for rerunning your previous eclipse episode.

Jake:

[35:56] Nikki and I actually weren’t far from Susan and Vermont and we were also treated to a spectacular view of the total eclipse.
It was beautiful and deeply unsettling to the point where I struggled to find words to adequately describe it.

Jake:

[36:12] Meanwhile, a listener with the handle FCRO girl left our first review in a while on Apple podcasts writing a great show.
I grew up outside of Boston and I’m amazed by this show.
I have learned so much. I never knew about Boston and Mass and history in general.
The depth of reporting is exceptional. One of my favorite podcasts.
Thanks FC Girl. Don’t forget to write in and claim your review so I can send

Tour Guide Appreciation and Questions

Jake:

[36:42] you a sticker quite a while ago.
And yet somehow still, since the last time I shared listener feedback, Nabeel s emailed to say hi, Jake and Nikki.
My name is Nabeel, a tour guide here in Boston and of course, a listener of the show, then Nabeel had a question about the Back Bay that I’m omitting here.
Continuing hub history has been such an invaluable asset for finding fascinating stories, large and small that helped bring Boston’s history alive.
For both me and my guests.
Thank you so much for all your work and passion.
As a recovering Boston tour guide myself. I’m happy to be able to help out a colleague to all our tour guide friends out there.
Don’t forget the guests who want to know more about Boston history can subscribe to hub history when they get home and go on learning while they drive to work, do the dishes, walk the dog and take care of life’s other mundane chores.

Thomas Jefferson’s Breakfast at Ames’s

Jake:

[37:42] Brian K wrote in with a fun tidbit that I missed when writing the episode about Thomas Jefferson’s massive shopping spree in Boston.
Right before racing. Abigail Adams across the Atlantic to Britain and France.
Hey, Jake, I just listened to your episode on TJ in Boston. One little interesting tidbit that may have escaped your attention.
You note that TJ stopped at Ames is in Dedham for breakfast.
What you didn’t say was that this was the same Ames family as in Fisher.
Ames, the man who had become one of his biggest opponents in Congress a few years down the line also, while there’s no record of it that I know about Fisher was living there at the time.
And so they probably had breakfast together.
Wonder if they remembered each other when they were both in Philly, serving in the new government. Keep up the good work.

Jake:

[38:34] And finally, listener Sam emailed a tip about an offbeat local story. That’s just weird.
Enough that it will almost certainly become a future episode.

The 1936 Cowboy Strike in Boston

Jake:

[38:44] Hi, I wanted to share an event that might be enough for an episode in case you all were not aware, there was a cowboy strike in Boston at the old garden in 1936.
He then shared a couple of relevant links enclosed. Thanks for the podcast.
Sam Sure enough, the 1936 strike led to the formation of a union called the Cowboys Turtle Association because they were slow to get organized, but eventually stuck their necks out, today.
The organization still exists as the professional Rodeo Cowboys Association and it serves as a sanctioning body for professional rodeos.
You can bet that I’ll write an episode about him eventually.
So thanks for the suggestion, Sam.

Jake:

[39:34] I love getting listener feedback, whether you have an episode, topic to suggest or some fun facts that were left out of a previous show.
Although your complaints about our speaking voices are a little less welcome.

Wrapping Up and Call for Feedback

Jake:

[39:48] If you’d like to leave us some feedback about something besides our voices, you can email podcast at hubor.com.
We’re Hub History on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram and still most active on Twitter.
If you’re on Mastodon, you can find me as at Hubor at better dot Boston.
The simplest thing to do is to go to hubor.com and click on the contact us link, while you’re on the site, hit the subscribe link and be sure that you never miss an episode.
If you subscribe on Apple podcasts, please consider writing us a brief review.
If you do drop us a line now, I’ll send you a hub history sticker as a token of appreciation.

Jake:

[40:31] That’s all for now. Stay safe out there listeners.