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Boston Globe
3 days ago
- Science
- Boston Globe
Take me to the river: The many ways to enjoy the Charles this summer
Many bridges over the Charles get more attention, but the Charles River Dam and locks are the most critical pieces of infrastructure. They shut out the sea and modulate the height of the river's waters, turning otherwise tidal mudflats into the placid lake-like basin we know and love. The dam and locks, which were completed in 1978, definitely deserve a look. From North Station, walk past Lovejoy Wharf (with the flagship brewery and restaurant of Night Shift Brewing) through the parking lot to reach the footpath over the locks. When you walk across the dam from the West End to Charlestown you might even get lucky and see the locks in action. If not, you can still check out the massive gears that enable them to open and close. Before stepping into Charlestown, strike a melodious note on the gongs of Paul Matisse's 'Charlestown Bells.' It's the first of many public art installations you'll encounter along the river banks. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up This playground in Paul Revere Park is on the Charlestown side of the Charles River Dam. David Lyon Advertisement The Zakim Bridge dominates the skyline here, yet some surprising green spaces have sprouted in its shadows. Paul Revere Park features playgrounds and ballfields, while the gracefully arching North Bank Bridge leads to North Point Park in Cambridge with another playground and spray pad. Directly under the elevated roadways, the scoops and ridges of the Lynch Family Skatepark boast a coat of colorful (and sanctioned) graffiti. Follow the water around a basin to Museum Way, which deposits you at the Museum of Science atop the original 1910 Charles River Dam and locks. Advertisement In the Museum of Science, the Yawkey Gallery on the Charles River offers interactive exhibits to learn about the natural science and the engineering of the river. David Lyon The museum is perhaps the ultimate destination for nerdy fun. There's no shortage of gee-whiz exhibits (such as the lightning bolts in the Theater of Electricity or a 65-million-year-old Triceratops skeleton), but the Yawkey Gallery on the Charles River holds its own. It may have huge windows on the river, but kids are more drawn to the interactive exhibits that combine natural history lessons with scale-model engineering puzzles about water quality and flood control. They can build variations on bridges and water control gates or even crawl around in a simulated sewer system. Cute life-size bronze statues of turtles, ducks, an otter, and a muskrat bring the river fauna inside. The bow of the ‶Henry Longfellow″ cruise vessel offers broad views of the Charles River. David Lyon ON THE WATER Feeling lazy? The Charles River Boat Company offers leisurely 70-minute cruises. Leaving from Lechmere Canal on the Cambridge side, the boat glides past rowers, sailors, and flocks of waterfowl up the river to the John W. Weeks Footbridge and back. You'll look from side to side as a guide points out landmarks along the banks, including the Back Bay skyscrapers and the 100-foot-diameter Great Dome of MIT. Keep your eyes peeled for the CSX Railroad Bridge below the BU Bridge, popular with graffiti artists. Many of the tags represent the logos of crew teams from various universities. Just upriver of the Harvard (Mass. Ave.) Bridge, the vibrant ‶Patterned Behavior″ mural by Silvia López Chavez along the multiuse path got a fresh coat of paint this spring. Advertisement Kayakers head out of Broad Canal into the Charles River basin toward the Longfellow Bridge. David Lyon If you'd rather move at your own pace, rent a kayak at Paddle Boston's Kendall Square location. You might not travel as far under your own power, but you'll be sitting inches off the water the whole way. Yes, you will get wet, but the water quality of the Charles has come a long way since the 1990s. This is the best way to admire the blue herons stalking prey in the shallows along the shores, to study the underbellies of the bridges, or to paddle through the lagoons of the Charles River Esplanade. Famed for the July 4 Pops concert, the Hatch Shell is a focal point of the Charles River Esplanade. David Lyon GREEN BANKS The Charles River Esplanade between the Longfellow and Harvard bridges is the best-known stretch of riverbank, thanks to the Boston Pops concert and fireworks on Independence Day. From the Longfellow Bridge, you'll pass Community Boating — another chance to rent a kayak, or, for experienced sailors, a small keelboat. The heart of the Esplanade, though, is the Hatch Shell. The Art Deco concert stage, which predates World War II, doesn't go dark after July 4. It's a summer-long venue for concerts and movies. Among the statues ringing the field in front of the shell, the presiding spirit is the bronze of philanthropist David G. Mugar, who introduced pyrotechnics to the July 4 Pops concert. He famously told legendary Boston Pops conductor Arthur Fiedler, 'You bring the music, and I'll bring the fireworks.' Cross any of the bridges over the lagoon to see the monumental bust of Fiedler. Night Shift Brewing operates a beer garden on the Charles River Esplanade. David Lyon Picnic tables and benches make this stretch an excellent area to spread a repast. Or check out the Night Shift Beer Garden, where there's often at least one food truck operating next to the beer taps. If you have kids in tow, you'll find a playground near the beer garden and another farther upriver closer to the Harvard Bridge. Advertisement Charles River Boat Company runs river cruises from the Lechmere Canal behind the CambridgeSide mall. David Lyon BUCOLIC BASIN It's a little more than a five-mile walk upriver from the Hatch Shell to Christian Herter Park in Brighton. For a less ambitious walk, start at the John W. Weeks Footbridge at the bottom of DeWolfe Street outside Harvard Square in Cambridge. You'll have great views of the winding river from atop the bridge — a prime viewpoint to watch rowing regattas. Cross to the Boston side, where the footpath skirts the roadway until you reach an underpass at the Eliot Bridge. Christian Herter Park is the largest park on the Charles River basin. David Lyon Suddenly, the narrow way opens into the sprawling meadow of Herter Park, the largest section of open parkland along the Charles River basin. It's big enough to include a playground and spray fountain, a large green lawn favored by volleyball and badminton players, a Night Shift beer garden, a 350-seat amphitheater for outdoor music and theater performances, and another Paddle Boston rental kiosk. Kayakers often rent here to explore the tranquil upper reaches of the river basin, where ducks, geese, and swans paddle on the water and red-winged blackbirds flit in the marshy borders. This monumental bust of Arthur Fiedler on Charles River Esplanade is constructed of stacked aluminum slabs. David Lyon This should be enough to fill several summer weekends in the city. And when you're done, the Charles continues upriver another 70 miles or so to Echo Lake in Hopkinton. Patricia Harris and David Lyon can be reached at . Paddle Boston's kayak and paddleboard kiosk in Christian Herter Park is a good place to rent a watercraft to explore the more tranquil upriver portion of the Charles River basin. David Lyon If you go … For schedule of Free Friday Flicks at the Esplanade see . For the schedule of Landmarks Orchestra performances at the Hatch Shell, see Advertisement For information on the July 12 Charles River Jazz Festival at the Herter Park Amphitheater see For more on public art, see Night Shift Brewing 617-456-7687, 1 Lovejoy Wharf, Boston Mon.-Thu. 3-9 p.m., Fri.-Sat. 11:30 a.m.-11 p.m., Sun. 11:30 a.m.-8 p.m. Charles River Esplanade Beer Garden Wed.-Fri. 4-10 p.m., Sat. noon-10 p.m., Sun. noon-8 p.m. Christian Herter Park Beer Garden Thu.-Fri. 4-10 p.m., Sat. noon-10 p.m., Sun. noon-8 p.m. Museum of Science 1 Science Park, Boston 617-723-2500, Open daily 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Adults, $31; seniors, $27; ages 3-11, $26 Charles River Boat Company 100 Cambridgeside Place (Lechmere Canal), Cambridge 617-621-3001, Sightseeing tours at 12:30 p.m., 2 p.m., and 3:30 p.m., daily through Sept. 1, Wed.-Sun. Sept. 23-28. Adults, $28.50; seniors and students, $25.50; under age 12, $19; under age 3, $5 Paddle Boston 617-965-5110, Kendall Square, Cambridge 15 Broad Canal Way Allston/Brighton 1071 Soldiers Field Road Check website for hours and weather conditions Kayaks, paddleboards, and canoes, $33-$85 Community Boating 21 David G. Mugar Way 617-523-1038, Kayaks and paddleboards, $40; keelboat for up to 4 people, $99 Check website for hours Silvia López Chavez's ‶Patterned Behavior″ mural brightens the Charles River walking/cycling path. David Lyon Patricia Harris can be reached at
Boston Globe
13-06-2025
- Boston Globe
First light to last light: The arc of a perfect summer day in Gloucester
There's no shame in settling down on either beach for the morning, then packing up your beach chairs and following the sun. But if you're feeling more ambitious, Gloucester has plenty to fill the day. By the time you've walked the length of Good Harbor Beach, Cape Ann Coffees will be opening at 6 a.m. At the other end of the harbor, Mom's Kitchen starts dishing pancakes and eggs at 5 a.m. What can we say? Fisherfolk start early. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up A trail map to Dogtown stands at the parking lot on Dogtown Road. David Lyon While the rest of Gloucester is waking up, walk off the breakfast carbs by hiking the trails in Dogtown. Every town deserves a mysterious, spooky wood, and Dogtown is Gloucester's. Site of the 17th-century settlement, the ghost town sits atop a glacial moraine. Trees and shrubs have overgrown the vast boulder field since this inland village was abandoned about 200 years ago as Gloucester sought its living from the sea. Yet cellar holes and patches of ornamental flowering plants and fruit trees persist as silent witnesses to lives once lived here. The 'Babson Boulder Trail″ is the most popular way to explore Dogtown. Look for massive stones inscribed with inspirational words — 'Truth,″ 'Kindness,″ 'Prosperity,″ and so on. They are the work of Depression-era unemployed stone cutters hired by Gloucester native Roger Babson. Advertisement This contemporary wetu sits next to the 1710 White-Ellery saltbox on the Cape Ann Museum Green campus in Gloucester. David Lyon Gloucester may be one of America's oldest European settlements, but the English were hardly the first to live here. At the Cape Ann Museum Green campus, located between Dogtown and the Route 128 traffic circle, a contemporary art wetu (a traditional Indigenous dwelling) and a stone mush8n (a stone version of an Indigenous dugout canoe) nod to earlier occupants of the land. The brightly painted wetu contrasts with the weathered clapboards of the adjacent 1710 White-Ellery saltbox house. Although the downtown location of the museum remains closed for renovation until 2026, CAM Green offers tours of the White-Ellery House and mounts changing exhibitions in its soaring, light-filled gallery building. Carvings on the "Babson boulders" in Dogtown exhort passersby to admirable actions. David Lyon By now you've probably caught on that Gloucester is a pretty special place. So it's no surprise that the glorious light has long drawn artists to town. Starting in the mid-19th century, artists have flocked to Rocky Neck, a small peninsula poking out into Gloucester Harbor. It claims to be 'one of America's oldest working art colonies.″ Rocky Neck in Gloucester is a well-established art colony. David Lyon Rocky Neck is a compact spit, easily walked from the municipal parking lot on Rocky Neck Avenue. Check out the former studio of Marsden Hartley at 9 Rocky Neck Ave., now a private home. He spent summers here in the 1930s and often painted the glacial moraine of Dogtown. The former studio of A.W. Buhler at 17 Rocky Neck Ave. is now a gallery. Buhler is best remembered for his painting 'Man at the Wheel,″ the inspiration for Gloucester's iconic Fisherman's Memorial statue. Take a short detour to 2 Clarendon St. to see the house that Edward Hopper painted as 'The Mansard Roof.″ Or just wander the galleries and shops, including the sleek gallery and wine bar called Salted Cod Arthouse, and pop into any open studios. You will see a lot of paintings of boats, harbors, and broader seascapes. Gloucester is, after all, also America's oldest working fishing port. Advertisement Edward Hopper modeled the image in "The Mansard Roof″ on this Rocky Neck home. David Lyon Downtown knits together Gloucester's maritime and artistic histories. As you wrap around the head of the inner harbor, you'll pass the site where Hopper painted 'Tall Masts″ in 1912. Hopper was hardly the first artist to be entranced by Gloucester's waterfront. One of your first stops on a walking tour along the harbor will be a three-story Gothic Revival stone house on a high hill above the working port. Looking almost like a waterfront watchtower, it was designed by Fitz Henry Lane, the Gloucester-born artist whose radiant images of glowing sky and restless seas first drew other painters to the seaport. He lived and worked here from 1849 until his death in 1865. Just feet away, Alfred Duca's evocative 1996 bronze statue shows the painter perched on a rock, sketchbook in hand, looking out on the harbor. Advertisement The Fisherman's Memorial, often called ‶Man at the Wheel,″ stands on Western Avenue in Gloucester. David Lyon Also on Harbor Loop, just below the Lane House, Maritime Gloucester is a living museum of the city's saltwater history. In the Dory Shop, Geno Mondello continues to build historic Gloucester fishing dories when he's not tending his 200 lobster traps. One of the founders of Maritime Gloucester, Mondello says it takes five to six weeks to build a boat. Just below the shop, the oldest operating marine railway in the country still hauls ships out of the water for repairs, just as it has since 1849. At an adjacent pier, the pinky schooner Ardelle offers daily public sails until October. The Ardelle offers daily harbor sails from the Maritime Gloucester wharf. David Lyon A little farther west along the harbor, Seven Seas Wharf has served the fishing industry for more than 350 years. It's still used to stow and repair nets, fuel up for offshore trips, and unload lobsters and fish. The Gloucester House Restaurant dominates the wharf. Enjoy seafood in the rough from the takeout window of Blue Collar Lobster Company while looking out at the fishing vessels and Cape Pond Ice. Poignant tributes are cut into the blocks at the base of the Fishermen's Wives Memorial. David Lyon Continue west to 18 Western Ave., the building that Hopper painted in watercolors in 1926 as 'Anderson's House″ (owned by the Museum of Fine Arts Boston). The dwelling sits just above the Town Landing at the end of Pavilion Beach. It's a short walk along Western Avenue to the 'Man at the Wheel″ statue based on Buhler's painting. It's the focus of the Fisherman's Memorial, where bronze plaques list the names of those lost at sea. Keep walking across Blynman Bridge (also painted by Hopper) to the more recent statue of the Fishermen's Wives Memorial, which notes the sacrifices of fishermen's wives and families. This side of the bridge is planted with striking flower beds that flourish in the diffuse seaside light. Advertisement The family depicted in the Fishermen's Wives Memorial looks out to sea, waiting. David Lyon Be sure to return to Pavilion Beach for sunset. It doesn't face perfectly west, but the setting sun illuminates the wet beach with a shimmering slick of color. Clouds above the city blaze with red and gold. The opposing horizon beyond the Eastern Point Light glows rosy pink. Suddenly, darkness falls. Then you can call it a day. Patricia Harris and David Lyon can be reached at . Sunset lights the sky and glistens on the sands of Gloucester's Pavilion Beach. David Lyon If you go … Cape Ann Motor Inn 33 Rockport Road 978-281-2900, Double room $295 Cape Ann Coffees 86 Bass Ave. 978-282-1717, Mon.-Sat. 6 a.m.-1 p.m. Baked goods, sandwiches $3.50-$10.75 Mom's Kitchen 29 Commercial Ave. 978-282-4444, Thu.-Tue. 5 a.m.-noon. Eggs, griddle fare, and sandwiches $4-$13 Salted Cod Arthouse 53 Rocky Neck Ave. 978-282-0917, Open daily 11:30 a.m-10 p.m. Wine bar menu of small plates, soups, flatbreads, and panini $6-$16 Blue Collar Lobster Company at Gloucester House Restaurant 63 Rogers St. 978-283-1812, Open daily 11:30 a.m.-8 p.m. Chowder, snacks, and seafood $8-$42, lobster market price Dogtown Park at access lot on Dogtown Road off Cherry Lane and follow Dogtown Babson Boulder Trail Map: Rocky Neck Art Trail map: CAM Green 13 Poplar St. 978-283-0455, Open Wed.-Sun. 10 a.m.-5 p.m., free Maritime Gloucester 23 Harbor Loop 978-281-0470, Gallery and aquarium open Fri.-Mon. 10 a.m.-4 p.m., adults $15; seniors, military, students, teachers $10 David Lyon can be reached at
Boston Globe
03-06-2025
- Lifestyle
- Boston Globe
A mouthful of history: Tracing the origins of iconic New Mexican dishes
But there was a Before. New Mexicans seem to agree that the green chile cheeseburger first appeared at the Get Winter Soup Club A six-week series featuring soup recipes and cozy vibes, plus side dishes and toppings, to get us all through the winter. Enter Email Sign Up The story goes that Frank added a grill so that he could serve the hamburgers that his regulars craved. That burger was often accompanied by a side bowl of spicy green chile. One day, the dishwasher didn't show up. When Frank ran low on dishes, he simply plopped the green chile on top of the burgers. And the rest is history. Advertisement The Owl Bar & Cafe is a small desert roadside eatery in San Antonio, N.M. David Lyon Apart from the fresh paint job, the squat adobe-colored roadside joint looks like it hasn't changed since the days of the Manhattan Project. Once our eyes adjusted to the chill darkness inside, we walked past the bar, settled into a booth, and didn't even have to look at the menu. We did ask our waitress what makes the famous Owl burger so good. 'We have a good cook,' she shrugged. The beef in the patty is hand-ground and the green chile is prepared daily from a 'secret″ recipe. 'They say it's just salt and pepper,' she confided, advising us to also order a plate of green chile fries — a heaping meal in itself, as it turned out. Our waitress left a big pile of napkins on our table and we needed every one. The bun could barely contain the beef patty that escaped over the side or the cheese and green chile that oozed from the edges. As if that weren't enough, the burger was also topped with onion, pickles, lettuce, tomato, mustard, and mayo. (In a moment of ordering exuberance, one of us also added bacon.) Both versions were two-fisted tastes of history. Diners from across the country and around the world make a point of stopping at the Owl. They eat a burger, write a few laudatory lines on a slip of paper, and tack it to the wooden walls along with a few dollars for charity. Recent diners at our booth had come from Maine, Costa Rica, and Oklahoma, as well as points in the Four Corners. Despite its culinary fame, the Owl remains a down-to-earth neighborhood place where at least two of the waitresses had worked for more than 40 years. We overheard an Owl regular order his burger with 'no mayo, extra mustard.' So we decided to ask him what makes him keep coming back for more. 'The chile and the grill,' he told us. 'It's been in use since 1945, so it's well seasoned.' Advertisement He paused for a bite and then continued. 'I've eaten everywhere. This is the best green chile cheeseburger in the universe. I'd be back here on Sunday — except they're closed.' Tia Sophia's has been a staple of the Santa Fe restaurant scene since 1975. David Lyon Because we were spending a month in a casita in Santa Fe, it was much easier to stroll into town to enjoy the breakfast burritos at Tia Sophia's. The breakfast and lunch joint stands at one corner of the main plaza across the street from the Art Deco Lensic theater. When the restaurant opened in 1975, Santa Fe was still a slightly sleepy Hispanic city favored by painters, photographers, and folks seeking mountain air. Ann and Jim Maryol's casual diner flourished by serving good regional New Mexican dishes at good prices. With son Nick Maryol at the helm since 2004, Tia Sophia's remains a go-to place for local comfort food. Widely lauded by Santa Feans for its sopapillas drizzled with honey, Tia Sophia's true fame in wider culinary circles derives from its breakfast burrito. But Nick is quick to set the record straight. Jim Maryol didn't invent the breakfast burrito. 'It was my father who put that name on the menu,″ he says. 'But he always said New Mexican people have been putting breakfast food on tortillas forever and wrapping them up. He was just the first to call it a breakfast burrito.' Advertisement Beautiful plates arrive at the table for breakfast at Tia Sophia's. David Lyon In fact, his father was modest about his role in American culinary history. 'Back in the '90s, when Taco Bell put a breakfast burrito on its menu, the family joked that Dad should have trademarked the name. But he was a humble man and didn't want to take credit for tradition.' One Saturday morning, we arrived early before the usual line formed down the sidewalk and scored one of the last small tables at the front. The menu offered several tempting choices, but, again, we were on a mission to go to the source. So we ordered the famous breakfast burrito. Adhering to tradition, we chose bacon for the meat in the filling (as opposed to sausage or bologna). All that was left was to decide if we wanted red or green chile. The diner's homemade red and green chile sauces are celebrated, and the menu warns 'Not responsible for too hot chile.' It was September and the smell of roasting green chiles filled the air. So we went with our noses and chose green. The burrito was filled with a generous mass of scrambled eggs, nicely crisped fresh hash browns, and delicious strips of sweet and smoky bacon. On top was a fiery helping of green chile sauce and the inescapable melted orange cheese. Breakfast was born. And the green chile? 'Not too hot,″ one of us said bravely as tears rolled down our cheeks. If you go... For information on the New Mexico Green Chile Cheeseburger Trail, see Owl Bar & Cafe 77 US Highway 380, San Antonio, N.M. 575-835-9946, Advertisement Open Monday-Saturday 8 a.m.-8 p.m. Green chile cheeseburger $6. Tia Sophia's 210 West San Francisco St., Santa Fe. 505-983-9880, Open Monday-Saturday 7 a.m.-1:30 p.m., Sunday 8 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Breakfast burrito $14. David Lyon can be reached at
