Boston Rambles

Boston Rambles

A Rambler Walks and Talks About the Hub of the Universe

Worcester, Massachusetts, Part One: The Path of Destruction

Upper Boston Post Road Entry #14 (UBPR #14) Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be… (read more)

Shrewsbury, Massachusetts: Twists, Turns, Topography, and Turnpikes.

Upper Boston Post Road Entry #13 (UBPR #13) ***** For Whom The Post Horn Sounds… As I pass the modest yellow house at 32 Main Circle, about three-quarters of a mile into my walk through Shrewsbury from the border with Northborough along the route of the original road west from Boston to New York, it… (read more)

Northborough, Massachusetts: The Quiet Borough

Upper Boston Post Road Entry #12 (UBPR #12) “We went on unobserved by any one until we passed Shrewsbury, where we were overtaken by a horsemanwho examined us very attentively, and especially me, whom he looked at from head to foot as if he wanted to know me again; after he had taken his observations… (read more)

Best of the Upper Boston Post Road in Middlesex County, Massachusetts: A Top Ten List.

This entry is self-explanatory: now that I have completed my walk along the route of the Upper Boston Post Road in Middlesex County, I want to list what I consider to be the most interesting sites along the road. I am doing this for many reasons: to reflect on the road that I have already… (read more)

Marlborough, Massachusetts: Marlboro Country

Upper Boston Post Road #11 (UBPR #11) “We begged he would recommend some tavern where we should be safe, he told us we could be safe nowhere but in his house; that the town was very violent, and that we had been expected at Col. Williams’s the night before, where there had gone a party… (read more)

Sudbury, Massachusetts: Once Upon a Time…

Upper Boston Post Road #10 (UPBR #10) One Autumn night, in Sudbury town,Across the meadows bare and brown,The windows of the wayside innGleamed red with fire-light through the leavesOf woodbine, hanging from the eavesTheir crimson curtains rent and thin. Tales of a Wayside Inn by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow ***** Once upon a time… Chapter One…. (read more)

Westborough, Massachusetts: On Boroughed Time

Upper Boston Post Road #9 (UBPR#9) Alternate Route Entry #4 “I receiv’d the Vote of the Town of Westborough in which I am call’d to the great and arduous Work of the Gospel Ministry among them.” From the Diary of Ebeneezer Parkman, Minister to the town of Westborough from 1724-1782, February 28, 1724. The old… (read more)

Southborough, Massachusetts: Lost Roads

Upper Boston Post Road #8 (UBPR#8) Alternate Route Entry #3 We then traveled through a very fine country, missed our way and went to Southborough; we were obliged to turn back a mile to get the right road. Ensign Henry DeBerniere in his report to General Thomas Gage, Saturday, February 25, 1775. Sometimes travelers get… (read more)

Framingham, Massachusetts: Everybody Comes To Buck’s

Upper Boston Post Road #7 (UPBR#7) Alternate Route Entry #2 “We then asked him for the inns that were on the road between the house and Worcester, he recommended us two, one about nine miles from his house, a Mr. Buckminster’s….” Ensign Henry DeBerniere, in his report to General Gage, February 23, 1775. Two spies,… (read more)