The Christian Science Plaza is a beloved mid-century Boston Landmark. How does one adapt an iconic yet challenging Brutalist landscape to meet modern-day needs and concerns, as well as an evolved urban context? 

On this walking tour, you will hear from Boston Landmarks Commissioner John Amodeo about the strategies used to make the plaza more welcoming and more sustainable, primary objectives of The First Church of Christ, Scientist. Subtle but effective changes were created at the edges, to make them more porous and inviting while respecting the plaza’s mid-century character.

 Meet outside the entrance of the Christian Science Publishing House, 210 Massachusetts Ave, Boston, MA 02115

Polish Fest Boston is a celebration of the rich culture, traditions, and contributions of Boston’s Polish-American community.  Guests will enjoy delicious food, lively music, cultural experience and the warm hospitality of the Polish-American community and its neighbors. 

Polish Fest Boston takes place in and around the Polish American Citizens Club. The Club began in 1924 when a group of Polish World War I veterans invested their savings and purchased an old shoe factory where they formed the Young Polish Men’s Club. In the late 1930’s, the founders and members of Boston’s Polish immigrant and Polish-American community came together to raise money, design, and build a new building.

Explore a fascinating industrial area at the geographic heart of Boston that includes 19th-century tannery and brewery buildings, the homes of early German settlers, and today’s Boston Beer Company, the brewers of Samuel Adams. In the 1970s, a coalition of community groups joined together to block construction of the Southwest Expressway through Jamaica Plain and other Boston neighborhoods. Today, the Southwest Corridor Park that runs through the Stony Brook neighborhood stands as a testament to the power of community activism.

Tours last between 60 and 90 minutes and are canceled in case of heavy rain. No reservations are required, just meet the guide outside the T Stop.

This National Historic District includes the ancestral home of the Dole Pineapple Company founder and the homes of progressives who were active as abolitionists and women suffragists.

All tours are free to the public and are offered on dates shown. Tours last between 60 and 90 minutes and are canceled in case of heavy rain. No reservations are required, just meet the guide at the starting location.

Interested in learning more about grant opportunities through the National Park Service? Do you have a project that might be a good fit for the African American Civil Rights, History of Equal Rights, or Underrepresented Communities grant programs? Are you looking ahead to upcoming opportunities including Save America’s Treasures, Tribal Heritage Grants, HBCU Preservation Grant, or the Paul Bruhn Historic Revitalization Grants? Sign up for this free information session.

View architecture that spans three centuries, the oldest community theater company in the United States, and an elegant eighteenth-century mansion that once served as the country’s first military hospital. Additionally, the tour includes a house that once served as a tavern, the Eliot School, the home of the first woman to graduate from MIT, and the First Church Burial Ground.

All JPHS tours are free to the public. Tours start on Saturday at 11:00 a.m. Canceled in the case of heavy rain. No reservations are required, meet the guide at the location listed.

Participants will be permitted access to the sub-basement two stories below ground to view the massive Allis pumps that delivered 30 million gallons of water per day to the citizens of Boston. They will also have the exclusive opportunity to climb either the Allis Engine or the Leavitt engine for an up-close look at these mammoth machines. This is one of several tours offered during May.

When Old North Church opened its doors in 1723, it fanned the flames of a growing religious controversy over sacred singing. While Old North was Boston’s second Anglian Church, Massachusetts was dominated by Congregationalists who had strict rules about what type of music was appropriate for worship.

Old North’s massive new presence in Boston’s North End delivered a powerful ritual challenge to the city’s Congregationalists, none more important than the innovative psalm texts and tunes that its congregation sang at Sunday services. This talk from Dr. Stephen A. Marini of Wellesley College will explore these little-known sacred song practices and their contexts from the earliest decades of Old North’s history.

The Massachusetts Historical Society and the South End Historical Society are teaming up to help you learn more about ways to research the rich and vibrant history of the Sound End.  Each organization will explain how to use the items in their collections to find out more about local history.