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Stephenson:Neal:Quicksilver:46:...campus of domed pavilions (Alan Sinder)

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Stephensonia

“… campus of domed pavillions and ans multi-chambered laboratories” says Enoch Root to a concerned (in a skeptical way) Daniel Waterhouse.

Authored entries

Boston Then

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Bonner's 1722 Map of Boston Harbor

The Bonner map is the first surviving printed map of Boston and the first town plan printed in what is now the United States. It shows the configuration of Boston as it was for almost the first 200 years of its existence -- a small peninsula indented by deep coves that were separated by promontories surmounted by high hills. The peninsula was connected to the mainland only by a narrow neck on which there was one road -- present-day Washington Street. This map is roughly 82° plus clockwise in orientation from the map on the Boston page.

Bonner was a navigator and shipwright. His maritime orientation is undoubtedly the reason he shows waterfront features, such as wharves, in great detail but renders inland topographical features, such as the three peaks that comprised Beacon Hill, rather sketchily. He indicates settlement by using the convention of houses lining the streets, although he does not depict them in any normal perspective but simply as if they had toppled over backwards.

Bonner's map gives a good picture of Boston's development almost 100 years after its founding in 1630. The North End (the promontory at the right) and the area around the Town Cove (facing the harbor) were thickly settled. Wharves lined their shores, a graphic illustration of Boston's position as the leading port in the American colonies. Long Wharf extended almost a third of a mile to the deep water of the harbor. The Mill Pond, now the location of the Bulfinch Triangle, had been formed by a dam approximately on the line of present-day Causeway Street, and the Common was still on the outskirts of town.

Boston (the areas that matter to Quicksilver readers) Now

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MIT's Great Dome, Building 10, and adjoining buildings, as viewed from across the Charles River. "At night, floodlights glare from artfully concealing shrubbery and lave the main building with a white light that emphasizes black-trimmed, three-story windows rising in uninterrupted, eye-leading verticals toward a dominant, austere dome mimicked from some classic pile of ancient Rome. On every slab-sided cornice, like proclamations of faith needing no explanation, are chiseled Darwin, Newton, Aristotle and, in lesser letters, the names of the more numerous Lavoisiers and Eulers and Faradays who have discovered the chemical elements or evolved the equations or stumbled upon the fundamentals of nature. Indeed, not unlovely is the breeding ground of technicians and engineers which, as announced in stone above great, fluted columns, is the MASSACHVSETTS INSTITVTE OF TECHNOLOGY."

—Maxwell Griffith, The Gadget Maker (1955)

When Bostonians say "downtown," they usually mean the first six neighborhoods defined here; there's no "midtown" or "uptown." The numerous neighborhoods outside central Boston include the Fenway, South Boston, Dorchester, Roxbury, West Roxbury, and Jamaica Plain.

The Waterfront

This narrow area runs along the Inner Harbor, on Atlantic Avenue and Commercial Street from the North Washington Street bridge (the route to Charlestown) to South Station. Once filled with wharves and warehouses, today it abounds with luxury condos, marinas, restaurants, offices, and hotels. Also here are the New England Aquarium and embarkation points for harbor cruises and whale-watching expeditions.

Charlestown

One of the oldest areas of Boston is where you'll see the Bunker Hill Monument and USS Constitution ("Old Ironsides"), as well as one of the city's best-known restaurants, Olives. Yuppification has brought some diversity to what was once an almost entirely white residential neighborhood, but pockets remain that have earned their reputation for insularity.

The Back Bay

Fashionable since its creation out of landfill more than a century ago, the Back Bay overflows with gorgeous architecture and chic shops. It lies between the Public Garden, the river, Kenmore Square, and either Huntington Avenue or St. Botolph Street, depending on who's describing it. Students dominate the area near Mass. Ave. but grow scarce as property values rise near the Public Garden. This is one of the best neighborhoods in Boston for aimless walking. Major thoroughfares include Boylston Street, which starts at Boston Common and runs into the Fenway; largely residential Beacon Street and "Comm. Ave." (Commonwealth Avenue); and boutique central, Newbury Street.

Cambridge

Boston's neighbor across the Charles River is a separate city. The areas you're likely to visit are along the MBTA Red Line. Harvard Square is a magnet for students, sightseers, and well-heeled shoppers. It's an easy walk along Mass. Ave. southeast to Central Square, a rapidly gentrifying area dotted with ethnic restaurants and clubs. North along Mass. Ave. is Porter Square, a mostly residential neighborhood with some quirky shops like those that once characterized Harvard Square. Around Kendall Square you'll find the domed Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and many technology-oriented businesses which relates to the vision the hopeful Enoch shares with the clearly doubting Daniel: (MIT) is an independent, coeducational university centered on science and technology, located along the Charles River in the city of Cambridge, Massachusetts directly across from Boston and downstream from Harvard University. MIT is one of the premier research universities in the world. The school has a very good academic environment for learning; it is also a pioneer in including undergraduates in actual research groups, with the extensive UROP program, and thereby enhancing undergraduate education from being a dry memorization of prior work. MIT excels in science and technology , but is also strong in philosophy and a few of the social sciences such as economics, linguistics, and anthropology. Its best-known computer-related labs are Artificial Intelligence and Computer Science (soon to be merged into CSAIL), as well as the Media Lab. The MIT student body comprises roughly 4000 undergraduates and 6000 graduate students.