Massachusetts Hall 2008

   July 2008: I can finally say that I've been to Harvard! To tell the truth, I spent three nights in Boston, Massachusetts, and I rode their subway, that the locals call the T, across the river to Cambridge, MA. Once there, I made a beeline to Harvard Yard long enough to take pictures of the two oldest buildings at Harvard University: Massachusetts Hall (1720) and Harvard Hall (1765). Then, I visited the Harvard Museum of Natural History, 26 Oxford St. (617-495-3045). Although the museum offered its share of the history of Earth via floral, fauna, and minerals, the one area that made this museum unique was the display of about 3,000 realistic glass flowers and plants. This was no guidebook hype. They looked so much like real plants, but they couldn't be because real plants would have dried up in those glass display cases long ago. In the area displaying rocks, minerals, and meteorites, I found it interesting to note that the museum still used old-fashioned, wood-and-glass cases. Admission also included the adjoining Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology. This place had a sizable collection of exhibit items as well as texts and pictures covering past civilizations and the Peabody showed exhibits areas about more recent groups of people, especially Native Americans.