The magnificent Boston Public Library.

Boston, birthplace of the USA

‘SWEET New Englandâ€, Paul Simon sang in his great song Duncan, still a concert favourite. For many years I had looked forward to seeing this north-eastern corner of the USA, and finally got the chance this summer.

And sweet it is in late June, as the green of the trees and the blue of the sky, coupled with temperatures that are quite bearable for us Irish, make every day an ideal summer interlude.
There are six states in New England: Rhode Island, Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, and of course Massachusetts and its capital Boston, home to millions of Irish immigrants since they first started coming in the 17th century.
Many of you readers are far more familiar with Boston than I will ever be. Everyone appears to have cousins there, and to have visited them more than once.
Everyone except me, that is. So I gladly took the advice of a couple of Boston regulars on how best to approach this lovely city.
But between the planning of the trip, as 2017 was just coming over the horizon, and the eventual arrival, cousins appeared. Not cousins of mine, but of Mary, and from Boston to Cape Cod to New Hampshire and back to Salem we experienced that warm Irish-American welcome so many of you too have enjoyed.
Anyone with an interest in history knows of Boston's place in the birth of the American republic. It saw the Boston Tea Party, in which the citizens, outraged at new taxes imposed by Britain, dumped a cargo of tea into the harbour; the Boston Massacre, in which protesters were shot by redcoats; the Battle of Bunker Hill, in which the British realised just how effective was the army of the rebels; and of course the midnight ride of Paul Revere.
Revere was a prosperous silversmith and businessman in the city who was firmly committed to the cause of freedom as a prominent member of the Sons of Liberty.
The first Continental Congress had met in Philadelphia in September 1774, and the idea of complete independence from Britain was being discussed.
The mood among patriots was growing more militant, and the British answer was to send troops to keep their colonies in check.
In April 1775 word got out that the British were bent on arresting the leaders of the movement, and Revere rode by night from Boston to Lexington and Concord to warn the militia that a British force was marching to arrest John Hancock and Samuel Adams and to confiscate their arms.
The result was the first shots of the American Revolution, and in subsequent years the romanticisation of a relatively minor incident, largely due to the poem by Longfellow which begins
Listen my children and you shall hear
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere
On the eighteenth of April in seventy-five …
Paul Revere's house still stands, the oldest home in Boston, and it is an essential stop on the Freedom Trail, a line of red brick that leads from Boston Common in the centre of the city to Bunker Hill on the far side of the Charles River.
It is quite a thrill to walk through the rooms that Revere himself knew, and to see pieces of silver from his workshop.
Outside the streets are not what you expect in an American city — twisting, narrow lanes lined with three- and four-storey redbrick houses, shops, cafés and bars. Most are competing for tourist dollars, but for the most part dignity and the old-world atmosphere are retained, making it a very pleasant area in which to stroll.
Less than a quarter of a mile from the Revere house is the Old North Church, in whose belfry were hung the famous lanterns to indicate which way the British troops would travel, by land or by sea.
We visited just as a guide was speaking to a tour group on the history of the church, which is still a place of worship, and got a real flavour of the place.
You are never far from the water in this part of Boston, and there is more pleasant strolling to be done along the wharves that now are home to restaurants rather than warehouses, and pleasure boats ply waters once busy with Yankee clipper ships.
For me the main shipping attraction was the USS Constitution. The oldest warship in the world still in commission, she is proudly crewed by the men and women of the US Navy, wearing a white shirt and trousers and black neckerchief that differs only in detail and material from the uniform of today.
The Constitution was built as a frigate in Boston in 1797, and her hull made of rare live oak was so hard and strong that the cannon balls of the Royal Navy bounced off it — hence her nickname, Old Ironsides.
When I visited, she was in dry dock, but she has been re-floated in the last week or two. Roaming the decks on a day of few tourists, it was hard to imagine how her crew of 450 to 500 men could have had any space to themselves.
The clearance on the main gun deck is only five and a half feet in places — I was glad I was wearing my hat when skull and timber met.
An unexpected bonus was that the ship was not fully rigged. The masts were up, but some of the massive spars were alongside on the wharf being repainted, and it's only when you can walk beside them that you realise just how huge were the components of these 18th century war machines, slender though they may look against the sky.
The USS Constitution took part in several major sea fights, defeating four British warships in all, much to the gloom of the British public who had regarded their navy as invincible. No wonder the Americans are determined to maintain her as a symbol of their nation.
Another symbol of the new nation was its desire to educate its people, and a shining example of that is the Boston Public Library. Established as the first publicly funded library in the mid 19th century, it got a grand new home in 1890 or so on Copley Square.
A library is not always the first thing you would classify as a tourist attraction, but this building is a stunner. Built in the Renaissance style, its pale stone, arched windows, beautiful cut stone decoration and tiled roof give a hint of the wonders within.
A grand staircase leads to the upper floor, where the amazing Bates Hall reading room is crowned by a coffered barrel vaulted ceiling. The benches and chairs look as though they have been there since the library was built, and probably have, but power points and internet connections are hidden beneath them.
“Free to all†is the motto carved over the main door, and that is the reality.
In a modern block just behind the original building is a fine modern library which has a teenage space and a beautiful children's room where the buggies were lined up in one corner as parents (or nannies) and children enjoyed reading and story time.
The bonus for us was a concert in the cloister-style courtyard given by three children aged between 11 and 17 from “under-represented communities†who take part in the projectSTEP programme to spot musical talent.

Each played solo, beautifully, and as the music of Bach and Mendelssohn filled the lunchtime air it was hard to remember that only a few yards away the city bustled about its business.
What an introduction to Boston's many attractions! I'll be back there in next week's Herald.