When I was visiting Boston a few weeks ago, a friend asked if I’d like to walk around the Harvard campus. Yes, please! It turned out to be a lovely way to spend the later part of a hot summer afternoon with quiet paths, lovely architecture, and photo ops galore!
The biggest challenge is parking. The city had the normal parking areas closed for construction, so do your best and read the signs so you don’t get a ticket! We ended up parking a couple of blocks away.
The grounds of the Harvard Campus are free for walking (enter through one of several gates). Use respect of the students and other visitors. Many of the buildings are closed to the public, though some might be open if school was in session.
One of the reasons I was so excited to visit is that one of my relatives (a very long time ago!) was in one of Harvard’s first graduating classes. From what I can tell, he came to the new world to go to the school and promptly became a minister, as were several generations after him (though I’m not sure if any of the others went to Harvard).
The paths around the buildings can be wandered freely. I recommend following many of them as they lead to additional courtyards with some nice architecture. We had already done quite a bit of walking earlier in the day, so we stayed closer to Harvard Yard didn’t wander over toward the more modern buildings.
People lined up to take a picture with the statue of John Harvard, who helped found the college via a sum of money and his collection of scholarly books when he died of tuberculosis at the age of 30 in 1638. However, since no one knows what John Harvard looked like, it’s not necessarily an accurate representation. I decided I was good and wandered off after only taking pictures of the statue as one person was walking away and the next was walking up to the statue.
After walking around for a while, we all met up again outside of the Memorial Church. There are heavy (but movable) metal chairs and tables on the steps, so we sat under the trees and enjoyed the afternoon breeze as well as the peace and quiet.
Because school was out, I saw very few students. A few did wander by, most of them starry-eyed and idealistic – it appeared their learning and ideas would change the world. Maybe they will? You never know!
Getting to Harvard
It’s hard to give exact directions as there are numerous ways to get to the middle of a city. So here are the GPS coordinates; try to park in the general area: 42.374571890, -71.11757194
More Hikes Around Boston
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