My Favorite Place in Boston...

I've been all over this city, and I still have so much more to see. I've eaten at some of the greatest restaurants, I've had my share of cocktails at some of the funnest bars, and over my lifetime, I've seen almost all the museums and landmarks of this city. But my absolute favorite part of Boston has nothing to do with it's amazing nightlife, fine cuisine, or historic qualities. My favorite part of Boston is just one of the many quirks in this quaint little town, just another example of how surprising secrets await in every nook and cranny.


Tucked away along the winding roads of Downtown Boston, the granite edifice of 45 School Street whispers secrets of its days as the City Courthouse and Town Hall in the 19th Century. It's massive wooden doors overlook a tiny, fenced-in courtyard where glistening statues of such inspiration figures as Benjamin Franklin and Josiah Quincy stand proud, boasting Boston's influential past. But the building is not at all what I'm interested in. Hidden away in a corner of the Old City Hall's courtyard, something else caught my eye. A small, bronze donkey. Given Massachusetts’s liberal history, this didn't surprise me. I liked it, though, and I found myself drawn closer to explore further. There, in front of the statue, two bronze footprints are imprinted in the ground, facing the donkey. Within those footprints, two elephants are carved. And below them, this phrase is written: "Stand in opposition."

I love it.


It's just one of those things. It's fun. It's interesting. And it's one of Boston's secrets that I'm so happy I stumbled upon.


A little history on elephants & donkeys (FYI):

The donkey came to be the Democratic Party's symbol in 1828, when Andrew Jackson ran for president with the slogan, "Let the people rule." His opponents thought him to be ridiculous and called him a "jackass." Rather than crumble into defeat, Jackson embraced his nickname and used it to his advantage by printing a donkey on his campaign posters. As the years passed, the donkey became the accepted symbol of the Democratic Party and was embraced by all of Boston's Democratic mayors.

The elephant originated in the artwork of Harper's Weekly cartoonist Thomas Nast on November 7, 1874. The New York Herald that year inspired fear into the nation by crying "Caesarism" in relation to a third presidential term of Ulysses S. Grant, and at the same time conducted a hoax, now known as the Central Park Menagerie Scare, by publishing a fictional story claiming the animals of the zoo had escaped and were roaming free in Central Park in search of prey. Nast, amused by the Herald's antics, created a cartoon depicting an ass (symbolizing the Herald) wearing a lion's skin (the scary prospect of Caesarism) frightening away the animals in the forest (Central Park), including an elephant (the Republican vote - not necessarily the party itself). The caption quoted a familiar fable: "An ass having put on a lion's skin roamed about in the forest and amused himself by frightening all the foolish animals he met within his wanderings." After the election, when the Republicans did so poorly, Nast created a cartoon showing the elephant in a trap, illustrating the way the Republican vote had been lured away from its normal allegiance.