U.S.A. - Massachusetts - Mapcard (3)

Massachusetts.

Sent by Cyd, a postcrosser from Massachusetts, USA.

USA - Massachusetts - Boston - Fenway Park (2)

BOSTON
Fenway Park.

Sent by Jim, a postcrosser from Massachusetts, USA.

USA - Massachusetts - Mapcard (2)

Greetings From Boston, Massachusetts.

Sent by Angela, a postcrosser from Massachusetts, USA.

USA - Massachusetts - U.S.S. Constitution ("Old Ironsides")

U.S.S. CONSTITUTION ("OLD IRONSIDES")
Boston Harbor, Massachusetts
Nicknamed when cannon balls bounced off her oak planking, Old Ironsides was undefeated in 40 historic battles. The ship, built in Boston in 1797, is still a U.S. Navy ship and a living museum of Naval History. Every year on the 4th of July, with decorative flags flying and her cannon booming, the Constitution is towed out into the harbor and turned around to permit even weathering at her permanent dock in Charlestown.

Sent by Dennis, a postcrosser from Los Angeles, USA.

This is from Wikipedia : USS Constitution is a wooden-hulled, three-masted heavy frigate of the United States Navy. Named by President George Washington after the Constitution of the United States of America, she is the world's oldest floating commissioned naval vessel. Launched in 1797, Constitution was one of six original frigates authorized for construction by the Naval Act of 1794 and the third constructed. Joshua Humphreys designed the frigates to be the young Navy's capital ships, and so Constitution and her sisters were larger and more heavily armed and built than standard frigates of the period. Built in Boston, Massachusetts at Edmund Hartt's shipyard, her first duties with the newly formed United States Navy were to provide protection for American merchant shipping during the Quasi-War with France and to defeat the Barbary pirates in the First Barbary War.

Constitution is most famous for her actions during the War of 1812 against Great Britain, when she captured numerous merchant ships and defeated five British warships: HMS Guerriere, Java, Pictou, Cyane and Levant. The battle with Guerriere earned her the nickname of "Old Ironsides" and public adoration that has repeatedly saved her from scrapping. She continued to actively serve the nation as flagship in the Mediterranean and African squadrons, and circled the world in the 1840s. During the American Civil War she served as a training ship for the United States Naval Academy and carried artwork and industrial displays to the Paris Exposition of 1878. Retired from active service in 1881, she served as a receiving ship until designated a museum ship in 1907. In 1931 she started a three year 90-port tour of the nation, and in 1997 she finally sailed again under her own power for her 200th birthday.

Constitution's mission today is to promote understanding of the Navy’s role in war and peace through educational outreach, historic demonstration, and active participation in public events. As a fully commissioned US Navy ship, her crew of 60 officers and sailors participate in ceremonies, educational programs and special events while keeping the ship open to visitors year-round and providing free tours. The officers and crew are all active-duty US Navy personnel and the assignment is considered special duty in the Navy. Traditionally, command of the vessel is assigned to a Navy Commander. She is berthed at Pier 1 of the former Charlestown Navy Yard, at one end of Boston's Freedom Trail.

USA - Massachusetts - Mapcard (1)

THE COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS
Nickname : Bay State
Capital : Boston
From the quiet Berkshire Hills, through bustling Boston, to the sands of Cape Cod, Massachusetts is a vacationer's paradise. The state has interesting historic sites, well kept woodland parks and ocean beaches, superb museums, fine hospitals and universities, excellent restaurants and always more to see and do than almost anyplace else.

Sent by JR from Boston, USA.

USA - Massachusetts - Boston

BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS
This aerial shows the Back Bay area with the Christian Science Church and the Prudential Center.

Sent by Skip from Wareham, Massachusetts.

Boston (pronounced ⁱ/ˈbɒstən/) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Massachusetts, officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts; Boston also serves as county seat of the state's Suffolk County. The largest city in New England, the city proper, covering 48 square miles (125 square km), had an estimated population of 626,000 in 2011, making it the 21st largest city in the United States. The city is the anchor of a substantially larger metropolitan area called Greater Boston, home to 4.5 million people and the tenth-largest metropolitan area in the country. Greater Boston as a commuting region is home to 7.6 million people, making it the fifth-largest Combined Statistical Area in the United States.

One of the oldest cities in the United States, Boston was founded on the Shawmut Peninsula in 1630 by Puritan colonists from England. It was the scene of several key events of the American Revolution, such as the Boston Massacre, the Boston Tea Party, the Battle of Bunker Hill and the Siege of Boston. Through land reclamation and municipal annexation, Boston has expanded beyond the original peninsula. After the coming of American independence the city became an important port and manufacturing center, and a center of education and culture as well. Its rich history helps attract many tourists, with Faneuil Hall alone attracting over 20 million visitors. Boston's many "firsts" include the United States' first public school (1635), and first subway system (1897).

The area's many colleges and universities make Boston an international center of higher education and medicine, leading many to dub the city "The Athens of America", and the city is considered to be a world leader in innovation for a variety of reasons. Boston's economic base also includes finance, professional and business services, and government activities. The city has one of the highest costs of living in the United States, though it remains high on world livability rankings. (Source)

USA - Massachusets - Pirate's Treasure Map of the Massachusetts Coast

Sent by Mary Jones, a postcrosser from Massachusetts, USA.

USA - Massachusetts - The T

Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority, also known as The T.

The T is the fourth busiest subway system in the United States (NYC, Washington DC, Chicago, Boston, San Francisco). The entire system -- which includes subways, buses, ferries, trains and trolleys -- averages over a million passenger trip each weekday.

Note : The Wikipedia says it's the fifth busiest.

Sent by Marti, a postcrosser from Boston, USA.

This is from Wikipedia : The MBTA Commuter Railroad serves as the regional rail arm of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, in the United States. It is operated under contract by the Massachusetts Bay Commuter Railroad Company (MBCR) a joint partnership of Veolia Transportation, Bombardier Transportation and Alternate Concepts, Inc. The current operating contract expires in July 2013.

The commuter rail system is the fifth-busiest commuter rail in the country, after only New York and Chicago area systems. The line's characteristic purple-trimmed coaches run as far south as Providence, Rhode Island, and as far north as Newburyport and as far west as Worcester, both in Massachusetts. The trains have two terminal stops in Boston—South Station and North Station—both transportation hubs offering connections to Amtrak, local bus and subway lines. As of FY2007, daily weekday ridership was 143,700.

USA - Massachusetts - Boston - Fenway Park (1)

Boston's American League baseball park, built in 1912, has a capacity of 34,812. It is known for its close-to-home-plate left field wall. The stadium is located near Kenmore Square convenient to downtown.

The second of the two postcard sent by Gregory of Dorchester in Massachusetts.

This is from Wikipedia : Fenway Park is a baseball park near Kenmore Square in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. It is also home to Boston Red Sox. Located at 4 Yawkey Way, it has served as the home ballpark of the Boston Red Sox baseball club since it opened in 1912, and is the oldest Major League Baseball stadium currently in use. It is the only one of the original standards ballparks that is still in use. It is also the oldest venue used by a professional sports team in the United States.

Because of the ballpark's age and constrained location in an urban neighborhood next to Boston University's large campus, the park has had many renovations and additions over the years not initially envisioned, resulting in unique, quirky features, including "the Triangle", "Pesky's Pole", and most notably the famous Green Monster in left field. Fenway Park is renowned for hosting dedicated Red Sox fans, collectively called "Red Sox Nation". Every Red Sox home game since May 15, 2003, has sold out; in 2008, the park sold out its 456th consecutive Red Sox game, breaking a Major League record.

Fenway Park has also been the site of many other sporting and cultural events, including professional football games for the Boston Redskins and the Boston Patriots, concerts, hockey games, and political campaigns.

USA - Massachusetts - The Zakim Bridge

This exciting new addition to The Boston Skyline has become another important landmark to this area.

Sent by Gregory of Dorchester in Massachusetts.

This is from Wikipedia : The Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge is a cable-stayed bridge across the Charles River in Boston, Massachusetts. It replaced the Charlestown High Bridge when it opened, and is the world's widest cable-stayed bridge. The main portion of the Zakim Bridge carries four lanes each northbound and southbound of the Interstate 93 and U.S. Route 1 concurrency between the Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neill Jr. Tunnel and the elevated highway to the north. Two additional lanes are cantilevered outside the cables, which carry northbound traffic from the Sumner Tunnel and North End on-ramp. These lanes merge with the main highway north of the bridge. I-93 heads toward New Hampshire as the "Northern Expressway" and US 1 splits from the Interstate and travels northeast toward Massachusetts' north shore, crossing the Mystic River via the Tobin Bridge.

The bridge and connecting tunnel were built as part of the Big Dig, the largest highway construction project in the United States. Finished in 2003, the bridge's unique styling quickly became an icon for Boston, often featured in the backdrop of national news channels to establish location, and included on tourist souvenirs. The bridge is commonly referred to as the "Zakim Bridge" and as the "Bunker Hill Bridge" by residents of nearby Charlestown.

The Leverett Circle Connector Bridge was constructed in conjunction with the Zakim Bridge, allowing some traffic to bypass it.