Today's weather vane was photographed in Boston, Massachusetts.
Do you know the location of weathervane post #356? Scroll down to find the answer.
This weathervane is located on the cupola above the Old
State House, 102 feet above the intersection of Washington Street and State
Street in Boston, Massachusetts. This old
building was built in 1713 by the Province of Massachusetts Bay’s Royal Governor
Joseph Dudley. This was a government,
and governor appointed by the British crown.
That is why you can see the symbols of the monarchy, the lion and the
unicorn, at the front of the building. Today, this building houses a museum run by
the Bostonian Society, and the basement is the State Street subway stop on the
blue and orange lines.
This historic weathervane may have been made by Boston
coppersmith Shem Drowne, but it has never been proven to be attributed to
him. [To see four other weathervanes made by
Shem Drowne, who is my family tree, see these links: Faneuil Hall, Old North Church, the Museum of Fine Art, and the
Cambridge First Church]. In 2008 the cupola was restored and the
weathervane was re-gilded. When the weathervane
was being restored, it was examined by Myrna Kaye, the author of the 1975 book Yankee
Weathervanes. Her findings can
be read at this webpage: http://oldstatehouseweathervane.blogspot.com/2008/06/what-we-learned.html A slide show, with photos of the re-gilding
process on the weathervane, can be seen at this link: http://archive.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/gallery/Old_State_House_repair?pg=2
This weathervane is the "swallow tail" or “long-john” style of banner (with two
long tails) that was popular in the 18th century. Shem
Drowne’s weathervane on top of the Old North Church is also in the “long johns”
style. There are several weathervanes in
this part of Boston, including ones at Faneuil Hall (a grasshoppen) and Quincy
Market (a bull), because the waterfront used to be right in this part of
downtown. Weathervanes were useful for
shipping, navigation, and weather forecasting.
Click here to see all the Weathervane Wednesday posts!
https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/search/label/Weathervane%20Wednesday
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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, “Weathervane Wednesday ~ A Boston
Landmark”, Nutfield Genealogy, posted March 28, 2018, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2018/03/weathervane-wednesday-boston-landmark.html: accessed [access date]).
Informative and interesting Blog! Beautifully written, as usual, I like the post. Thank you so much for nice sharing with us. Keep posting!
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