Got this in the mail today, looks interesting if you got the time you should check it out.

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Saturday, Jan. 30, 2010
12:00 Noon
Dudley Branch Library

“Stop the Highway” – the campaign that successfully halted the proposed ‘Inner Belt’ of Interstate Highway 95 that would have cut through towns from Concord to Boston and would have destroyed hundreds of homes and businesses in Roxbury. Many were displaced before a coalition of organized communities brought the plan to a halt.

Today’s Orange Line, Melnea Cass Blvd, Malcolm X Blvd, and many other changes are in place as a result of the organizing and leadership activities of Roxbury citizens and the Black United Front.

This is Roxbury’s recent history – that some never knew or heard of. Hear — and contribute to — this first of a 3-part series in the documentation of Roxbury’s role in shaping national policy on transportation and community planning.

Part One January 30 with Chuck Turner

Part Two February 27 with Leonard Durant

Part Three April 3 with Leonard Durant

Here is a photo of what was the plan for the intersection of Ruggles and
Tremont: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ferriswheelsbikeshop/4313240361/

Scary!

Yesterday was Halloween, so I donned my pirate socks and joined in the annual Tour de Grave (sponsored by MassBike.)

It was a pretty long ride, hitting ten destinations around the Boston and Cambridge areas in total. There were over 30 riders of varying skill levels, and the going was paced to be able to keep everyone more or less grouped together. There were some challenging hills in Brookline which caused a little trouble for some, but for the most part the ride was interesting and educational. Somewhere between 20 and 30 miles was covered over the course of about five hours (!!!) with a good deal of that time spent actually in burying ground perimeters learning about each of the sites.

The places we hit were (in order) the Old Burying Ground (Cambridge,) King’s Chapel Burying Ground (Boston,) Granary Burying Ground (Boston,) Central Burying Ground (Boston,) South End Burying Ground (South End,) Eliot Burying Ground (Roxbury,) Evergreen Cemetery (Brighton,) Market Street Burying Ground (Brighton,) Cambridge Cemetery (Cambridge,) and finally the Mt. Auburn Cemetery (Cambridge.) The tour guide took a little time at each stop to explain some details about famous people buried in each place, what the practices for burial and treatment of the dead were at the time, some religious and political history to tie things together, and as we continued from one location to the next he presented a progression of the changes in the treatment of the deceased changed the entire style of human burials.

The tour was quite informative and was too much to keep all in my head, so fortunately a handout was available which provides the “readers digest” version of everything.

I experimented with using my phone to take pictures this ride, in part because it looks decent enough (as long as the lens is clean and I hold steady when I take a shot) and also because the pictures are automatically tagged with the location (which I had to fix in a few cases.) Without further ado, here are my (not so very spooky) pictures of the Tour de Grave:

Got this in the email, looks like fun

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Tune up your bikes and come for one more ride around Roxbury. On today’s ride we’ll visit Roxbury’s four Main Streets programs, hear their directors explain why each is unique, and receive recommendations on places to eat and shop. Our tour will begin in Grove Hall and travel through the foliage of Franklin Park to emerge at Egleston Square. From there we’ll bike along the Southwest Corridor Park to Mission Hill and then finish our ride in Dudley Square. The 4-mile ride is open to bikers of all skill levels, but HELMETS ARE REQUIRED.

Co-presented with the Franklin Park Coalition.

Saturday, October 17, 10am-12pm. Limit 20 people. Weather permitting.
Free with RSVP to info@discoverroxbury.org.
The tour meets at the park next to the Flames restaurant in Grove Hall, 469 Blue Hill Ave.

Got this in the email today looks pretty interesting.

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6/27: Bicycle Tour of Roxbury

Dillaway Thomas House, Eliot Square, Roxbury
June 27, 11am-1pm FREE with RSVP

RSVP to info@discoverroxbury.org

RSVP REQUIRED!

Helmets are required.
Limit 20 people. Enrollment closes Thursday, June 25.
Tour departs Roxbury Heritage State Park/DCR (directions) at 11am.

Ride to the southern reaches of Roxbury through historic neighborhoods, Franklin Park, and the Forest Hills Cemetery. Begin in Colonial Roxbury with a ride to the top of Fort Hill for a view of the surrounding area. On the way to Franklin Park, ride past Malcolm X’s former home and the Museum of the National Center of Afro-American Artists. In Franklin Park the tour will visit old stone ruins where Duke Ellington performed and another view of the area from Schoolmaster Hill, where Ralph Waldo Emerson once lived. After a stop for lunch at the clubhouse, we will continue into Forest Hills Cemetery, which was originally created as a public cemetery by the Mayor of Roxbury in 1848. During our visit, we will make a stop at the Chapel and see some of the more interesting gravesites. The tour will return to Roxbury Crossing via the Southwest Corridor Park.

A new bike group is being started to work on improving conditions for bicycling in southwest Boston. The first meeting of RozzieBikes, centered on Roslindale, on Wednesday, October 22, at 7:00 pm at 28 Sheffield Road #1, just off Walter Street near the intersection of South Street. Refreshments will be provided. People from West Roxbury and Hyde Park are welcome, too.

For further information, contact Doug Mink, dmink@masspaths.net

ArtROX!, the 10th annual Roxbury Open Studios is this weekend, October 4-5, 11am-6pm.

This year Discover Roxbury and ACT Roxbury are jointly promoting new self-guided bike routes. There are 5 routes of various difficulty ranging from 2 miles to 8 miles.

click here for a poster of the event (sorry image is too big to fit on the page)

Although the routes are short in length, each presents a combination of group shows and individual artist studios highlighting artists working in various disciplines. The routes also cross each other in different parts of the neighborhood allowing riders to combine routes and create their own itineraries.

Visit www.roxburyopenstudios.org and click on the “New in 2008″ tab to view
the routes and see a list of sites along the way.

Got this in the mail today, it costs 10 smackers, but looks like a good time.

Pianos to Pints

A Bike Tour of Roxbury and Jamaica Plain

Saturday, September 13th, 10am-12pm, $10. On September 13, Discover Roxbury
will launch its fall tour series with a bike tour along the Southwest
Corridor Park that will examine the hidden industrial history of Roxbury
and Jamaica Plain. Participants will see how Boston’s once-thriving
breweries and factories have found new lives and learn how community
protest stopped I-95 from being built through both neighborhoods. The tour
begins at the Piano Factory and travels along the route of the Orange Line
to Roxbury Crossing, through the heart of the former brewery district, and
ends at the former Sturtevant Factory in Jamaica Plain.

The tour is 2.5 miles along mostly flat ground. Beginners are welcome. The
tour is weather permitting and is limited to 20 participants. All
participants must bring and wear a bike helmet. The event is co-sponsored
by the Jamaica Plain Historical Society.

Tickets for the tour can be purchased on the Discover Roxbury website at
www.discoverroxbury.org. Riders will meet in front of the Piano Factory at
791 Tremont St at 10am.

Discover Roxbury is a non-profit organization based in Eliot Square,
Roxbury. The organization is currently celebrating its 5th year of
promoting cultural tourism and the economic revitalization of Roxbury. We
offer a regular series of tours and events highlighting the arts, culture,
and historic assets of Roxbury, from the colonial period to the present
day.

For more information or to schedule an interview, contact the Discover
Roxbury office: 617-427-1006, info@discoverroxbury.org,
www.discoverroxbury.org.