On what turned out to be a gorgeous fall day, I gave this tour for the 3rd and last time this year. Most of the people on the tour were fellow Boston By Foot guides and they burst into applause at the end. As we head into winter, accolades from other guides buoyed my spirits like nothing else could.

I’m excited to give walking tours anytime, but especially for the Boston Book Festival! I’m leading Literary Mini-Tours starting at 1 pm and 3 pm. Meet me in front of the Palace for the People (aka the Boston Public Library) for a 45-minute stroll through writerly history!

What a hilariously stupid account. Mayor Thomas Peacock of Quincy! Ha! The multi-term mayor is Tom Koch, as any self-respecting AI bot should know.

I was very delighted to see the Copley Square farmers market yesterday on a quick sojourn. Tuesdays and Fridays for a few more weeks!

I'm attending the premier and panel discussion for this film about the historic Allen School in Newton. Can't wait! @hubhistory.com I think you would enjoy this! www.westnewtoncinema.com/movie/an-unc...

I’m back at it! Join me tomorrow for a walk through time in Boston!

I’ve been giving walking tours in Boston for 19 years (and hanging around near Faneuil Hall, the Blackstone Block, and Haymarket for a lot longer than that). And yesterday was the 1st time I noticed this 100-year-old plaque at 16 North St. about the unsung hero of 1775, William Dawes. #midnightride

Welcome, October!

Thursday, Oct 2 at 5 pm: Boston’s Chinatown! It’s one of the city’s smallest yet most vibrant neighborhoods. Explore one of the few surviving Chinatowns on the east coast with us! Register: bostonbyfoot.org/tours/boston... #ThingsToDoInBoston #walking #history

This a classic “only in Boston” event. Does Boston have cliffs? No, she does not. Is Boston the only North American stop on the global Red Bull Cliff Diving competition circuit ? Yes, she is. Come watch people jump off a building into the harbor! It’s amazing.

Today, on the 85th Anniversary of the Battle of Britain, Old North's Congregation helped honour the 10 Americans who fought in the Royal Air Force (RAF) and Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) forces during this battle, the first military campaign fought entirely in the air.

This Saturday 9/13 at 1:30 pm, join me for Boston Reborn: After the Great Fire of 1872. This Boston By Foot tour is inside the 65-acre footprint of the fire. We’ll see what replaced the buildings that were destroyed. Details and tickets: bostonbyfoot.org/tours/boston...

Tonight, I am leading Road to the Vote, a @bostonbyfoot.bsky.social walking tour about Boston women in the suffrage movement. It’s the 105th anniversary of Tennessee’s ratification of the 19th Amendment, with a little nudge from an activist mom: www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/202...

I accomplished a long-time goal last week by visiting Orchard House, just a 25-minute drive from where I live. It was my first visit but won’t be my last! Seeing the place where Louisa May Alcott wrote Little Women was inspiring and poignant. #louisamayalcott #orchardhouse #concordma

New post up on my Substack, Woman Walking! Seize the last of summer days and make some August adventures in Boston. open.substack.com/pub/michele7...

Upcoming Boston By Foot tours and cruises I’m leading! -Architecture Cruise 10 am Aug. 16, Aug. 29, Sep. 7 -Road to the Vote, Aug. 18, 5:30 pm -Road to Revolution, Aug. 31, 10 am - Boston Reborn: After the Great Fire of 1872 - Sep. 13, 1:30 pm, Oct. 4, 11 am, Nov. 9, 11:30 am Tix: bostonbyfoot.org

I was in heaven yesterday, also known as the Radcliffe Quad (Harvard Radcliffe Institute in Cambridge)

Keys to giving walking tours to children: end on time; ask questions to activate imagination; touch buildings; enjoy the funny things they say. #womanwalking #lifeofatourguide

I’m leading this tour tomorrow, come join me!

The always-inspiring Shaw-54th Regiment Memorial still had flowers on it from the anniversary of the July 18, 1863 battle at Fort Wagner, SC, when I visited Sunday. Seeing the mini-bio of St. Gaudens, the sculptor, made me wonder what other such works have this kind of information. Few, I think!

Reflecting on my first years as a walking tour guide, as the country struggled with the effects of the Great Recession. open.substack.com/pub/michele7...

Arrived downtown early for my tour. The park at One Post Office Square and this bench are nearly irresistible, but duty calls! It’s so gorgeous out! #lovelyday #lifeofatourguide #Boston @bostonbyfoot.bsky.social

Trying something new over on Substack. I just can't express it all on a social media post! Check out Woman Walking for my adventures as a walking tour guide and lover of history, books, art, and architecture. michele706559.substack.com?r=kymtg&utm_...

My next few tours for Boston By Foot tell two sides of the story of the American Revolution. On July 19 or July 27, join me for Boston’s Loyalists. On July 26, walk in the footsteps of patriots on the Road to Revolution. Register: bostonbyfoot.org/tours/boston... bostonbyfoot.org/tours/road-t...

Millions of Americans know the pain and hardship of getting a cancer diagnosis. That’s a misfortune, a terrible misfortune. Voting for a tax scheme designed to rip health care from millions of Americans struggling to make ends meet? That’s not a misfortune, that’s an injustice.

Excited to be in London this week for INTERFLAM 2025, a fire protection engineering conference at the Royal Holloway College of the University of London. The campus boasts the 1880s Founders Building and many women’s suffrage acknowledgments. We enjoyed cask ale at the Red Lion in nearby Egham.

Followed this adorable buggy across the Charles in Needham-Newton earlier this afternoon.

Spent Sunday morning at Newport Flower Show at the Rosecliff mansion. Delightful! #NewEngland #summahvibes #Newport

Have you ever heard of the Fragment Society? I learned about it when studying to give a @bostonbyfoot.bsky.social tour, Working Women: Boston Women Find Their Voice. You can join me Saturday, June 7 at 11 am to learn about it, too! Register ahead: bostonbyfoot.org/tours/boston...

What a difference a docent can make! On an art history tour in Barcelona, we visited the Joan Miró Foundation and our guide opened up a world for us. The building is by Josep Luis Sert, and the museum envisioned as a place for the people of Barcelona. #arthistory #Barcelona #docent

An art-oriented visit to Catalonia would be incomplete without a Dalí day. We travelled northeast to his hometown of Figueres to view his theater-museum and on to his hideaway in Cadaqués along the sea. #arthistory #catalonia #spain

More Gaudí from my recent trip to Spain: Casa Vicens. Once a summer home in a sleepy part of Barcelona, it is now hemmed in with dense development. Its beauty has been preserved carefully.

If someone has heard of Barcelona architecture, they have heard of Gaudí. His Parc Güell and Sagrada Familia are great examples of his singular style.

I’m back home from a wonderful 10-day art history tour in Barcelona and Madrid. Our Barcelona hotel was a work of Art Nouveau splendor. Meandering through the nearby Gothic Quarter revealed treasures including a well-preserved colonnade from a Roman temple. #art #history #spain #travel

I went on the excellent @bostonbyfoot.bsky.social walking tour Boston Reborn: After the Great Fire of 1872 earlier this week. Volunteer guide Harry Friedman researched and wrote this fascinating tour. Here he is showing us the (replaced) fire box that sent the alarm; rebuilt and saved structures.

Timing for tomorrow’s tour just might see the end of the rain! Register now for Road to the Vote, a #BostonByFoot tour developed in partnership with the Boston Women’s Heritage Trail. Starts 1:30 pm May 10: bostonbyfoot.org/tours/road-t... #history #walking #Boston #women

My azaleas are bonkers beautiful, about a week or so ahead of season. Fleeting fabulousness!

Super excited to give this tour tomorrow. This is my 19th year of giving tours with @bostonbyfoot.bsky.social - and the learning it affords me continues to be a source of joy in my life.

In a few minutes I’ll be talking on the radio with Dan Rea about Wildfire Community Preparedness Day coming up on May 3. wbznewsradio.iheart.com/featured/nig...

Speaking today at the Metro Fire Chiefs conference on wildfire preparedness and home safety.

I made a quick visit to DC midweek for work and encountered the Bartholdi Fountain on the grounds of the US Botanic Garden. I love accidental #historychicksfieldtrip adventures! Bartholdi designed the Statue of Liberty, the subject of episode 108 of @thehistorychicks.bsky.social podcast!

My love(s) and me in New Orleans

Visiting New Orleans this weekend and went to the incomparable Historic New Orleans Collection, a small museum space in the French Quarter. The exhibit Making it Home: From Vietnam to New Orleans commemorates 50 years since the fall of Saigon, and the subsequent refugee resettlement in NOLA.

It was cold and wet for my tour yesterday, but a friend coming along made all the difference. Post-tour coffee and breakfast sammie at Cobblestones in Charles Street was the perfect way to warm up and revive!

The snow…oops…the SHOW must go on! On my first tour of 2025, we’ll #walk through the North Slope neighborhood of Beacon Hill and discuss the Black writers who influenced society’s view of slavery and who advocated for the civil rights. @bostonbyfoot.bsky.social bostonbyfoot.org/tours/black-...

Happy birthday to one of my history crushes, Robert Smalls!

Super excited for this! My upcoming public walking tours include Black Voices: Writers for a 19th Century Revolution on April 12; Slavery and Abolition in Massachusetts on May 4, Road to the Vote on May 10, and Working Women: Boston Women Find Their Voice on June 7. #history #Boston #walking

I’m joining this tour on April 12 to learn more. This tiny section of Boston is packed with history and has special nostalgia for my family (one of my dad’s first jobs was at a cinema in the Theater District in the early 1950s). #history #walking #lifelonglearning

My bouquet from the supermarket giving Audrey II vibes. The lily is bigger than my face! Super pretty even if a bit scary.

This seems like something @thehistorychicks.bsky.social and their fans would love (I know I do!). #womenshistory