Missing the pins
So, the city has just launched this sweet Visit the Pin initiative.
The campaign involves putting 12-foot-high red pins - like the ones you might stick on a map - in spots around the city, and encouraging locals to visit them.
The aim is to show Bostonians all of the fun stuff they can do here this summer and to make them proud of their city.
It's a good idea. With gas prices ridiculously high, a lot of people are opting for staycations this year. And the city's businesses could certainly use their cash.
The problem is, the list of spots City Hall has chosen for those giant pins is a bit of a bore.
Boston Common. Faneuil Hall. The Aquarium. Copley Square. Franklin Park Zoo. Christopher Columbus Park. City Hall Plaza.
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
Now, I've got nothing against these sights. I've had wonderful experiences in many of them, alongside the tourists from Boise and Belgium. Heck, I even love City Hall - which makes one of me.
But there are a lot of other pin-worthy places beyond the tiny sliver of the city that makes its way onto the tourist maps. And they're just as beautiful and interesting as the old reliables. And they could use some attention.
For example:
Forest Hills Cemetery. Designed in 1848, it's a lush garden and a culture maven's dream. Eugene O'Neill and e.e. cummings are buried there, and contemporary sculptures dot the grounds. Its meandering paths trace through 275 acres of green space, and bikes and dogs are welcome. It's in Jamaica Plain, close to the zoo and Franklin Park, and it's a dreamy place for a picnic.
There are lots of lovely harbor islands, but none of them comes close to Deer Island in my book. Land! Sea! Waste treatment! This place has killer views of the city and the planes landing at Logan, long paths along the water, and a dozen huge, gorgeous digester domes. Nature's nice, but here you can also see where all of your waste ends up. It's truly fascinating, and it doesn't even smell.
John Eliot Square, at the intersection of Roxbury and Dudley streets in Roxbury, is a one-stop tour of local architecture through the centuries, starting with the Dillaway-Thomas House, built as a parsonage in 1750, and used as a camp by General John Thomas during the Siege of Boston. Then you have First Church, built in 1804; the Norfolk House building, from the mid-19th century; the curved Cox building, from 1870; the Art Deco Timilty Middle School; and Marcus Garvey Gardens, built in 1980. A park next to the Dillaway-Thomas House has lovely views of the city. Eat there or head down to Dudley Square for a seat at the Silver Slipper or the Haley House Bakery Café.
The Madonna Shrine, in East Boston. There are great spots all over East Boston, an enormously diverse magnet for new arrivals to the city. But here in Orient Heights, you have a kitschy 35-foot copper and bronze Madonna, set in a tranquil plaza, and it is truly something to behold.
Lower Mills in Dorchester positively oozes old New England quaint. It comes complete with wide streets, kids playing on sidewalks, a dam on the Neponset River, a beautiful new bike path, lovingly restored historic buildings, antiques, and ice cream.
Other places that deserve pins: Castle Island in Southie, a pretty, bustling heaven on summer evenings. The elaborate gardens in The Fens. The immense, tranquil Arnold Arboretum in Jamaica Plain. Stony Brook Reservation in West Roxbury and Hyde Park, where you can hike, bike, or fish in Turtle Pond.
And on it goes.
Boise and Belgium might not hit these spots, but you live here, and you know Boston goes well beyond the Frog Pond and Quincy Market.
City officials couldn't put pins everywhere, of course. But they could have been more adventurous with some of them.
Just because they weren't doesn't mean we shouldn't be.
Yvonne Abraham is a Globe columnist. Her e-mail address is abraham@globe.com
