With so much attention in Boston's history focused on Puritans and revolutionaries, it's easy to forget that the City has also had a fraught relationship with sex work almost since its founding. What do we actually know, however, about the daily lives of nineteenth-century Boston sex workers? Boston University historical archaeologist Jade Luiz will discuss how the artifacts recovered from a North End brothel privy shed light on what life inside a nineteenth-century brothel might have been like for the women working there, the madam running it, and the male customers visiting.

The Alibi Bar & Lounge, 215 Charles Street, site of the “Drunk Tank” at the Charles Street Jail is the venue for this unique presentation. This is a free event, but purchase of food and beverage is expected. Seating is limited and reservation is required.

Learn from Kathy Kottaridis of Historic Boston Inc. about the ongoing efforts to green and revitalize Columbia Road, Dorchester, and the City as a whole. Then listen in as entrepreneur, Dorchester native, and local history activist Noah Hicks shares his behind-the-scenes story of the Upham’s Corner 1912 Comfort Station and its upcoming transformation into Sip & Spoke Bike Kitchen.

This stucco and tile “mission style” building, adjacent to the historic Dorchester North Burying Ground, was built over a century ago to support Boston’s expanding streetcar system, and has been unused since 1977. Today, Historic Boston Inc. is repurposing the comfort station to help preserve and tell the story of Dorchester’s urbanization and transportation growth in the early 20th century. This building will soon house Sip & Spoke, a neighborhood business and gathering place featuring bicycle repair services and cappuccinos! Hear how the rehabilitation of this historic building promises to contribute to an ongoing urban renaissance.

Selections from CONCRETE VISIONS, a 2016 exhibit at Boston Architectural College that examined how a "New Boston" was created in the 1960s after decades of stagnation. For Preservation Month 2018, we are highlighting Boston City Hall's design competition, awarded in May 1962 and completed (50 years ago) in 1968. The competition allowed "innovative and untested architects" to land a major commission. The materials on display include:

• panels on the eight finalists that lost out to the design by Kallmann, McKinnell and Knowles
• a City Hall timeline excerpt
• several publications including Heroic: Concrete Architecture and the New Boston.

Curated by Mark Pasnik and Chris Grimley, of architecture office over,under and authors of Heroic.

Also on view in the lobby: beautiful large scale photographs of seven Boston Landmarks by commissioner Steve Dunwell.

On display 9-5 in Boston City Hall lobby and mezzanine public spaces during the month of May.

The building was designed by a young architectural team who, over 255 other entries, won the chance to build a new city hall in an innovative 1962 international design competition.

We'll have on display an exhibit of architectural design materials illustrating how Boston City Hall was created. The Boston Landmarks Commission Open House offers a fresh look at the building’s architecture, shows off the lobby's recent, well-done updates to lighting and visitor access, along with insight into a recent master planning process to Rethink City Hall.

Join Lauren Prescott, executive director of the South End Historical Society, as she discusses her new book, "Boston’s South End," and talks about the history of the neighborhood.

The tour includes the ancestral home of the Dole Pineapple Company founder, as well as the homes of progressives who were active as abolitionists and women suffragists.

/*-->*/

Please note: the tour will be canceled in the case of heavy rain.

After decades spent underground beneath a parking lot, a portion of the Muddy River has been "daylighted" once again. Hear the story of how river and parkland were reclaimed and how the vision of Frederick Law Olmsted’s is being restored for the 21^st century.

Meet at REI, Landmark Center, 401 Park Drive, Boston, MA 02215
Free and open to the public.  

Bring a refillable water bottle and wear comfortable walking shoes.
Call 617-522-2700 for more information.
Tours are canceled for rain. Visit www.emeraldnecklace.org for late-breaking schedule updates.

The site of the Charlestown Navy Yard has played many roles in its nearly 250-year history. Landing site of the British Army during the Battle of Bunker Hill, then a naval facility building warships for the US Navy. National Park Service tour.

The site of the Charlestown Navy Yard has played many roles in its nearly 250-year history. Landing site of the British Army during the Battle of Bunker Hill, and then a naval facility building warships for the US Navy.

This is a National Park Service tour.

The site of the Charlestown Navy Yard has played many roles in its nearly 250-year history. The landing site of the British Army during the Battle of Bunker Hill, then a naval facility building warships for the US Navy. This is a National Park Service tour.

/*-->*/

The tour will be canceled in the event of heavy rain.