23 Friday Sep 2022
Posted in History of Boston
Met some friends downtown today who heard of our tours through another fine Christian organization in Plymouth, MA who likes to talk about the faith of the Separatist Pilgrims who founded our nation in the early 17th century. I am very happy that we keep giving each other pilgrim business. Today’s pilgrims opted for both my tours back to back (a first in the history of the company!) Book now while the extreme cold holds off and a walking tour is still pleasant.
22 Saturday Nov 2014
Posted in Boston's Diverse Religious Heritage
Proud to say I am scheduled to give my first ever post-Thanksgiving tour to a group of hearty mid-westerners who wish not only to visit the land of the pilgrim fathers at Plimoth, but the land of the Puritan fathers in Boston.
Email me privately if you want to tag along for the last, but not least tour of the season… I think.
22 Friday Aug 2014
Posted in History of Boston
Want to give a shout out to the Partnership of the Historic Bostons and their yearly events around the anniversary of the founding of Boston, MA, otherwise known as Charter Day, every September 7. Go to their website and RSVP for some of these great tours yourself.
I went last year myself, and found it very inspiring. Our city is very good about remembering its past in the American Revolution. But we need to be equally vigilant in remembering the Pilgrim Fathers, for better or for worse, in their equally important struggle for spiritual and political freedom.
13 Sunday Jul 2014
Posted in History of Boston
Did the Faith-based Freedom Trail today with a brand new look. Dropped the wig because Puritans overall hate long hair. Still puzzled as to why Eliot appears in all pictures with long hair. It is definitely not a wig, as he is on record as hating those. My theory is that his long, natural reddish brown hair is in solidarity with the native peoples of Massachusetts. At any rate, my costume is more general 17th century Pilgrim/Puritan. It came off well to be wearing a uniform, even when I was not portraying Eliot. I’ll definitely do it again. Continue reading
30 Sunday Jun 2013
Posted in History of Boston
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June 13/30, Feast of St. Botolph (Old Style)
Abbot and Confessor, of Ikanhoe, England (+680)
Patron saint of all Travelers,
Boston, England (founded 654)
Boston, Massachusetts (founded 1630)
and Patron of Botolph’s Town Tours (founded 2013)
In a society increasingly alienated from religion, among a people who more and more identify themselves as SBNR (spiritual, but not religious), why launch a tour company specifically dedicated to speaking of faith? After all, has not science proved faith irrelevant at best and recent fundamentalist expressions of faith proved it downright dangerous at worst?
But faith is the narrative of the people who first built the two cities of Boston (literally “Botolph’s Town” elided together into Bo’s-To’n). If we are going to properly understand how our fair American city of Botolph began, we have to engage at some degree with this narrative. Faith, especially Christian faith, was the reason for the original pilgrim fathers to flee Boston, England, to come to the New World, and to settle here permanently. Faith was the center not only of their spiritual life, but of their whole community.
And it remains the center of our city to this day. Though the number of people non-affiliated with any church or religion is growing nationally, Boston over the past several decades has been celebrating a bit of a quiet revival, with the population remaining around 600,000 and the total number of churches increasing by over 100. It is this kind of spiritual life and vitality that we wish to reveal in our faith-based tours, not just the historic faith of the founding fathers. For the Christ that St. Botolph confessed is alive and well in His Church and reveals Himself in many unexpected ways.
Come take a tour with us and perhaps you too can become a pilgrim!
Boston Pilgrim Tours 