Literary Landmarks - Tribute to Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes August 30, 2008

"A person is always startled when he hears himself called old for the first time." Well, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. turns 199 on August 29! Join us for a tribute to Dr. Holmes on a walking tour of Boston's literary landmarks. "It's faith in something and enthusiasm for something that makes a life worth living."

A physician and author, his contributions ranged from controlling contagious diseases to poems and essays published in the Atlantic Monthly. Holmes is also remembered for his pithy quotations and coining the names Old Ironsides and anesthesia. Holmes was known as one of the Fireside Poets alongside Longfellow, Bryant, Whittier and Lowell.

Boston was the most important literary center in the United States and home to many of America's greatest writers. Our literary tour highlights the homes and haunts of such great Victorians as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry David Thoreau, Louisa May Alcott, Henry James, Charles Dickens, and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Individually, they were writers and poets without peer. Collectively, they made Boston the epicenter of American Letters.

"The great thing in this world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving." On this walk, that direction will be toward the Hub of the solar system.

Tickets are $12 ($8 children and free for Boston By Foot members). The tour meets outside the Borders Bookstore on the corner of Washington & School Streets. Arrive 10 minutes before the tour begins to purchase tickets directly from your guide. Tours are offered rain or shine.

Official Website: http://www.bostonbyfoot.org/tours/Literary_Landmarks