The tree has become a tradition of friendship since 1971

-by Delilah Webb

The Christmas tree on Boston Common is alight once again, a 41-foot White Spruce, and of course it’s on many of our tour routes. The tree is an annual gift from Nova Scotia, commemorating the emergency assistance we sent when a devastating explosion shook Halifax in 1917.

On December 6, 1917, a French cargo ship called the SS Mont-Blanc was
carrying explosives when it collided with the Norwegian SS Imo. This was the largest man-made explosion in human history until the atomic bomb. The ensuing explosions killed over 2,000 people, with 9,000 others injured. Boston authorities immediately dispatched a relief train to Nova Scotia upon learning of the disaster by telegraph. A blizzard delayed the train, but aid arrived the morning of December 8th to distribute food, water, and medical supplies. Here is a snippet from one girl’s story:

Barbara was cut badly and blue from the black rain. One of her tightly laced boots was pulled off. Barbara saw people crying all around her saying, “The Germans are here. The Germans are here.” Barbara corrected them saying a boat had exploded, but no one believed her. Everyone was panicking. Barbara, unable to walk, crawled to her uncle’s house on Gottingen Street. All the homes she passed were collapsed and burning. When she finally arrived, her uncle wasn’t there; however, her aunt, two cousins, and her aunt’s father and mother were there. They asked about Barbara’s family, and she replied by saying, “They’re all gone, there isn’t anybody left.”

This was the largest man-made explosion until wwii.

The following year, the people of Halifax sent a Christmas tree to Boston in thanks and remembrance. In 1971 a private company called Lunenburg County Christmas Tree Producers Association resumed the tradition of donating a tree to Boston each year in order to promote Canadian Christmas tree exports and acknowledge and commemorate Boston’s support. Later, the Nova Scotia government assumed to itself the happy task of sending the tree to Boston.

In a further connection with Boston, the Haligonian tragedy produced an outburst of new medical technology for eye care, just as Boston’s tragic nightclub fire of 1942 – the Cocoanut Grove – produced an outburst of new medical technology for burns care.

-from by Trolley Tour Guide John Young:

“Why cyclists should drive defensively: Exhibit A.”

the actual photo

Here is the actual photograph behind the Garden Statue.  Its significance has been explained in an article by our own sports columnist, Old School.  Visit Old School’s website, the one website dedicated solely to Mixed Martial Arts in the NorthEast (New England and New York).  Old School’s ranking system is used throughout the northeast to determine which fighters will enter the cage with whom.

- by Jay Arr

On December 16th, 1773, the Sons Of Liberty led the colonists against British rule and threw the unfairly taxed British tea into the Boston Harbor.  This “Boston Tea Party” led to the great American Revolution.

re-enactors and joyous rebels aboard ship on Sunday

On December 16th, 2012, I was lucky enough to witness its re-enactment.  It started at about 4pm at the Old South Meeting House.  There I watched a portrayal of the discussions of British rule, the unfairly taxed tea, colonial sedition, and colonists’ rights as free women and men.  It was an impressive show, well acted, and very entertaining.  All of the actresses and actors (volunteer thespians) were well dressed, very historic, and very engaging – especially for the children, who were present in abundance!  It was a lot of fun to watch.

The discussions were led by the re-enactors who provoked audience participation; and after about one hour, the historic meeting was adjourned, and we marched all together from the Old South Meeting House and paraded happily down Congress Street to Fort Point Channel.  Many a “Huzzah” was sung and laughter was heard all around.
From Griffin’s Wharf (aka Russia Wharf), I watched several speeches from the Sons of Liberty, as they cast the tea and boxes into the harbor.  I almost dropped my camera into the harbor from laughter and surprise when I heard a young child yell “America!  Heck Yah!” (except that “h” and “e” were not the first two letter in “heck”).

All in all, this was a great event!  “Huzzah!” I say, and “Good Show!” to all of the producers, cast, and guests of the Boston Tea Party Reenactment.  As a Boston Tour Guide I was proud to feel part of both the Old South Meeting House and the newly rebuilt Boston Tea Party Museum.  When I took the tour of the Tea Party Museum a week ago with fellow tour guide Jon Cotton, I was very impressed, and at the end of the tour,  I felt very proud of my American Heritage.

Despite controversy over the museum’s rebuilding, like the “Big Dig,” I’m glad it’s built.  I think it’s a great addition to our Boston Tourism Community.  One may complain about the price of these tours ($25 and under), but I spent more money in less time for dinner immediately afterward at a nearby restaurant.

In the tour guide world there’s always competition between different companies.  Such is the nature of American Capitalism.  Like I say about all the trolley companies (of which I have no personal affiliation with any), “They are all good for Boston tourism.  However, some reviews are better than others.”

Reporting from the tour guide trenches,
Boston Jay Arr

Segway tour guide Jay Arr

I’m Jay Arr, a Bohemian, a Bostoinian, a huge Art Enthusaist, Writer/Poet, an Entertainer, & Tour Guide.  I give Segway tours and Walking tours of various locations through out the City of Boston.  I love Boston! I think this is a brick by brick city, and every brick has a story.  I know a couple of these stories and I’m always looking to learn more.  I was born in Boston, but I grew up in Orlando, FL.  I began giving tours in the late 90’s for Walt Disney World.  Working for Disney was an amazing experience.  For the first two weeks they dragged me around the park, they made me ride all rides ,they taught me “a chunk” of the history, and they showed me, first hand, the meaning of “Good Customer Service”.  After the tragedy of September 11th, 2001 the tourism and entertainment industry in Orlando suffered a great decline and i was forced to return to Boston for economic reasons.  Since I moved back to Boston I’ve lived, loved, lost, and lived again. In this time, I was lucky enough to play an extra “Orderly # 4″ in the Martin Scorsese/Leonardo DiCaprio film Shutter Island. I’m a big movie “nut”!  I will fast forward my story to about two years ago, when i answered a craigslist add looking for tour guide entertainers.  I’d never road a Segway before I got the job, but since I got the job,  I try to ride everyday that I can.  I’m what they call, a Seqway Enthusiast.  Every time I visit a new city I take the Segway tour.  I think it’s the best way to see a city.  I recommend the Segway tours in Newport, RI & Portsmouth, NH.  I also recommend the the tour Boston By Segway gives, but that recommendation is  biased, for it’s the first place to get me up on a Segway.  It’s so fun!, I describe the feeling as flying on the ground.

In Sept of 2012 I also began giving walking tours, for Urban Adventures, a walking/adventure tour company, I was connected with, through by Boston By Segway.  I love giving tours!  I find it fun it and exciting, meeting different types of people, from all different parts of the world, who came to Boston to go on an adventure. Sometimes that’s with me.  I’m very proud to be part of the Bostontourguide.org.  This website is what Boston tourism needs.  It’s a place to share information,  learn fun facts, learn about new fun things, like The New Boston Tea Party Museum, and master “our” trade.    I’m always looking for ways to improve my tours,  I’m also always  looking for ways to improve our guests tourism experiences.  The more our tour guide community can do for our guests, the better.  This will improve the amount of repeat visitors,  who will have great stories and will tell others about their “Wicked Awesome Boston Adventures!”  These types of results,  will keep us working in our trade, (Entertainment), and also rub our success in the faces of those who say,  “When are you going to get a real job?”

Boston by Segway is the main Segway tour in Boston.  They provide one- and two- hour tours led by “adventure captains” like Jay Arr.  As their website says, “Adventure Captains narrate the tour via an Audio device which allows you to listen in hands free and enjoy the sights at the same time.” Their phone number is (866) 611-9838.  Boston by Segway operates from March 1st to December 15th.
Urban Adventures, a walking/adventure company also operates March 1st to Dec 15th.  There phone number is also (866) 611-9383
Both companies are located in the North End (Little Italiy) at the corner of Hanover and Commercial St)

-In addition to the jobs Jay Arr describes above, he has also volunteered to contribute as a new writer to bostontourguide.org.  Stay tuned for his upcoming articles.

-This is the first of a two-part series on Boston tour guide Jay Arr.  Today’s article introduces him through the eyes of a trolley tour guide.  In tomorrow’s article Jay Arr will tell us about himself in his own words.

-by Jon Cotton

JR has been a tour guide at Boston by Segway for two years.

I first saw Boston tour guide Jay Arr leading his guests single file, like ducklings in a row, down commercial street.  I sidled along, slowly stalking his group (stalking being a habit mentioned previously), I opened the trolley door as I got close, and shouted out, as a stalker might, “Nice Segway!”

He turned, smiling.  He looked at me for a minute, and shouted “Nice trolley.”  I liked him.  Jay Arr embodies the philosophy bostontourguide.org is founded on – that tour guides form a community, should be friendly with each other when we meet in the field.

“Thank you!” I said waving, titters and guffaws from both our groups.  Later we repeated the performance, and now it’s a regular device to make our people laugh each time we meet.  Eventually he offered me a private tour of Boston by Segway.  “Boston by Segway” is also the name of the company Jay Arr works for.  Boston by Segway is located in the North End (Little Italy) on the corner of Hanover and Commercial Street.

Jay Arr was extremely safety conscious and explained in a brief one-on-one training exercise the proper way to operate and maneuver.  Then we went “gliding” through the  streets of Boston, where Jay Arr showed me how to handle obstacles like ramps, bumps, and traffic.  He even showed me how to go down a small set of steps when I asked if the vehicle could handle it.  Although the total drop was perhaps a foot and a half, I emitted a tiny scream as the vehicle glided me peacefully to the ground while Jay Arr instructed and reassured me of my safety.

It was interesting to see the city from the perspective of a tour guide with a different route from mine and a different method of traveling that route.  He could bring me to the end of the Long Wharf where one stands in open relation to the Sea – an experience we trolley guides can’t give.  In Segways you can enter the waterside sanctum of Rowe’s Wharf, and view John Henry’s yacht, and stand under some of the most expensive condominiums in Boston.  (The wharf is named after John Rowe, who owned one of the Tea Party ships (The Eleanor)).  We glided to Fort Point Channel and explored beneath the bridges that trolleys drive over, and into the back alley where Martin Sheen gets thrown from a window in the movie The Departed.

Jay Arr describes himself as

a Bohemian, a Bostoinian, a huge Art Enthusaist, Writer/Poet, an Entertainer, & Tour Guide.

-Come back tomorrow for Jay Arr’s own words, in which he gives a more complete description of himself on bostontourguide.org.