06/26/17 - Day 84 - Boston, MA - JFK Museum & Fort Independence
Took a trip to South Boston to visit the JFK Presidential Library & Museum.
Completed in 1979, it's the official repository for original papers and correspondence of the Kennedy Administration. The exhibitions cover the campaign, election, inauguration, administration, assassination, and ongoing legacy of JFK. It's not a terribly large museum but I thought it was well done. I particularly liked the effort to recreate scenes from the time period that included original or recreated material. For example, some of the video footage from that period was displayed on the TV sets available at the time.
Recreation of the television stage used for the Kennedy / Nixon debate
Recreation of the election night results coverage TV studio
The museum includes some exhibits of events that took place during his presidency, such as the space race, the Cold War, and the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.
Machines used to establish a hot line between the US and USSR following the Cuban Missile Crisis
The Treaty
They also recreated the oval office during JFK's presidency
The coverage of the assassination was pretty stark. It consisted of a dimly lit black hallway with a few small TV monitors constantly playing a loop of the news flashes describing the shooting and footage from the funeral procession. The hallway leads to the legacy section where JFK's ongoing impact is featured.
While I was visiting the museum had a special display celebrating JFK's 100th birthday anniversary. It was a collection of 100 pieces of JFK themed memorabilia. Some of it was fairly pedestrian, like a tie clip or hair comb he previously used. Some of them were more interesting, such as the hat and gloves worn during the inauguration, or the bizarre garden gnomes shown below.
Outside the building, JFK's sailboat, Victura, is on display.
After the museum closed I decided to walk back towards the center of downtown, passing by Fort Independence in the process.
The fort was closed when I got to it. There were still a lot of people out enjoying the day.
The fort is just across the bay from Logan International airport, so there was a pretty good view of the planes coming and going.
I eventually made my way back to the city center to take the train home. It was quite a long walk, but I had the time.
Completed in 1979, it's the official repository for original papers and correspondence of the Kennedy Administration. The exhibitions cover the campaign, election, inauguration, administration, assassination, and ongoing legacy of JFK. It's not a terribly large museum but I thought it was well done. I particularly liked the effort to recreate scenes from the time period that included original or recreated material. For example, some of the video footage from that period was displayed on the TV sets available at the time.
Recreation of the television stage used for the Kennedy / Nixon debate
Recreation of the election night results coverage TV studio
The museum includes some exhibits of events that took place during his presidency, such as the space race, the Cold War, and the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.
Machines used to establish a hot line between the US and USSR following the Cuban Missile Crisis
The Treaty
They also recreated the oval office during JFK's presidency
The coverage of the assassination was pretty stark. It consisted of a dimly lit black hallway with a few small TV monitors constantly playing a loop of the news flashes describing the shooting and footage from the funeral procession. The hallway leads to the legacy section where JFK's ongoing impact is featured.
While I was visiting the museum had a special display celebrating JFK's 100th birthday anniversary. It was a collection of 100 pieces of JFK themed memorabilia. Some of it was fairly pedestrian, like a tie clip or hair comb he previously used. Some of them were more interesting, such as the hat and gloves worn during the inauguration, or the bizarre garden gnomes shown below.
Outside the building, JFK's sailboat, Victura, is on display.
After the museum closed I decided to walk back towards the center of downtown, passing by Fort Independence in the process.
The fort was closed when I got to it. There were still a lot of people out enjoying the day.
The fort is just across the bay from Logan International airport, so there was a pretty good view of the planes coming and going.
I eventually made my way back to the city center to take the train home. It was quite a long walk, but I had the time.
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