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Cambridge, Massachusetts

If you asked most people what they think of when they hear Cambridge, Massachusetts they are going to say Harvard, or maybe MIT. While those universities are part of Cambridge, they don't define the city. Cambridge has a long history and a lot of things going for it.

Cambridge has a long history. It was first settled in 1630. The location for the city was chosen because it was far enough upriver from the harbor to be easy to defend, but near enough to use the harbor for shipping. The site also had easy access to fresh water from more than just the river. There is a sweet water spring in the Cambridge area. The Native Americans in the area has been visiting the spring for years.

Cambridge was originally called Newe Towne, which was shortened to Newton. It was one of several towns in the area that was settled by the settlers from the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Cambridge was larger then than it is now. All of the outlying areas, including was is now Newton, MA are their own towns in the Boston area. The heart of the original Cambridge is what is today's Harvard Square.

Cambridge is now a thriving city of 100,000 people. Part of its charm is that it's close enough to Boston for people to get there easily. But it's far enough away that Cambridge maintains its own charm. The city has a very intellectual culture. Until the early 1920s it was very focused on industrial work, but then the factories all shut down, and the atmosphere changed. It also has the one of the largest bookstore per capita ratios in the world. Cambridge has more than 25 bookstores in a small 6 square mile area. With all those bookstores it's easy for anyone to find exactly what they are looking for.

Bookstores aren't all that Cambridge, MA has to offer. There are several museums and historical sites as well as several performing arts centers.

One of the historic sites is Mount Auburn Cemetery. It's more than a cemetery. Mount Auburn is on the National Historic Landmarks list. It has an arboretum and an outdoor museum of architecture and sculpture. There are several notable people buried in this cemetery including Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

For people who like museums both Harvard and MIT offer several. Check out the Harvard Natural History Museum for over 12,000 specimens. Everything is drawn from the research collections of Harvard University. They range from meteorites to glass sculptures that are amazingly lifelike.

MIT has its own museum. It focuses more on science. Some of its exhibits include Robots and Beyond and displays that come from the Polaroid Collection.

Cambridge has many performing arts centers. There is such a variety of performances that everyone can find something they want to watch from the avant-garde to the more traditional and classic. People who are looking for something completely different should check out the Hasty Pudding Theatricals. It runs Feb-March and is a drag burlesque show put on by Harvard students.

Cambridge, MA has been around for a long time, and has become so much more than a small village. It offers a little bit of something for everyone.