I geeked out over the Tall Ships in Boston!

For the United States of America’s Semiquincentennial, a fleet of the world’s most magnificent international tall ships and military ships sailed into the port of Boston for Sail250 last Saturday, and Brett and I were there.

Two years of researching life aboard a clipper ship has turned me into a ship nerd. I know my t’gallants from my moonraker, and my jibs from my flying jibs. I know that a rope is an unused piece of cord that, once it gets put to work, is called a line. If you do not pronounce “forecastle” correctly, I will call you out on it.

But no amount of research could have prepared me for the uber-ship-geeks, a gazillion maritime enthusiasts converging on the port that became famous in 1773 for the Boston Tea Party and is near the Charlestown home of the U.S.S. Constitution, aka Old Ironsides, the world’s oldest commissioned warship still afloat.

Brett and I spent the day out in the harbor on a cruise ship called The Spirit of Boston watching the parade of sail as each ship was welcomed into the “hahbah.” Here are some highlights in images:

In some photos, you can see sailors standing along the yards (or yardarms), the T-crossed arms that extend out from the masts of square-rigged ships. Note that in these images, none of the “square” sails, meaning the four-sided ones, are being used. Without wind, they are furled, or rolled up against the beams.

When the DJ played “Roll the Old Chariot Along,” the shanty that ends Part II of STARGAZER, I had to sing along. Brett brought his watercolors. Someone painted their toenails for the occasion (not it)! And I wore a star-spangled shirt for the festivities.

The next day, we boarded the B.A.P Union from Peru and visited the most gorgeous ship of all, the Amerigo Vespucci. Leave it to the Italians to be the most stylish in the world, even at sea!

It was an epic, historic, incredible weekend — and it was exhausting, a perfect example of a scenario where you go, “wow, that was amazing! Let’s never do it again!” The tall ships will be in port through Wednesday, July 15th, with fireworks again that night, so head on over to the Seaport and fight the throngs!

However, if you want to enjoy history without having to leave your beach chair, here are my top summer recommendations:

This is a captivating historical fiction novel set in 1965 and 1978 about a graduate student who returns with her sisters to their family’s summer estate on Martha’s Vineyard and begins to unravel old family secrets. Out today in paperback!

I adore Brooke’s novels, which are “recently historical” and feel nostalgic in the best possible way. Both timely and timeless, OUR LAST VINEYARD SUMMER is a compelling, thoughtful novel that explores complex family relationships and the changing roles of women over time. This is a book you will want to pass to your mother, daughter, sister, and best friend and say, Read this!

Kathryn Stockett, as you may remember, wrote a little thing called THE HELP back in the day. She creates strong female characters that have wit and voice and gumption and I can’t wait to see where this story, set in Oxford, Mississippi in 1933, will lead. I am actually listening to this one right now and loving it, as the southern voices of the two main point of view characters, Meg LeFleur and Birdie Calhoun, really come to life in the audiobook.

I am a huge fan of Beatriz’s novels, and this is another one set on Winthrop Island. A young widow returns to her late father’s New England estate, only to be drawn into the hunt for the rumored pirate treasure that consumed his life, in this thrilling and moving novel that is at the top of my TBR pile!

I hope you have a happy historical summer!

xo

Julie