Scribed into a monument installation where the Black Heritage Trail enters 17th century Black Boston, a stone cutter wrote this piece about the monument’s creator. There are several Black Heritage Trails and tours to explore in Greater Boston, but perhaps the best-known one is also the oldest.
THE SCULPTOR
The Shaw-54th Regiment Memorial, the outstanding tribute to soldiers of the civil war was created by one of America’s foremost sculptors, AUGUST SAINT GAUDENS (1848-1907). Born in Dublin, of a French father and an Irish mother, he grew up in New York, was apprenticed to a cameo cutter at 13, and studied at the Ecole Des Beaux-Arts in Paris. His best-known works include the Adams Memorial in Washington, D.C., General Sherman in New York and President Lincoln in Chicago. His home in Cornish, New Hampshire is a national historic site. The setting for the memorial was designed by the distinguished architect, Charles F. McKim. The memorial site is opposite the Massachusetts State House on one end of the Boston Common at the intersection of Park and Beacon streets. The starting line for the Black Heritage Trail tour of 17th century Black Boston on Beacon Hill begins at the memorial.
