Maggie Quinn Art – Spring Garden of Artists on Chaleur Bay

Art and Writing by Margaret Sharon Olscamp Dunlop NB Canada June 8 2024

Wishes and stars – have they anything in common – I wonder. I’ve both been and not been to Boston. So, when I found an old itinerary from 1991 it brought me back to my non-visit to Boston in 1967. No point crying over that one.

I had no idea why I had kept this 1991 print-out for over thirty years. Had it been wishful thinking? Was I still hoping to visit Boston? Where did I even get this 2 page itinerary entitled “Gallery Hopping in and Around Boston, Mass. October 21-25, 1991”? I glanced through it.

“Join the Beaverbrook Art Gallery Docents and Friends for a five-day art-filled excursion to Boston and area this fall. Our tour will be jam-packed with visits to art galleries and museums, walking tours of Boston, Mass. and Providence, R.I., and other special excursions.” Sounds pretty inviting.

Now that was how it started off. Apparently the group would travel in a ‘forty-seven passenger luxury touring coach supplied by Trius Taxi Ltd., Fredericton”. They would be staying at The Days Inn in Woburn, 20-25 minutes drive outside of downtown Boston.

Which museums would the gallery-hoppers be visiting and what were the special excursions? I’ve whittled it down a bit but according to the itinerary it basically was:

Monday – the Portland Museum of Fine Arts on the way to Boston

Tuesday – the Boston Museum of Fine Arts in the morning and a guided tour of historic downtown Boston in the afternoon

Wednesday – the Rhode Island School of Design Museum and Boston University in the morning and a self-guided tour of 18th century homes in the afternoon

Thursday – the Fogg Museum at Harvard University in the morning and a self-guided tour and shopping in the afternoon

Friday – Shopping at North East Mobile Bookfare Warehouse in Needham, Mass on the return trip to Fredericton.

It was a bit short on details and time scheduling. The price, not including meals, was $345.