{"id":2535,"date":"2009-10-20T06:24:31","date_gmt":"2009-10-20T11:24:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/?p=2535"},"modified":"2022-04-09T05:28:54","modified_gmt":"2022-04-09T10:28:54","slug":"vikings-in-boston","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/vikings-in-boston\/","title":{"rendered":"Vikings in Boston?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I\u2019m in Boston, Massachusetts this week. Maybe I can satisfy my geo-weirdness fixation in between my all-day business meetings. Fortunately Boston has a compact core with several walkable neighborhoods and a great public transportation system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I had an opportunity to spend a couple of hours wandering around the Back Bay yesterday. This area used to be tidal flats of the Charles River. Ironically, it became one of Boston\u2019s more upscale neighborhoods filled with massive Victorian brownstone townhouses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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An Tribute to Leif Ericson<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Leif<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Then I encountered this oddly-situated statue of an unlikely subject as I strolled along Commonwealth Avenue. It\u2019s Leif Ericson. You remember him from the history books, right? He\u2019s the Icelandic explorer who sailed from Greenland to North America some five hundred years before Christopher Columbus. You know, the one immortalized in the old Viking sagas? I wondered if perhaps there might be a Boston \u2013 Iceland connection. That seemed entirely logical given the statue. However, that turned out to be completely wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maybe Boston had and Icelandic community<\/a>, I thought. That\u2019s not impossible. I know of other parts of the United States settled primarily by Icelandic immigrants. There does appear to be an active Icelandic Society in Boston<\/a> with about 200 members. Nonetheless, they don\u2019t seem to be erecting any statues anywhere. Perhaps then Boston has a sister city relationship with Reykjav\u00edk? Well, Boston has a bunch of those<\/a> but none with any city in Iceland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Unraveling the Mystery<\/h2>\n\n\n\n