Harvard Yard: A nice Boston day trip
A Walk Through Harvard Yard
Harvard Yard is 22 acres of sprawling grass and sidewalks in the heart of Harvard’s campus.
A leisurely stroll through Harvard Yard is a great way to soak up more of Boston’s amazing architecture and history, while observing the future of America in their natural academic setting.
Glimpse students relaxing, studying, socializing or dashing madly to class.
If you time it right, you could even tag along on one of the Unofficial Harvard Tours.
A traditional event to see (or avoid) happens at the stroke of midnight on the first day of finals. Harvard students strip down to their birthday suits and run laps around Harvard Yard, screaming as loud as they can to relieve exam tension.
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Things to Do in Harvard Yard
Besides just walking through and pondering about what life would have been like if you had been accepted to this Harry Potter-like school of academic wizardry, there are in fact, several key points of interest.
Memorial Church
The Memorial Church of Harvard University, more commonly known as the Harvard Memorial Church, is an interdenominational Protestant church.
The church was a gift from alumni and dedicated on Armistice Day 1932 in memory of those who died in World War I. An inscription over the South entrance to the Memorial Room reads:
“In grateful memory of the Harvard men who died in the World War we have built this Church.”
Peabody Museum
According to their website: The Peabody Museum was founded in 1866 and is one of the oldest museums in the world devoted to anthropology, the study of ancient and contemporary peoples and cultures. With 1.2 million objects, the Museum has one of the most important archaeological and ethnological—the study of human culture—collections in the world.
Harvard Art Museums
According to their website:
For more than a hundred years, the Harvard Art Museums (the Fogg Museum, Busch-Reisinger Museum, and Arthur M. Sackler Museum) have encouraged students, faculty, and the public to engage in critical looking and thinking.
The Harvard Art Museums are open to the public seven days a week at 32 Quincy Street in Cambridge, Massachusetts, at the edge of Harvard Yard.
Harvard Yard Libraries
Libraries in the Yard include:
- Widener Library. Harvard University’s flagship library.
- Houghton Library. For rare books, manuscripts, and special collections.
- Lamont Library. The main undergraduate library with a range of services that support the humanities and social sciences.
More things to do in and around Harvard Yard
- Street musicians. Check out the artists near the T station
- LA Burdicks. Grab a cup of hot chocolate
- Brattle Theatre. Check out an old movie or documentary
- Regatta Bar. Watch a live jazz concert
- Eat or drink at Cambridge 1, Border Cafe, Om Lounge, and many more places.
What is your favorite thing to do in Harvard Yard? We want to know!
