From Dave Brigham:
Located in Boston's Back Bay Fens, just off Agassiz Road, is this somewhat boring memorial to Katharine Lee Bates, a writer, professor, scholar and activist known best for writing "America the Beautiful." "Bates originally wrote the words as a poem, 'Pikes Peak', first published in the Fourth of July edition of the church periodical The Congregationalist in 1895," according to Wikipedia. "At that time, the poem was titled 'America' for publication. [Church organist and choirmaster Samuel A.] Ward had originally written the music, 'Materna', for the hymn 'O Mother dear, Jerusalem' in 1882, though it was not first published until 1892. Ward's music combined with the Bates poem was first published in 1910 and titled 'America the Beautiful'. The song is one of the most popular of the many U.S. patriotic songs."
While Bates was born in Falmouth, Mass., in 1859 and lived and worked in Wellesley, Natick, Needham and Newton during her life, I haven't found any information about her living in Boston. So I'm not sure why this plaque was placed here. She died in Wellesley in 1929.
The plaque reads:
"Scholar patriot poet who gave enduring speech to the love of Americans for America."
O beautiful for spacious skies
For amber waves of grain
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain
America America
God shed his grace on thee
And crown they good
With brotherhood
From sea to shining sea
This memorial is located directly across the street from the Agassiz Road Duck House, which I wrote about a few years ago (see January 14, 2017, "Beautiful Duckling").
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