John Harvard Statue
John Harvard Statue is a historic site in Massachusetts, at a recorded elevation of 8 m. Turkey Hill stands 107 m to the northwest, 4.9 miles off. The nearest named place is Harvard Bixi, a artwork 0.1 miles away. Battle Road Scenic Byway passes 2.8 miles off.
The story
John Harvard is an 1884 sculpture in bronze by Daniel Chester French at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It honors clergyman John Harvard (1607–1638), whose substantial deathbed bequest to the "schoale or Colledge" recently undertaken by the Massachusetts Bay Colony was so gratefully received that the Colony resolved "that the Colledge agreed upon formerly to bee built at Cambridg shalbee called Harvard Colledge." There being nothing to indicate what John Harvard had looked like, French took inspiration from a Harvard student collaterally descended from an early Harvard president. The statue's inscription—JOHN HARVARD • FOUNDER • 1638—is the subject of an arch polemic traditionally recited for visitors, questioning whether John Harvard justly merits the honorific founder. According to a Harvard official, the founding of the college was not the act of one but the work of many, and John Harvard is therefore considered not the founder, but rather a founder, of the school, though the timeliness and generosity of his contribution have made him the most honored of these. Tourists often rub the toe of John Harvard's left shoe for luck in the mistaken belief that doing so is a Harvard student tradition.
From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Wikidata Q6238106, referenced by the OpenStreetMap record.
What the record says
- Elevation
- 8 m
How to reach it
- 2.8 mi off the Battle Road Scenic Byway, National
- 3.1 mi off the Revolutionary Heritage Byway, National
- 24.6 mi off the Essex Coastal Scenic Byway
Overlooks nearby
- Skywalk Observatory · 3 mi
- Sunset Ledge · 24 mi
- Eagle Rock · 27 mi
- Lookout Point · 28 mi
Named places within 25 miles
- Flagstaff Park: 0.1 mi
- Dawes Island Park: 0.1 mi
- Winthrop Park: 0.2 mi
- Brattle Square: 0.2 mi
- Cambridge Common: 0.3 mi
- Fogg Museum: 0.1 mi
- Busch-Reisinger Museum: 0.1 mi
- Harvard Art Museums: 0.2 mi
- The Collection Of Historical Scientific Instruments: 0.2 mi
- Arthur M. Sackler Gallery: 0.2 mi
- Harvard Bixi: 0.1 mi
- Compare The Shells: 0.1 mi
- Large Four Piece Reclining Figure: 0.1 mi
- Spiral: 0.2 mi
- Statue Of David: 0.2 mi
- Dana Hill: 0.5 mi
- Spring Hill: 1.0 mi
- Central Hill: 1.2 mi
- Prospect Hill: 1.3 mi
- Mount Auburn: 1.4 mi
- Harvard Community Garden: 0.2 mi
- Adolphus Busch Hall Garden: 0.2 mi
- Wallach Garden: 0.3 mi
- Green Street Neighborhood Garden: 0.5 mi
- Concord Ave Community Space: 1.1 mi
- Crystal Lake Beach: 5.5 mi
- Pleasure Bay Beach: 5.6 mi
- Borggaard Beach: 5.7 mi
- Tenean Beach: 6.8 mi
- Corinha Beach: 6.9 mi
- Alewife Brook Parkway: 1.7 mi
- Amory Woods: 1.9 mi
- Hall's Pond Sanctuary: 2.0 mi
- Mystic River Reservation: 2.1 mi
- Euston Path Rock: 2.7 mi
- Statue of Charles Sumner: 0.1 mi
- Ghost Bike - Darryl Willis: 0.1 mi
- Irish Famine Memorial: 0.2 mi
- The Harvard Lampoon Castle: 0.2 mi
- Civil War Monument: 0.2 mi
- Harvard Square: 0.1 mi
- Citgo Sign: 2.0 mi
- Longfellow Bridge Trophy Room: 2.1 mi
- Charles Riverboat Company: 2.1 mi
- The Mapparium: 2.6 mi
- Lunch Wall: 4.5 mi
- Temple Overhangs: 4.5 mi
- Lower Cliff: 4.5 mi
- Pusherman Wall: 4.5 mi
- Upper Cliff: 4.5 mi
- Pine Knoll: 4.9 mi
- Oak Lea: 5.0 mi
- Nature's Pavilion: 5.1 mi
- Picnic Site 1: 7.0 mi
- Picnic Site 12: 7.1 mi
- Boathouse: 12.0 mi
- Keeper's Dwelling: 12.0 mi
- Oil Shed: 12.0 mi
- Rainshed: 12.0 mi
- Boston Light: 12.0 mi
- Quarry Spring: 4.3 mi
- Pakomet Spring: 11.7 mi
- Mystery Spring: 20.6 mi
- Cascade Falls: 5.3 mi
- Rock Falls: 13.4 mi
- Wamesit Falls: 19.8 mi
- Commissioners Landing: 2.5 mi
- Westwood Rest Area: 11.0 mi
- Haywardville: 6.3 mi
Summits around it
The highest named summits within 5.4 miles of John Harvard Statue. Elevation from each summit’s own record; bearing measured between the two coordinates.
| Summit | Bearing | Elevation | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Turkey Hill | NW 325° | 107 m | 4.9 mi |
| Single Tree Hill | SSW 207° | 100 m | 4.0 mi |
| Waban Hill | SW 230° | 98 m | 3.8 mi |
| Mount Gilboa | NW 318° | 95 m | 5.0 mi |
| Cairn Hill | NNE 18° | 92 m | 5.1 mi |
| Wellington Hill | WNW 297° | 91 m | 4.2 mi |
| Mount Walley | SSW 193° | 91 m | 4.7 mi |
| Green Hill | S 189° | 89 m | 5.0 mi |
When to go
Light through the year
| Date | Sunrise | Golden hour | Sunset |
|---|---|---|---|
| March equinox | 06:49 | 18:20 | 18:57 |
| June solstice | 05:08 | 19:43 | 20:26 |
| September equinox | 06:32 | 18:07 | 18:44 |
| December solstice | 07:11 | 15:30 | 16:15 |
Local time (America/New_York).
Climate normals
Months averaging 50–80 °F: May–Oct.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avg °F | 28 | 30 | 38 | 49 | 59 | 68 | 74 | 73 | 65 | 53 | 43 | 34 |
| Precip in | 3.9 | 3.6 | 4.5 | 4.3 | 3.6 | 4.2 | 3.5 | 3.7 | 4.0 | 5.0 | 4.0 | 5.1 |
1991–2020 U.S. Climate Normals, NOAA NCEI — Jamaica Plain, 5 mi away.
Where this comes from
Location and category confirmed against OpenStreetMap.
OpenStreetMapWikipediaWikidataOpenStreetMap element node/358277010
Day trips start here
- Cambridge · 0 mi
- Somerville · 1 mi
- Boston/Allston-Brighton · 2 mi
- Boston/Fenway-Kenmore · 2 mi
- Arlington · 3 mi
- Boston · 3 mi
Take the scenic way to John Harvard Statue.
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