After a brief hiatus, I’m excited to resume publishing T Time. Every other week, I’ll visit a new station on the MBTA and share a little bit about the station’s history, the neighborhood’s history and fun things to do in the area. As this edition’s title suggests, today I’m discussing a station two stops south of Davis Square on the Red Line: Harvard. For those interested in visiting, you can take the Red Line from Davis and travel two stops or you can take the 96 bus from campus, which makes stops at the corner of Winthrop and Boston Ave, outside the Dowling Garage and at the bottom of the Memorial Steps. The train takes about five to 10 minutes to get from Davis to Harvard while the bus takes between 15 and 25 minutes, depending on traffic.
One of the area’s most notable and charming qualities is its age. Once you ascend out of the station, you’re greeted by the hustle and bustle of the students, tour groups and tourists of Harvard Square. However, if you take a walk either north or south to Harvard University’s campus, the busy streets quickly turn into tree-lined paths paved through manicured courtyards and beautiful brick buildings. Founded in 1636, Harvard carries the distinction as the oldest college in the country, and the architecture of its campus takes you right back to its founding.
Harvard’s footprint in Cambridge is large, with the university owning a whopping 9.56% of Cambridge’s land area. Like Tufts University, Harvard’s landowning presence is subject to controversy. In Massachusetts, institutions of higher education—both public and private—are exempt from paying property taxes. Thus, Cambridge cannot generate revenue from nearly 10% of its land area, depriving the city of crucial funds. Harvard’s land-owning dominance is illustrated in an urban legend surrounding the shape of the Red Line. If you’ve ever taken the T through Harvard station, you’ll notice the train makes a sharp turn accompanied by a loud screech. ‘Allegedly,’ Harvard is exempt from eminent domain and refused to allow a Red Line station to be built underneath Harvard Yard. This forced the MBTA to weave their tracks around campus, resulting in the nearly 90 degree turn we have today. It is unclear if this is actually the case, but it’s a good story to illuminate Harvard’s influence in Cambridge.
The Harvard area is full of restaurants, stores and things to do. Food-wise, I recommend The Maharaja for Indian food, Mother Juice for smoothies, and Black Sheep Bagel Cafe for sandwiches. Joe’s Pizza, a famous New York pizza shop, also has a location right across from Harvard T Station. Harvard University boasts several museums located on its campus. The Harvard Art Museums have free entry for everyone while the Harvard Museum of Natural History and Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology have tickets for only $10 if you show a student ID. As I mentioned earlier, just walking around the area is enough of an activity itself. From Cambridge Common to Harvard Yard to the Charles River, the Harvard area is gorgeous, especially in the fall.
