![]() ![]() Rufus Putnam came from Rutland, Massachusetts, and the house he lived in is still there. There is a plaque now at State Street and Kilby Street. That’s where it all began in March of 1786. ![]() Their very first gathering before going out and settling the Ohio territory was at the Bunch of Grapes Tavern in Boston. The principal characters all come from New England. I think for those of us who live here in New England, it’s uplifting to see what a New England story this is. As someone who has lived near Boston for most of your life, did writing this story bring parts of Boston alive to you in a new way? The Pioneers is a book about settlers in Ohio, but also about New England. ![]() On a recent spring morning, I connected with McCullough at his home in Hingham about his new book, The Pioneers, the historical case for renaming Faneuil Hall, and how he discovered the story he always really wanted to write. But after more than 50 years behind his typewriter, he’s worried about the state of the country and that our memory of the past is growing frightfully dim. As a narrator, his sonorous baritone guided us through The Civil War and The American Experience on PBS. At least that’s how David McCullough, America’s liveliest historian, sees it. As a yarn-spinner, he’s reintroduced readers to three presidents, the Revolutionary War, the Brooklyn Bridge, the Panama Canal, and the Wright brothers’ first flight. ![]() There’s no such thing as boring history, only boring historians. ![]()
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