Cambridge MA
Consistently ranked one of the best places to live in Massachusetts!
Cambridge is known globally as home to two of the world’s most prestigious universities. Harvard University, an Ivy League university founded in Cambridge in 1636, is the oldest institution of higher learning in the nation and has routinely been ranked as one of the best universities in the world.
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), founded in 1861, is also located in Cambridge and has been similarly ranked highly among the world’s best universities.[7] Lesley University and Hult International Business School also are based in Cambridge.[8] Radcliffe College, an elite women’s liberal arts college, also was based in Cambridge from its 1879 founding until its assimiliation into Harvard in 1999.
Kendall Square, near MIT in the eastern part of Cambridge, has been called “the most innovative square mile on the planet” due to the high concentration of startup companies that have emerged there since 2010.
Today, Cambridge is home to a culturally diverse population of over 100,000. College students from around the world study at Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Lesley University. The heavy industries of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries have been replaced by technology-based enterprises, including software and biotechnology research. –Cambridge Historical Commission
Universities and Education
Cambridge is perhaps best known as an academic and intellectual center. Known worldwide for it’s colleges and universities, the primary education
- Cambridge School of Culinary Arts
- Harvard University
- Hult International Business School
- Lesley University
- Longy School of Music of Bard College
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Radcliffe College (now merged with Harvard College)
At least 258 of the world’s total 962 Nobel Prize winners have at some point in their careers been affiliated with universities in Cambridge.
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences, one of the nation’s oldest learned societies founded in 1780, is based in Cambridge– wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambridge,_Massachusetts#Education
Primary and secondary private education
Cambridge also has several private schools, including:
- Boston Archdiocesan Choir School
- Buckingham Browne & Nichols School
- Cambridge Montessori school
- Cambridge Friends School
- Fayerweather Street School[138]
- International School of Boston (formerly École Bilingue)
- Matignon High School
- Shady Hill School
- St. Peter School
Eleven Little-Known Facts of Cambridge History
Everybody knows Cambridge as the home of Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Few know that Cambridge is a diverse community with a complex history in which the universities played a relatively small part.
#1. Cambridge was founded to be the capital of Massachusetts.
#2. The village of Newtowne was the first in New England laid out on a grid plan, with straight streets meeting at right angles.
#3. Harvard was our consolation prize.
#4. George Washington slept here, but the Washington Elm is only a tree.
#5. Cambridge used to be ten miles from Boston.
#6. Cambridge comprised four physically separate, rival villages before it became a city in 1846.
#7. Cambridgeport really was a port.
#8. Cambridge was the Innovation City long before M.I.T. arrived in 1916.
#9. Cambridge was once ranked with Akron, Ohio and Detroit, Michigan as an emerging industrial powerhouse.
#10. Cambridge has an ethnically diverse population attracted by its many industries.
#11. Cambridge was once ruled by a woman.
Attractions in the Area
History, Architecture and Museams
Architecture
Despite intensive urbanization during the late 19th century and the 20th century, Cambridge has several historic buildings, including some from the 17th century. The city also has abundant contemporary architecture, largely built by Harvard and MIT. – Source – Wikipedia
Longfellow House, Cambridge MA
Cambridge has several historic buildings, including some from the 17th century. The city also has abundant contemporary architecture, largely built by Harvard and MIT. A notable historic building in the city of Cambridge includes The Longfellow House. George Washington occupied it as his headquarters beginning on July 16, 1775, and it served as his base of operations during the Siege of Boston.
Museums
- Harvard Art Museum, including the Busch-Reisinger Museum, a collection of Germanic art, the Fogg Art Museum, a comprehensive collection of Western art, and the Arthur M. Sackler Museum, a collection of Middle East and Asian art
- Harvard Museum of Natural History, including the Glass Flowers collection
- List Visual Arts Center, MIT
- MIT Museum
- Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard
- Semitic Museum, Harvard
Great Food in the Area
Whatever food you're craving, you will find it here!
With options ranging from wallet-friendly ramen to James Beard Award-winning cuisine all within a few dynamic blocks, there are plenty of dining options in Cambridge. Whether you’re looking for a Jewish deli (Mamaleh’s), creative cocktails (ArtScience Culture Lab & Café), or your classic mom-and-pop pizza shop (Armando’s), there’s something for everyone. Source https://www.boston.com/?post_type=post&p=9468605
Alden & Harlow
Locals and visitors alike flock to this subway-tiled den’s cushy booths and cool high-tops based on reputation alone (for example, its inclusion in Conde Nast Traveler’s Where in the World to Eat list in 2016). It’s a reputation that’s well-founded, thanks in part to the juicy burger and its homemade bun, but also because Chef Michael Scelfo is just as skilled at making vegetables the star of the show. He was doing harissa-glazed carrots with hazelnut crunch and spiced yogurt way before other toques, and that one dish alone is worth a visit. (40 Brattle St., Cambridge)
Alive & Kicking Lobsters
You can call it top shell, but don’t call it a lobster roll — Alive & Kicking serves lobster sandwiches — lobster chunks tucked between two slices of Scali bread — off the beaten path in a small neighborhood in West Cambridge. It’s no frills, no fuss, but plenty of muss, and you’ll make new friends with a few folks sharing communal picnic tables. There’s also bisque and chowder. (269 Putnam Ave., Cambridge)
Area Four and A4cade
Get fired up at Area Four near Kendall Square, where the pizza dough has been fermented for 30-plus hours, resulting in a crunchy, wood-fired crust. In the mornings, visit the café for java from Barrington Coffee Roasters. Half a mile east on Mass. Ave., get playful seven nights a week at A4Cade, a bar-arcade collaboration with Roxy’s Grilled Cheese and all the indulgent sandwiches that implies. The two cocktail bars here offer up plenty of interesting tipples, including tiki drinks, local beers, and wine. (500 Technology Square, Cambridge; 292 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge)
. Armando’s Pizza
When two of Boston’s top chefs (Jamie Bissonnette and Tony Maws) claim your deep-dish Sicilian as one of their favorite pies in Boston, you know you’ve got something good on your hands. Grab a napkin and a slice at this old-school parlor, where classic wood paneling and orange tiling are much the same as they have been since 1971, when Benevento, Italy, immigrant Armando started his mom-and-pop shop. Although the pizza poppa has since passed, his legacy lives on with a loyal clientele. (163 Huron Ave., Cambridge)
CafeArtScience-Titi-Monkey
ArtScience Culture Lab & Cafe
At this spot, formerly called Cafe ArtScience, expect something that looks and tastes good, thanks to Harvard faculty member and founder David Edwards. Cambridge’s innovation community in Kendall Square is the canvas for creative dinner and lunch menus that feature global flavors and sustainably sourced ingredients. (Keep your phone out for the Instagram-worthy platings.) The bar menu, courtesy of Tenzin Samdo (a Tibet native who used to helm much-beloved Tavern Road), is a mini mixed-drink passport. Picture: rum evoking Caribbean climes, Scotch that brings you to the Highlands, and Mezcal from Mexico. (650 E. Kendall St., Cambridge)
Cafe du Pays
If your French-Canadian grandma had a restaurant, this former home of popular Southern restaurant Hungry Mother would be it. Here, you’ll find home-cooking-style comfort food. The best of our neighbor to the North gets served up in all the right ways in the form of tourtière meat pie, proper poutine, sugar pie, and more. (233 Cardinal Medeiros Ave., Cambridge)
One of the first purveyors of farm-to-table cuisine in New England, Harvest has been putting out beautiful plates for 40-plus years — longer than wunderkind Chef Tyler Kinnett has been alive. The recently reimagined open kitchen gives cloth-napkin feasters the opportunity to check out his handiwork with locally foraged mushroom agnolotti and Atlantic seafood, plus a dessert menu from Executive Pastry Chef Joshua Livsey, who puts out imaginative and colorful nibbles like a chocolate almond cake with avocado ice cream, brioche, and chocolate ganache. (44 Brattle St., Cambridge)