The Traveling Wheelchair

State House
24 Beacon Street
Boston, MA 02133
Phone: 617-722-2000
State House Tours: http://www.sec.state.ma.us/trs/trsidx.htm

My State Representative Stephen Canessa recently asked me if I would like to officially tour the Massachusetts State House to do a wheelchair accessibility review. Representative Canessa and Marissa Hunnewell, his very nice assistant have taken me on private tours in the past but thought a tour from an official tour guide would be more beneficial. My State Senator Marc Pacheco and Charles Basler, his helpful assistant also has an office at the State House which I have visited. I’ve also been to the State House to participate in hearings and listen to testimonies regarding health care issues for the disabled which Representative Steve Canessa and Senator Marc Pacheco have both supported for they truly care about the disabled. I consider both of them good friends and feel fortunate to have such caring and compassionate Legislators.

Tuesday, I was in Boston for a doctor’s appointment with my mom and friends, Ric and Kate, so I thought it would be a great time to visit the State House and tour it for a wheelchair accessibility review. My mom called Representative Stephen Canessa to let him know that we were coming. He told us to head to Doric Hall to sign up for an official tour and to call him when we got there. My mom also called Charles, Senator Marc Pacheco assistant to let him know we would be there, but they were not in the office due to it being a Boston Holiday. It was June 17th, which is Bunker Hill Day, a legal holiday for Boston and surrounding Suffolk County. Bunker Hill is the battle that launched America’s war for independence. Steve told me that we didn’t win but it was a moral victory for us.

We parked in the General Trading Company parking lot on Ashburton Way, which is next to the Massachusetts Teachers Association building and conveniently located across the street from the State House. The parking lot had a handicap space for my van but didn’t offer any handicap discount. The only problem with parking here is there is no handicapped access connecting the sidewalks. You have to wheel out in the street onto Ashburton Way to get to the other side of the sidewalk. This can be dangerous and I hope that someone fixes this but I’m told that it is a private way so there is nothing that can be done unless the owner of the private way wants to do it themselves.

We safely crossed Bowdoin Street at the crosswalk to get to the Ashburton Park Entrance of the Massachusetts State House . This entrance is marked with the handicapped accessible entrance. It consists of metal gates with openings between narrow metal barriers. The openings were a little narrow for my wheelchair but I did manage through without too much trouble. Inside the gate there is a beautiful park area. There are three monuments in this park area. They are all surrounded by beautiful gardens with flowers and water fountains.

One of the Monuments has a huge American Bald Eagle on top and it is very tall. You can view it in the picture above. We didn’t go over to see it to get the name of this monument but it is beautiful. There are two other monuments in this park area. They are memorials.  The terrain is very easy cement terrain to wheel on to get closer to the memorials.

One is dedicated to the Massachusetts Fallen Firefighters and the other to Massachusetts Fallen Law Enforcement Officers. The names of the fallen heros are all engraved on the monuments. It’s a nice to sit by them and pay respect to our heroes.

We then went to the main entry door. I was excited to see an automatic door opener at the main entry door into the State House. Once inside you will have to go though security, just like at an airport. We asked the nice State Trooper who was in charge of security where the Tour Guides offices are located. He advised us to go up the elevator to the second floor and walk to the end of opposite side of the State House to Doric Hall.

We pushed the button for the elevator. The elevator door opened and we were so surprised to see how very tiny it was. There were four of us but only three of us could fit with my wheelchair. My mom explained to me that this was a historic building and it would be very costly to enlarge the elevators. We proceeded to the opposite end of the state house once on second floor. I’m always amazed at how beautiful the interior of the state house is.

On our way to Doric Hall we just had to stop to admire the beautiful main marble stair case, which leads up to a beautiful stain glass window. The stained glass window shows the evolution of our state seal that was adopted in 1780. We were told the molds for the iron on the main stair case were broken to make sure the railing would be one of kind! The view of the stain glass window is breathtaking. The best location I could see the stained window was from the bottom of the staircase.

We finally reached Doric Hall for our tour and realized there were marble stairs at all four entry doorways leading into Doric Hall. My mom went down to ask a tour guide if there was a wheelchair accessibility entry to this room. She was told that there is a wheelchair lift at another entry door on the other side but it is broken.

There was a telephone number posted by the lift that a person in a wheelchair could call and be led to this room another way. My mom was told that this wheelchair lift broke last week and a part that is needed to repair it is on order but might take a while to come in. We decided to just have my mom sign us up for the next tour so we could get on our way.

John, a very nice and knowledgeable tour guide came out to greet us. There were four others on our tour, two were tour guide students and there was also a nice couple from England. Boy it made me realize how very important Boston and are State House is in US History for people from around the world come to tour our State House. I needed to use the restroom before I started the tour. John pointed to the nearest restroom so my mom, Ric and Kate all took me. We were surprised for the restroom only had two small stalls and no handicap stall. Kate told me that she thought that she saw a wheelchair accessible restroom way at the other end of building but I just couldn’t wait. There was an accessible sink in this restroom but it didn’t have the required ADA covering around the exposed pipes which surprised us all.

We then rejoined the others for the tour. John explained that the Doric Hall was originally the entire State House. He told us that it gets it’s name from the architectural design of the ten columns in this room. I couldn’t get into this room to see it. John told us that this room has a different architecture design from the rest of the building. It’s now used as a reception hall for social gatherings. There are wide double doors in this room and we were told that they are only opened on three special occasions when a governor leaves the State House for the last time at end of his term, when a Massachusetts’s regimental flag is returned to permanent collection and for an official visit from the President of the United States. He also told us that the last official President to visit was President William Howard Taft in 1912. This really surprised me for I thought more presidents would have visited our wonderful and historical capitol.

John then took us to the next room, Nurses Hall. It is very spacious and easy to maneuver a wheelchair around in. John told us that this beautiful room was built in 1985.There is a beautiful bronze statue of a Civil War Nurse caring for an injured soldier. It is a memorial to all nurses who took part in the Civil War. He also pointed to three paintings above of Paul Revere on the Midnight Ride, the Boston Tea party and James Otis, an attorney speaking against the Writs of Assistance, in which he didn’t think it was right for the British to search colonists or their houses which led to Fourth Amendment. John also told us that James Otis was struck by lightning one day and it left him insane for the remaining 22 years of his life.

We then entered a third room named the Hall of Flags. It is a circular room and is very spacious and easy to maneuver a wheelchair around. It is absolutely breathtaking for it is surrounded by tall columns of marble. John explained that this room is really special because it is where all Massachusetts soldiers are remembered and honored. There are a few flags displayed in this room which were carried to battle from the Civil War to the Vietnam War. In this room on the ceiling is a beautiful stained glass window, This window show all 13 original state seals.

John told us that there isn’t a flag from Gulf War or Iraq War but they are expecting to get one soon. There are murals above of Pilgrims on the Mayflower, The Return of Colors at the end of the Civil War, John Eliot preaching to the Indians and the Battle of the Concord Bridge. He also asked if any of us had seen Plymouth Rock and He said it was disappointing because it was so small. I go to Plymouth often and have to agree with John.

The next room we were taken to was ‘The Great Hall’. It was built in 1990 and is the newest addition of the State House. There was a glass door to get into this hall and I was really happy to see that it had an automatic door installed. It is very wheelchair accessible and easy to get around in this room. John explained that it was built for Governors and their wives to entertain here because Massachusetts Governors don’t have Governor’s Mansions like other states do.

There are 351 flags from each of our cities and towns in Massachusetts hanging way up high. The flags were placed in order to try to get rid of an echo in the room. John asked where we were from and my mom said Lakeville so he pointed out that flag to us. Yet I live in Middleboro, but you know how moms can be. There is also a clock here that was designed by a New York artist hanging in this room but it is really nothing to brag about for it is very modern looking and kind of out of place in this beautiful historical building. There is a law that some money done for renovations has to be used on some type of art and is why we have the clock here today.

John then asked us if we would mind taking the elevator to the 3rd floor for the next part of the tour that was on the Main Staircase, in which the others would walk up the stairs. One of the students said she would show us the elevator and meet the others upstairs. We found the elevator right outside the door on the left side of The Great Hall. We pushed the button and when the doors open, we could only laugh for what a tiny elevator there was again! Of course, Ric had to get a picture of all four of us trying to squeeze into the elevator and the door almost closed on his face until my mom stopped it from closing.

The neat part was that the elevator brought us to a part of third floor that a sign said, “Members Only”. I felt important to be here even if only because the elevator took me here! From here the nice student tour guide took us to the next part of the tour to meet up with the tour group.

We met John and the others in our tour group at the top of the Main Stairs. The lobby and halls up here were very beautiful and very wide and again it was easy to maneuver my power wheelchair around (see my review on my Quantum Tilt Power Wheelchair). Ric took a picture of me by a large statue that was located at the top of the Main Stairs. I think it was of a man named, Watson, but can’t I remember his full name correctly. The important fact I do remember is that the person who sculpted this statue is the same person who later sculpted Abraham Lincoln on the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC.  Abraham Lincoln has the same pose as this man does who I think last or first name was Watson. (See my review on Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC).

The next room we were taken to was the ‘House of Representatives’. My mom called Representative Steve Canessa for he asked her to call him when we got to this room and he met us here. Steve brought me in this room before and I always think it is a very special place to be. Steve joined our tour group and listened as we did. John explained to us that this room was built in 1895 and it is larger than the Senate Chambers. He explained that there are 160 State Representatives and each one represents approximately 35,000 people. Each Representative represents people from different cities and towns in Massachusetts. It is in this room that our legislators conduct business and debate and vote on important bills and laws.

There are old small desks made out of mahogany for each Representative. Each desk has an electronic box in which the Representative can vote “yea” or “nay” or “reset” it to vote again. There is a page button too if the representative needs something. There is an aisle behind the desks for persons touring to look on, which had plenty of room to fit my wheelchair in. The desks were all blocked off with a velvet rope.

Representative Canessa was really nice and opened the rope so I could wheel down to the front of the room where the Speaker of the House sits on a high chair behind a podium. The slope down the main aisle was nice and wide for my wheelchair. Wow!! I really felt important to be down in this area. I looked up and saw all of the desks and was just amazed. I could imagine all the Representatives seated and ready to vote on a bill. Kate, my friend took a picture of me with Representative Canessa.

My friend Ric loves politics. He and my mom get into many long debates about the Presidential election. Ric was so excited to be in this area that he went up to the Podium and acted as if he was going to make a speech. Ric later told me that he was practicing his future speech on the need for a law with strict state guidelines on how to safely transport persons in wheelchairs, which would be similar to the laws on the books regarding the safety of transporting infants and small children. We’ve all realized the need for this since my recent motor vehicle accident.

Representative Canessa told me that a very nice State Representative from Brockton named Tomas Kennedy who is in a wheelchair has a seat here and he pointed out his desk. Representative Kennedy’s desk is in the last row and a section of the mahogany is cut out so he can wheel in his wheelchair right in front of his desk. I’m really glad that Massachusetts has a State Representative who is in a wheelchair representing the public.

There are public galleries above which the public are welcomed to view any legislative session. I didn’t go up there but was told it is wheelchair accessible. John also pointed out a wooden cod fish that hangs above in the center of this room. He told us that it was given to the House of Representatives in 1784 by John Rowe and is meant to symbolize the importance of the fishing industry in Massachusetts. Since this time all have considered it a good luck charm. John told us a funny story that many years ago some students from Harvard stole the fish but returned it three days later.

We left the House of Representatives and I easily maneuvered my wheelchair down to the wide hall to the Executive Chamber. This is the office for the Governor of Massachusetts, now being held by Governor Deval Patrick. I’ve wheeled by this office a few years ago when Governor Romney was our Governor. Governor Romney had it roped off so no visitors could get near it.

There is still a State Trooper outside this area. The State Trooper was very nice and I asked him if Governor Patrick was in but he was not. I recently had the wonderful opportunity to meet Governor Patrick at a function at the Century House and I told him about my ‘The Traveling Wheelchair’ website. (See my review on Century House). I gave him a business card and a ‘The Traveling Wheelchair’ hat with my website name and address on it and wanted to ask him if he checked it out yet.

John then took us down a hallway which crosses the building to the Bulfinch section of the State House. He first took us into the Senate Reception room.  I’ll say it again, the halls are very wide and spacious and there is plenty of room to maneuver my wheelchair. He told us that this large reception room used to be the Senate Chambers many years ago. My mom told me that she attended a meeting in this room a few years ago regarding some issues involving the nursing home I used to live in. Senator Marc Pacheco hosted the meeting and my mom told me that Senator Pacheco always helped with nursing home issues for he really cares about nursing home residents.

John pointed out a golden bird clock which hangs high on the wall in this room. He said it was a one of a kind. The bird is half turkey and half bald eagle. It has a turkey’s neck and head with a bald eagle’s body. Benjamin Franklin, who was born in Massacusetts wanted the turkey to be our national symbol but most others wanted the bald eagle. Well we all know that the American Bald Eagle is the bird that won out here!

We then proceeded across the hall to the Senate Chambers. This room is not as large as House of Representatives. There are 40 State Senators in Massachusetts and each Senator represents approximately 140,000 people. This is the room where Senators debate and vote on current bills which are before the legislators.

Directly above the Senate Chamber is the Golden Dome. John told us it is gilded with 23 karat gold leaf. He explained that the Gold Dome used to be used as a reference point to measure distances to the center of Boston. Well I know my mom still uses it as a reference point to where she wants to go to in Boston. Every time we get lost in Boston, which we often do she tells me to look for the Golden Dome!! Just today we ended up on the wrong side of the river and she stopped her car and asked my friends and I if we could see the Golden Dome to the State House.

We asked the State Trooper if it was ok to take the elevator located next to the Executive Chambers to go back down to the second floor. He told us it was fine. I don’t think this elevator was open for public use when Governor Romney was in office. It’s nice that Governor Patrick has it now open for public use. This elevator is more spacious and fit my wheelchair better than the others I went on today.

The tour was over and we thanked John and said goodbye to the others. We then went down the hall  to the offices of Senators are located to see if Senator Pacheco and his assistant Charles Basler were in the office on this Bunker Hill holiday today. There were offices for Senators on this floor but my mom realized we were not on the floor where Senator Pacheco’s office was. The hall leading to the offices of the Senators has a  slope which is like a ramp and  easy for persons in wheelchairs to wheel up or down. My mom told me that the hall used to have some steps in this area but was replaced with this sloped ramp which is made of same flooring.  She called Charles and left a message that we had stopped by. I hope to go back to the State House one day soon to visit Senator Pacheco and his assistant Charles. I would love to post a picture of me with Senator Pacheco for this review.

I feel very proud to be a citizen of Massachusetts. I am also very grateful to Senator Marc Pacheco, Representative Stephen Canessa, Charles Basler and Marissa Hunnewell for all of their support and help that they offer to me and their other disabled constituents.

I highly recommend that everyone visit and tour our State House in Massachusetts. Our State House is a very beautiful and historic place. Massachusetts played an important part in the history of United States of America.  The tour is FREE! And it’s a wonderful tour!

I give the Massachusetts State House THREE STARS for wheelchair accessibility. A few improvements they could make to earn the other Two Stars would be to add a handicap stall in all the restrooms or clearly mark the locations of the wheelchair accessible restrooms. They also need to place protective coverings over the exposed pipes under the accessible sinks, as this is now required by ADA. They could also place a permanent marble ramp at one of the entry doors leading to the Doric Hall. There are four entry doors leading to Doric Hall and all have marble stairs. The ramp would blend in nicely with the décor of the room and then persons in wheelchairs would not have to depend on a mechanical lift that can easily break down. The lift has been broken for a week. My mom was told by the building management office that a part is on order and it will be repaired once the parts comes in. The only other problem I found was that most of the elevators were too small to fit my wheelchair and all my friends and mom in at one time. Yet, I realize that it would be too costly to enlarge the elevators.

I give Senator Marc Pacheco, Representative Stephen Canessa and Charles and Marissa, their wonderful assistants FIVE STARS for always caring and watching out for the disabled.