Elizabeth Foster Goose - Charlestown, MA
Posted by: 
neoc1
N 42° 22.322 W 071° 03.711
19T E 330237 N 4693143
A bas-relief medallion sculpture honoring Elizabeth Foster Goose is located at the second gateway to City Square Park in Charlestown, MA.
Waymark Code: WMHQBB
Location: Massachusetts, United States
Date Posted: 08/04/2013
Views: 7
According to the people of Boston, MA the original Mother Goose was Elizabeth Foster Goose, the wife of Isaac Goose (or Vergoose or Vertigoose), who was born in Charlestown in 1665. It is said that when "Mother Goose" sang rhymes to her grandchildren other children would gather to hear them. Her son-in-law, a printer, gathered her rhymes and fairy tales into a printed volume which was published as Mother Goose Rhymes in 1719.
Between 1993 and 1995 the Halvorson Company, Inc. was hired to design City Square Park. Together with sculptor David Phillps four gateways were constructed each with a pair of famous Charlestown residents. A bronze medallion in honor Elizabeth Foster Goose is on the right side of the arts and humanities gateway.
An oval medallion is inscribed:
ELIZABETH FOSTER GOOSE
1665 - 1757
MOTHER GOOSE RHYMES
ARTS AND HUMANITIES
Inside is a bas-relief sculpture of the scene from the nursery rhyme: "There Was an Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe".