When you live in a city for any length of time, it’s easy to become complacent. You take the same routes, you look at the same things, you can miss a lot. One of my favorite discoveries when researching my latest book was this unique piece of artwork on Winthrop Lane that literally gets stepped on every day, often by people who don’t even notice it.

There are nearly 100 brick-sized reliefs in bronze installed seemingly haphazardly among the other bricks and they offer a snapshot of Boston’s history, highlights, monuments, and much more.

Called Boston Bricks, A Celebration of Boston’s Past and Present, the project was underwritten by the Browne Fund in Boston and A. W. Perry and Ryan Associates, created by artists Kate Burke and Gregg LeFevre, and installed in 1985.

Scenes run the gamut from the serious, like the Boston Tea Party and the Underground Railroad, to the funny, like a high-heeled shoe, which pays homage to Boston’s now-defunct red-light district, the Combat Zone, and a monster behind the wheel of a car, perhaps a nod to Boston’s reputation for bad drivers. There’s even a scene of the famous Smoots prank by MIT students.

It’s definitely worth a detour from the Freedom Trail to check them out. And, for what it’s worth, this is a sight that can be enjoyed while socially distancing, but if you can’t visit in person, you can see the bricks on the artist’s website here.

And if you want to discover more places about Boston’s hidden treasures, buy my book, Secret Boston: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful, and Obscure! You can click here to order a copy from my publisher. or support your favorite local bookstore, and order a copy from them.