Upon retirement from her last assignment with the United Nations in Nairobi, Kenya, Ellen packed up her home in New York City and moved back to the Boston area where she grew up. Joining Boston By Foot in 2014 gave her new insights into the history of the thriving 21st century Boston. The Colonial times have always been of great interest to Ellen so she became a guide for the Heart of the Freedom Trail. Where are you from/where do you live? Currently I live in Arlington but have lived in many places in the world because of job assignments or life adventures. These include Austria, Norway, Kosovo, Kenya and Haiti. How long have you been a BBF guide? Six years. What regular tours do you give for Boston By Foot? Heart of the Freedom Trail. What is your current or past career/occupation? Retired from United Nations, Department of [...] read more

Regina is a world traveler who has been giving tours with Boston By Foot for two years. Her time spent living in both Boston and the UK has allowed her to appreciate the unique architecture and history of our wonderful city. A former teacher, Regina brings her education background to her tours of Beacon Hill where she shares stories of Boston's first residents. Keep reading to learn more about Regina! What attracted you to being a tour guide? I have traveled a lot and I appreciate tour guides who connect well with tourists. So much of Boston's charm is reflected in its history. When I moved to the historic neighborhood of Beacon Hill, my neighbors didn't know much about their own neighborhood so I decided to learn it in depth. Guiding allowed me to share my knowledge while connecting with tourists to this lovely city. Did you have any background in [...] read more

Elisabeth DiCicco is a native Bostonian, but left Beantown after grad school, transferring with her company to the Big Apple. Her career in advertising took her to New York and London over a 15-year period. She played tour guide for a lot of friends over the years as she showed off her adopted cities. When she moved back to Boston back in 2016 to be closer to family (especially her nephews who are now 6 and 4 years old), she joined Boston By Foot so she could rediscover her hometown. She loved the tours so much she jumped at the chance to be a docent with BBF. Elisabeth is part of the Academic Affairs Committee and will be one of the Group Leaders for our upcoming class of 2019 Guides in Training. Where are you from/ where do you live? Beacon Hill, Boston How long have you been a BBF guide? 2 [...] read more

Cloudy Doerre (pronounced “Dory” like the little row boat, or in “Finding Nemo”) grew up on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean in both Hamburg, Germany and a New Jersey suburb of New York City. Growing up on two continents and in two cultures enriched her life early on. Her parents made sure that she learned additional language skills during the summers by spending months at a time abroad in places like Belgium and Venezuela. As a full-time mother and homemaker, Cloudy raised three children. Now she is spreading her wings. She recently worked on tall ships in the Caribbean and currently owns and operates Liberty Fleet of Tall Ships, based on Long Wharf, with her husband. A lifelong yearning to be at sea has been surprisingly realized, and while she enjoyed working on schooners, it was hard to be away from home for months at a time. So Cloudy [...] read more

Charlie Eisenmann and his wife Betsy currently live in Central Massachusetts. They would love to downsize and move into the City over the next couple years. Whether that’s a dream or reality, time will tell! Where are you from/where do you live? Grew up in Hingham, Mass. After living out of state for 13 years (Washington, DC, Baltimore, Atlanta), I moved to Shrewsbury which is where my family and I reside today. How long have you been a BBF guide? This is my 10th season. What regular tours do you give for Boston By Foot? Beacon Hill and Road to Revolution. What is your current or past career/occupation? I have been working for Liberty Mutual Insurance for 33 years. My current position is Director of Business Lines distribution in CT, MA and RI. Contrary to popular sentiment, insurance is a great business. What [...] read more

Carter Lowe’s father grew up on a Civil War battlefield, and passed along his passion for history to his son. Paired with a love of architecture developed over a few years walking around DC listening to podcasts like 99% Invisible , Boston By Foot was a perfect match. This is his first year giving the Beacon Hill tour, and hopes to expand next year to Reinventing Boston: A City Engineered. Where are you from/ where do you live? I live in the South End, by way of South Carolina and DC. How long have you been a BBF guide? 1 year What regular tours do you give for Boston By Foot? Beacon Hill What is your current or past career/occupation? Technical recruiter for Mondo, an IT and Digital Marketing staffing company What attracted you to BBF/being a tour guide? I’ve always loved history, but never got to take any coursework in [...] read more

Sharon Fogarty grew up as an Army brat living mainly in Germany and Italy, as well as on a few Army bases in the U. S. Growing up bilingual (mom is from Germany), it gave her an appreciation for other cultures and languages. Sharon has always had a love for U. S. History, an appreciation that can be traced back to her love of reading The Childhood of Famous Americans book series while in elementary school. Sharon has been a member of Boston By Foot since 1998 and has participated on many committees (mostly with the Academic Affairs Committee). She tried her hand in writing her first tour - South Boston’s Broadway - in 2018. Given initially as a Continuing Education tour in 2018, it will be part of the Featured Tours lineup in 2019. Sharon gives mainly The Dark Side of Boston, Boston By Little Feet, Beacon Hill and Heart of [...] read more

Gretchen Grozier grew up as an Air Force brat, and got to live all over the world. But she always loved coming to visit her grandmother in Massachusetts and exploring the State’s rich history with her. Gretchen joined Boston By Foot in 1999 (this is her 20th year! ) and has participated on various committees (Academic Affairs, Tour of the Month, Special Tours). She has written many new tours, which often seem to feature a hill: Chestnut Hill , Ashmont Hill , Roxbury Highlands , Carruth's Hill . Gretchen gives The Dark Side of Boston, Boston By Little Feet, Beacon Hill and the Hub of Literary America tours most regularly. What regular tours do you give for Boston By Foot? Beacon Hill, Beacon Hill With a BOO! , The Dark Side of Boston, Boston By Little Feet, The Hub of Literary America, The North End: Gateway to Boston What is your current or past [...] read more

Jean is a lifelong resident of Boston. She grew up in the Mission Hill neighborhood and moved to Dorchester upon marriage. She currently lives in the Pope’s Hill neighborhood where members of the Hunt Family have lived for over 130 years! Jean worked as a nurse practitioner at Massachusetts General Hospital. She joined Boston By Foot in 2010 and has learned so much from the program and from colleagues. She serves as a member of the Continuing Education committee. Earlier this year, she helped arrange an Andrew Saxe lecture on the Hidden Gems of Dorchester that was held at UMass Boston's newest on-campus theater. The lecture was presented collaboratively with the Osher Lifelong Learning Program at UMass Boston. In the past, Jean has participated as a guide on the Labor Day Bigfoot Tour. In 2010, she organized an informal ad hoc committee named "Boston by Book," which meets monthly from September [...] read more

Billy Lewand is a New York native who is starting his third season with Boston By Foot this Spring. After taking several walking tours abroad, Billy decided to put his teaching background to use and become a tour guide in his own city. Thanks to his time with Boston By Foot, Billy has become a certifiable architecture fiend who will frequently try to guess the construction dates of 19th century homes based on their fenestration. What tour do you give for Boston By Foot? My favorite tour is my regular tour, the Hub of Literary America. My background is in English literature, so it was a pretty easy choice for me when I joined Boston by Foot. We tend to get a lot of teachers on the tour, which is fun, because I love hearing about how the history of Hawthorne, Alcott, Emerson, et al. is taught in classrooms, and I also love [...] read more

Steve Loher grew up in San Francisco, or more specifically, across the Bay in El Cerrito. He was attracted early (around five years of age) to the organ and it became his profession, along with choral conducting. He became a church musician because that is where organists and choirmasters can make money. In 1987, he moved to Boston to work full-time at the Christian Science Center, where he gives tours of The Mother Church. Where are you from/ where do you live? From San Francisco, but have lived in Boston for 30 years! I live in the East Fens on Gainsborough Street. How long have you been a BBF guide? About nine years. What regular tours do you give for Boston By Foot? I only do Heart of the Freedom Trail. What is your current or past career/occupation? Organist/choral musician. What attracted you to BBF/being a tour [...] read more

Something that truly sets Boston By Foot apart from other organizations is the diversity of interests and professions of our volunteers. We have historians, teachers, scientists, artists, and everything in between giving our tours. With over 200 volunteers, we’re always discovering something new about them! For instance, did you know that one of our guides helped design the Boeing 747? Longtime Bostonian Bob Malsberger has been living in the city for more than 45 years, yet he just joined the BBF community in 2016. How did he go from designing the iconic “Jumbo Jet” to leading Boston By Foot’s Road to Revolution tour? Read more below to find out! What attracted you to Boston By Foot/being a tour guide? I’ve lived in Boston since 1970, initially on Beacon Hill, and now in Jamaica Plain, and have always been fascinated by what an interesting and unique city it is. When my wife [...] read more

Originally from Indiana, Kurt has been living in Boston for the past nine years. As a historian, Kurt has been working in libraries and archives for over a decade and therefore is no stranger to Boston's fascinating history and has been giving tours with Boston By Foot for three years. Keep reading to learn more about Kurt! What attracted you to being a tour guide? I love history and enjoy sharing that knowledge with others. I've worked primarily at The Mary Baker Eddy Library. We house the papers of Mary Baker Eddy, who founded The First Church of Christ, Scientist, whose headquarters are located in the Back Bay. As an archivist, it's my job to help others who want to access the collections as well as answer queries from patrons, which sometimes includes employees of the Church. As of late my work has consisted of doing special activities--which include an annotated chronology [...] read more

Heather Pence has been living in and giving tours of Boston for the past 20 years. Originally from New York, Heather joined Boston By Foot in its 22nd season and currently gives The Dark Side of Boston tour as well as several other special topic tours. What attracted you to being a tour guide? I love taking tours. I took a lot of tours from the Chicago Architectural Foundation when I lived in Chicago and loved learning about the history and the architecture. I never became a docent with them, but when I moved to Boston and found out about BBF, I thought, "I'm not letting this opportunity pass me by! " I give fewer regular tours these days, but love giving special tours or tours of the month. I love learning about new neighborhoods - like the SOWA tour of the month in August - today I know very little about it, but [...] read more

Born and raised just outside of Boston, Michele Steinberg has felt deeply connected to the city all her life. She has worked at various organizations throughout Boston such as the Massachusetts Department of Conservation & Recreation, among others. Most recently, Michele returned to her hometown of Quincy to join the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) where she has been working since 2002. When she is not managing the NFPA’s Wildland Fire Operations Division, Michele can be found out in the city, guiding our Architecture Cruise , Boston By Little Feet , Heart of the Freedom Trail , North End , Road to Revolution and Dark Side of Boston tours. She also enjoys giving special tours from time to time. As if that isn’t enough, as a member of BBF’s publicity committee, Michele also helps run our Twitter account. In her [...] read more

Seasoned veteran guide Liam Sullivan has been with Boston By Foot for 18 years. Prior to joining us up north in Boston, Liam worked as an historical interpreter down south in Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia. Though he is currently focused on our Dark Side of Boston tour and our Tours of the Month, his impressive repertoire of past-guided tours includes the North End, Boston By Little Feet, Road to Revolution, Historic Waterfront, and Reinventing Boston: A City Engineered. What attracted you to Boston By Foot/being a tour guide? Having worked in a history museum I missed being able to talk with the public about my passion for history. I also love learning and sharing new things about Boston. Might as well make it a hobby. Did you have any background in history/architecture before joining BBF? At Colonial Williamsburg, I led tours of 7 different buildings: the Capitol, the Public Gaol, the Governor’s Palace, [...] read more