Nancy Drew vs. Reality (in Boston!)

Nancy Drew, iconic detective, traveled to Boston to solve the mystery of a "haunted" ship in The Secret of the Wooden Lady (©1967).

Last year, I also went to Boston! I went to visit my sister, and I took lots of photos to compare the scenery of modern Massachusetts with descriptions from the book.

Here is the story of Nancy's adventure, and how it compares to modern-day reality. (All photos were taken by me.)

The Ship

The main setting of this case is the Bonny Scot, an old clipper ship in Boston Harbor where Captain Easterly, a friend of Nancy's father, lives. Here is an example of a clipper ship currently located in Boston Harbor:

"Notice her long prow," says Captain Easterly (pg 24).

Once aboard the ship, Nancy hears an intruder. "Suddenly Nancy stopped at the foot of the main companionway. Someone was not far off--someone moving very softly" (26).

A "companionway" is a staircase between decks of a ship. The design allows it to be sealed off in case of inclement weather, preventing water from entering the interior of the ship. Here's a companionway I encountered on the Charlestown Ferry (part of Boston's public transit system!):

Nancy first sees the intruder after he escapes the ship and starts rowing away. But "he would soon be out of sight among the small craft in the water" (28).

When I visited, the harbor was much less crowded than in Nancy's experience. Most of the water was completely empty. I did see these small craft anchored, but they're far too sparse for anyone to be "out of sight among" them:

Perhaps this is due to a seasonal difference. I visited during a chilly October, while Nancy visited during the summer (125).

The Waterfront

Next, Nancy does "a little investigating along the waterfront" (34). She, along with her friends Bess and George, "strolled past interesting shops filled with ship's supplies--lanterns, compasses, caulking cord, hardtack, fishing nets, and lines. Nancy stopped to speak to several longshoremen" (35).

This illustrates a significant change in the setting of Boston Harbor since the 1960s. Now, the waterfront has practically zero shipping-related activity. Instead, it features numerous luxury apartments and some fancy office buildings.

The entire longshoreman profession (workers who load and unload cargo from ships) has apparently declined dramatically since the 1960s, due to the increase in use of shipping containers, which drastically reduce the amount of manpower needed to unload a ship. Therefore, you're unlikely to encounter any longshoremen around Boston Harbor today.

Boston

After another shipboard incident, in which Nancy got locked in a wardrobe and the captain's quarters were seriously vandalized, Nancy calls the police, who ask her to come to police headquarters to talk to their lieutenant (49).

Here is today's Boston police headquarters:

Nancy would have visited the old police headquarters building, which is now a hotel.

After this, Nancy and friends decide to sail the ship away from Boston to get away from the criminals. First, they "get a tug to tow them out into the open water" (71):

Then, they sail to "a secluded Cape Cod port" (72).

Cape Cod

On shore in Cape Cod, Nancy spots one of the suspects, who runs away over a sand dune. "Nancy ran after him, tripped as her heel caught the top of a hummock, and fell," which gave him time to escape (95).

"The little mounds of sand, tufted with stiff grass, stretched for miles along the shore" (95). I can confirm that this is an accurate description.

Nancy's hunt for information about the Bonny Scot's missing figurehead leads her to spend a lot of time reading books in a figurehead carver's barn. Unfortunately, I did not encounter any figurehead-carving activities (in a barn or otherwise) during my trip.

Eventually, Nancy determines that the Bonny Scot was actually known as the Dream of Melissa before it was captured by pirates and resold. The Dream of Melissa apparently sailed from Provincetown, MA on its "last known voyage" (125), so Nancy heads there next.

Provincetown

"When she stepped from the bus, Nancy gasped in delight at the quaint old town. No wonder so many artists came here to paint the weathered houses, the flower gardens, the little shops, the old fishing boats tied up at the wharves" (125).

Unlike Boston, Provincetown still closely matches the descriptions in The Secret of the Wooden Lady. It has an abundance of picturesque weathered houses, shops, and fishing boats.

When Nancy begins investigating in Provincetown, the first person she runs into is an artist sketching outside. I did not see any artists working outside, probably because it was 55°F (13°C) and windy. Art is still very popular in Provincetown; I saw at least four art galleries within one short walking distance.

The artist tells Nancy that she should talk to a Mrs. Smythe, who lives in a "gray-shingled cottage" (126):

Next, Nancy tracks down one of her suspects in "a studio fronting the harbor" which was set up in "an old fishing shack" (154). This concept has been kept alive today with sheds built specifically for artists to rent:

In the end, the criminals flee, but they are finally "captured on the road to Boston" (173):

And everyone lived happily ever after....until Nancy had to go track down a treasure-hunting professor who was kidnapped in Mexico...but that's a different story :).

Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed this story :)

If you'd like to order a copy of The Secret of the Wooden Lady for yourself, and help support my writing, you can use my affiliate link. (thank you for your support!) The book includes many more scenes that I didn't mention in this story because they weren't conducive to photographic comparisons.