Hahvahd Tour

A tour company started and staffed by Harvard University undergraduates offers an entertaining insider’s look at the powerhouse school’s campus. 

The Hahvahd Tour is spelled the way an old Boston accent would have it, without the Rs. Think the clichés of “park” as “pahk” and “cah” instead of “car.”

You’ll notice the Unofficial Tour (UT) groups in a walk around Harvard Square. Two enthusiastic students wearing broad-brimmed hats will be leading locals and out-of-town visitors. One guide will be walking backward and talking.

Student guides don’t seem overawed by the impressive school they describe. That’s part of the UT charm, with an insider’s view, amusing Harvard facts, iconoclastic stories and tongue-in-cheek anecdotes.

The two-guide tours provide two knowledgeable voices. This also lets one watch, and hopefully prevent, the backwards-walking guide from crashing into an outdoor-cafe table.  

Guides wear colorful hats to not only block the sun but help tour stragglers identify the leaders during the 70- to 80-minute walk through Johnson Gate into Harvard Yard, past ornate Memorial Hall, Widener Library, the imposing hub of the largest private library collection in the world, and Memorial Church (site of graduation ceremonies).

The tour winds around Harvard locations to a little park next to Winthrop Street, to finish with a gratis appetizer at Tommy Doyle’s pub.

Tours begin by the main Harvard Red Line T-station next to the Cambridge Information Kiosk in Harvard Square. The closest street address is 1374 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge. There’s no set charge, but a $10 donation is suggested.

Some 43,000 people took the Hahvahd Tour last year, said UT Vice President Antonio Reyes.

“Harvard is an icon of excellence in education,” Reyes said. “Yes, most parents do arrive with hope that their kids will be inspired. Most people think Harvard students are just a bunch of arrogant nerds. They discover that they’re just ordinary kids who have applied themselves.”

HelloBoston Tip: UT founder Daniel Andrew was a 20-year-old Harvard junior when he took time off and started the company in 2006. After a semester fine-tuning the operation, he got his undergraduate degree in 2007. The company now also offers Freedom Trail tours in Boston.

- by Dan Sheridan, Boston Reporter for HelloMetro  (Click to leave a message)

Dan Sheridan

Dan Sheridan is an editor, reporter and media specialist with a background in newspapers, magazines and publishing. He has reported from Tokyo, Singapore and Bangkok and wrote Access Boston, the popular guidebook, from 2002 to 2008.