No, we are not claiming that Leif Erickson was a member of the LGBTQ community, but a 1887 statue of him was created by one of the city's most prominent lesbians. To take your mind off current events, we present to you the curious story of the statue of Leif Erickson on Commonwealth Avenue near Kenmore Square.

Eben Horton Horsford was obsessed with the idea that Vikings had visited New England, even believing that there were the remains of a house built by them in Cambridge (there is also a statue of Erickson paid for by Horsford in Cambridge). Horsford was a chemist who had become extremely wealthy after inventing double acting baking powder. His brand is still around today so the next time you see his Rumford Baking Powder, think of his Viking obsession.

There is no reason to believe that Vikings visited Boston or New England. The remains of a North American settlement have been found in Newfoundland, about 1500 miles away but there is no evidence that Leif Erickson or his people sailed this far south. Horsford decided to honor Erickson anyway.

Anne Whitney was a famous sculptor. Born in Watertown in 1821, Whitney at first was a schoolteacher in Salem but she moved to New York and Philadelphia to pursue a career as an artist. One impediment to her studies was that women were not allowed to study male anatomy or participate in life drawing of male models. 

Whitney was in a lifelong Boston Marriage with a lesser known artist, Adeline Manning. They began their romance in 1860 and by 1862 they were living together; their relationship lasting until Manning's death in 1906. For a time, the couple lived in Rome where they were part of the circle of lesbian artists that clustered around the famous actress, Charlotte Cushing. In Boston they first lived at 92 Mt. Vernon Street, then they moved to the Charlesgate Hotel. The couple was friends with other prominent lesbians of their time including Annie Fields and Edmonia Lewis.

She sculpted Sam Adams for the US Capitol (a copy is in front of Faneuil Hall) and John Keats for the memorial in his church in England. Other works include statues of Harriet Beecher Stowe, Harvard President Edward Pickering, and Robert Gould Shaw. She also produced a statue of Horsford, so it is natural that he turned to her for the Erickson statue.

Whitney is buried in Mount Auburn Cemetery next to Manning. So the next time you see the Leif Erickson statue in Kenmore Square or bake using double-acting baking soda, think of Whitney and that golden age of lesbian relationships in 1890s Boston.

Stay safe!