In my opinion, June is the best month to watch a sunset in Boston. The place to do it is from the banks of the Charles River. It isn’t a hugely popular thing to do – no crowds of people staring at the sun or anything like that – but I’d still suggest getting there around thirty minutes or so before sunset if you are the sort who likes having a seat.
There are many little reasons why June is a little better than the other months for these sunsets. It’s warmer, it seems to last a little longer, and so on. The optics are probably the best of the trivial reasons. The position of the sun in June works out really well for the folks like me who are sitting around on the Boston side of the river. Unlike in the winter – when the sun seems to set in a hurry over the Cambridge Side Galleria Mall – the summer sunset takes place a little further up the river. This gives us viewers a much larger evening sky to work with and extends the length of the overall sunset experience.
The most important reason, however, is timing. The sunset on June 1 is at 8:14 PM and slowly moves later and later in the day as the month progresses. By June 22, the longest day of the year, the sunset is at 8:24 PM. This feels about right to me. A sunset earlier in the evening is simply too early. I like how it happens in June. When sunsets take place well past the eight o’clock hour, I can get out to my spot around eight, enjoy the buildup to the big moment, and still have a little light on my walk home.
I tried to think about why I feel the timing is so important. My conclusion was fairly straightforward – a good sunset is bittersweet. When the beauty of the transitioning sky completes its shift to night, the uplifting emotion of sunset slowly gives way to a lingering sadness. There isn’t much point to carrying such a feeling around with me through a long night. The sunset after eight finds the right balance – early enough to make it an enjoyable event yet late enough for me to go to bed without letting myself get sucked into the expanding darkness of the night.
