A 'finished place'

The Boston Athenaeum, built in 1847

“New England is a finished place. Its destiny is that of Florence or Venice, not Milan while the American empire careens onward toward its unpredicted end. . . . It is the first American section to be finished to achieve stability in the conditions of its life. It is the first old civilization, the first permanent civilization in America.’’

— Bernard DeVoto (1897-1955), historian and essayist