Boston (population 685,000 in the city, 4.9 million in the Greater Boston metro — the capital of Massachusetts and the most historically important city in the United States) is where America's history begins: the Boston Massacre (March 5, 1770), the Boston Tea Party (December 16, 1773), the Battles of Lexington and Concord (April 19, 1775), Paul Revere's Ride — the events that precipitated the American Revolution all occurred in or immediately around Boston, and the city's identity is still deeply shaped by its role as the "Cradle of Liberty." Boston is also America's most European city: the density of colonial and Federal-period architecture on Beacon Hill (the most intact colonial residential neighborhood in the US), the walkability of the compact downtown and Back Bay, the emphasis on education (the Boston-Cambridge metro area has 35+ universities, including Harvard (founded 1636 — the oldest university in the US) and MIT (founded 1861)), and the strong Irish-American community (Boston has the highest concentration of Irish-Americans per capita in the US — 15.7% of the city identifies as Irish-American, a legacy of the Great Famine emigration of 1845–1852) that gives the city its distinctive pub culture, civic combativeness and passionate attachment to its sports teams (the Boston Red Sox, the New England Patriots, the Boston Celtics and the Boston Bruins).
The Freedom Trail (the 4km self-guided walking trail through 16 historic sites in central Boston and Charlestown, marked by a red brick or painted line in the sidewalk: beginning at Boston Common (the oldest public park in the US, 1634 — the grazing ground for cattle, the place of public executions and, during the Revolutionary War, the encampment of the British Army under General Gage), proceeding to the Massachusetts State House (Charles Bulfinch, 1798 — the gold dome visible across Boston: the most important example of Federal-period architecture in America), the Granary Burying Ground (the third-oldest cemetery in Boston, where Paul Revere, Samuel Adams, John Hancock and the victims of the Boston Massacre are buried), the Old South Meeting House (the church where the Boston Tea Party was planned on December 16, 1773), the Old State House (1713 — the oldest surviving public building in Boston: from the balcony of this building, the Declaration of Independence was first read to Bostonians on July 18, 1776), and the Boston Massacre site (the cobblestones in front of the Old State House where the British soldiers shot five colonists on March 5, 1770 — the event that galvanized American public opinion toward independence).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideBeacon Hill (the 19th-century residential neighborhood on the hill immediately west of the Massachusetts State House — the most architecturally intact pre-Civil War residential neighborhood in the US: the narrow cobblestone streets (Acorn Street — the most photographed street in Boston: a 60m-long cobblestone alley of attached Federal-period brick row houses, still lit by gas lamps, built in the 1820s–1840s for the working-class staff of the wealthy Beacon Hill families who lived on the nearby Chestnut Street and Mount Vernon Street), the Charles Street (the main commercial street of Beacon Hill: the independent bookshops, the antique dealers, the specialty food shops), and the Louisburg Square (the private residential square maintained by the abutting property owners — the most exclusive address in Boston: Louisa May Alcott lived at No. 10, and John Kerry at No. 19).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideFaneuil Hall Marketplace and Quincy Market (the historic market complex in downtown Boston — the Faneuil Hall (1742: the meeting house where the revolutionary leaders Samuel Adams and James Otis gave their most important speeches — known as the "Cradle of Liberty") and the adjacent Quincy Market (the long granite market building from 1826, designed by Alexander Parris in the Greek Revival style, now a food market with over 30 vendors): the New England clam chowder (the thick, cream-based chowder with hard-shell clams (Mercenaria mercenaria — the quahog, the specific New England clam used in the authentic chowder), potatoes and pork belly, the defining New England dish: the best version at Quincy Market in a sourdough bread bowl (the hollowed sourdough boule used as the serving vessel — the most photographed Boston food presentation).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideBoston's Irish pub culture (the result of the massive Irish-American presence in the city — 15.7% of Boston is Irish-American, and the neighborhood of South Boston (Southie) was historically 90% Irish-American): the Hampshire House (84 Beacon Street — the bar that inspired the TV show Cheers (1982–1993): the bar on the same block as the Bull and Finch pub that was the physical model for the fictional bar. The Bull and Finch pub itself (now branded as Cheers) is at 84 Beacon Street, with the exterior used in the opening credits of the show). Sam Adams beer (the Boston Lager — the most important craft beer brand in the US, founded in Boston in 1984 by Jim Koch in the family kitchen using his great-great-grandfather's recipe, now the second-largest craft brewer in America): the Boston Lager is available at every bar in the city.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideHarvard University (Cambridge — Harvard Yard (the original 9-acre yard of the university, with the first permanent building (the Massachusetts Hall, 1720, still in use) and the John Harvard statue (1884 — the statue of the Puritan minister John Harvard who bequeathed his library of 400 books and half his estate to the new college in 1638: the statue is a "statue of three lies" (the face is not John Harvard, it is a student model; the founding date inscribed is wrong (1638 instead of the actual 1636); and the name is wrong (Harvard was not the founder but the first major benefactor))): the Harvard Art Museums (the Fogg Museum, the Busch-Reisinger and the Arthur M. Sackler combined under Renzo Piano's 2014 renovation: the most important university art collection in the US, with Rembrandt, Monet, Picasso and the finest collection of German Expressionism outside Germany).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideMassachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT — 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge: the world's most cited research university (Times Higher Education), ranked #1 globally for engineering and computer science, where 97 Nobel Laureates have been affiliated as students, faculty or staff (the most of any single institution): the campus architecture is a deliberate contrast to Harvard's Georgian brick — the Stata Center (Frank Gehry, 2004: the titanium-clad, apparently collapsing building housing the Computer Science and AI Laboratory — the most written-about new building of the 2000s) and the Kresge Auditorium (Eero Saarinen, 1955: the thin concrete shell dome). The MIT Museum (265 Massachusetts Avenue: the robotics, artificial intelligence and holography collections, free on Sundays).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideIsabella Stewart Gardner Museum (280 The Fenway — the Venetian palazzo built by Isabella Stewart Gardner (1840–1924) to house her personal art collection, opened to the public in 1903: the collection is displayed exactly as Gardner arranged it in 1903 (her will stipulated that nothing could be moved, sold or loaned — the museum must display the works in the exact positions Gardner set, and if this is violated the collection passes to Harvard University). The most extraordinary thing in the museum: the 13 empty frames. On March 18, 1990, two men dressed as Boston police officers entered the museum and stole 13 works — including the only Vermeer in a private collection in the US (The Concert, c. 1664) and 3 Rembrandts — in the largest art theft in history ($500M+). The frames have been left empty, as per Gardner's will, until the works are recovered. 30+ years later, they remain missing.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideNeptune Oyster (63 Salem Street, North End — the finest raw bar in Boston: the raw oysters (the New England oysters: the Wellfleet (the Cape Cod oyster — one of the most celebrated oysters in the world: the cold, clean Atlantic waters of the Wellfleet Harbor produce an oyster with a mineral salinity, a slightly sweet finish and a firm texture that distinguishes it from the Pacific oyster), the Island Creek (the Plymouth, Massachusetts oyster, cultivated in a tidal estuary, with a buttery flavor)), and the legendary lobster roll (the Maine lobster (Homarus americanus) — the cold-water Atlantic lobster: the meat of the claw, knuckle and tail dressed with the light mayo and served in the split-top hot dog bun that is the specific New England lobster roll bread, served warm (the butter-toasted bun) and cold (the chilled lobster meat): the Neptune Oyster lobster roll is considered the best in Boston by widespread agreement.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideBoston Public Garden (the 24-acre botanical garden adjacent to Boston Common, separated by Charles Street — the first public botanical garden in the US, established 1837: the Swan Boats (the pedal-powered swan-shaped boats operating on the lagoon since 1877 — the same family (the Paget family) has operated them continuously: the most characteristic Boston summer experience), the weeping willows along the lagoon edge, and the "Make Way for Ducklings" sculpture (the bronze ducks based on the 1941 Robert McCloskey children's book, one of the most-photographed public artworks in Boston — the duck family (Mrs. Mallard and her eight ducklings: Jack, Kack, Lack, Mack, Nack, Ouack, Pack and Quack) crosses the Public Garden path in the book).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideBack Bay (the 19th-century neighborhood built on landfill in the tidal flats of the Charles River, 1857–1882: the most architecturally intact Victorian neighborhood in the US — the brownstone row houses in the unified Second Empire and Romanesque Revival styles (the streets named A through H alphabetically: Arlington, Berkeley, Clarendon, Dartmouth, Exeter, Fairfield, Gloucester, Hereford — with Commonwealth Avenue (the most grand boulevard, with the 4-lane tree-lined mall)). Newbury Street (the 8-block commercial main street of Back Bay: the gallery district (the northern end, near Arlington Street) transitioning to the boutique and café zone (the southern end, near Mass Ave): the most pleasant shopping street in Boston.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideMuseum of Fine Arts Boston (465 Huntington Avenue — one of the most encyclopedic art museums in the US (the 5th largest by collection size): the Ancient Egyptian collections (the MFA conducted the major early 20th-century excavations at Giza and retains a substantial portion of the finds — a collection that is now contested by Egypt), the collection of American paintings and decorative arts (the most important in the US), the Impressionist paintings (including the finest collection of Japanese woodblock prints in the Western world — the result of the 19th-century American fascination with Japan: Ernest Fenollosa and William Sturgis Bigelow, two Boston collectors who went to Japan in the Meiji period, assembled the most important collection of Japanese art outside Japan, now held by the MFA Boston (the collection includes works by Hokusai and Hiroshige that are unavailable outside Japan).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe North End (the oldest residential neighborhood in Boston — the original Boston settlement (1630): now the Italian-American neighborhood, the home of Paul Revere (the Paul Revere House at 19 North Square, built 1680 — the oldest surviving structure in downtown Boston), and the center of the Boston cannoli culture: the rivalry between Mike's Pastry (300 Hanover Street — the larger, louder, more touristy of the two: the cannoli with the thick ricotta filling and the choices of chocolate chip, pistachio or candied citrus peel) and Modern Pastry (257 Hanover Street — the local favorite: the more old-fashioned, less commercial bakery with the more authentic Sicilian cannoli recipe and the shorter queue). The cannoli war is the most harmless and delicious civic dispute in Boston.
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