Boston keeps its history in working buildings, not glass cases: the balcony where five men died in 1770, the hall where the Tea Party began, the cemetery holding Winthrop and Revere. Three days follow the city from Puritan landfall to independence.
Boston's oldest cemetery (1630) holds Governor John Winthrop and Mary Chilton, who stepped off the Mayflower. Beside it, the 1749 Quincy-granite chapel keeps its box pews and the largest bell Paul Revere ever cast, hung in 1816.
The 1713 brick seat of colonial government. Below its east balcony five men were shot dead in the Boston Massacre on 5 March 1770; from that same balcony the Declaration of Independence was read aloud to the city on 18 July 1776.
Some 5,000 colonists packed this 1729 Congregational hall on 16 December 1773 until Samuel Adams gave the signal that sent the Tea Party to the wharf. Phillis Wheatley, the first published African American poet, worshipped in this congregation.
Laid out in 1660 next to the town grain store, this single acre holds Samuel Adams, John Hancock, Paul Revere, the five Boston Massacre victims and Benjamin Franklin's parents under an 1827 obelisk. Open daily until dusk, free entry.
Launched in 1797, Old Ironsides is the world's oldest commissioned warship still afloat — British 18-pounder shot bounced off her live-oak hull in the 1812 duel with HMS Guerriere. Active-duty US Navy sailors in 1813 dress uniform guide the deck.
The 67-metre granite obelisk marks the battle of 17 June 1775, actually fought on Breed's Hill, where roughly 1,050 British soldiers fell in three uphill assaults. 294 spiral steps climb to four small windows over the harbour. Free.
Charles Bulfinch's 1798 capitol stands on John Hancock's former cow pasture. Its dome went from wood shingle to Revere-rolled copper to 23-karat gold leaf, and free guided tours pass the Sacred Cod, hanging in the House chamber since 1784.
Overnight on 4 March 1776 Washington's men dragged the Fort Ticonderoga cannon up this drumlin; the British fleet sailed out of Boston thirteen days later. A white marble tower of 1902 crowns Thomas Park in South Boston.
At 46 Joy Street stands the 1806 African Meeting House, the oldest Black church building still standing in the US. William Lloyd Garrison founded the New England Anti-Slavery Society here in 1832 and the 54th Regiment recruited from its pews.
Built around 1680 and the oldest surviving dwelling in downtown Boston, this North End clapboard house was Revere's home when he rode out on the night of 18 April 1775. Admission is $6; the courtyard holds a bell cast at his own foundry.
Replica brigs Beaver and Eleanor float on the Fort Point Channel near where Griffin's Wharf stood. Visitors take a colonist's role, heave crates over the rail, and see the Robinson Half Chest, one of two tea chests surviving from that night.
Boston's second-oldest cemetery, opened 1659 on the North End's highest ground, which British gunners used to shell Charlestown in June 1775. Increase and Cotton Mather lie in the brick tomb; about 1,000 free Black Bostonians rest at the north corner.