Because of its location beside three hills on the mouth of the Charles River, Boston was originally called Trimountain. This was before being named after the English town in Lincolnshire, the original home of several founding Puritan families. Boston’s sharp Puritan roots have been softened but it still retains an ethic of commitment to life as a whole, be that sports, pastimes, work, cafes, bars or culture.
Boston
As the capital of the original Massachusetts Bay Colony founded in 1630, it is the place where the Boston Tea Party (1773) took place, leading to the Revolutionary War against British colonial rule.
In the Cambridge district of Boston is Harvard College which was founded in 1638.
Today one out of every 10 Bostonian residents is a student at one of the city’s 57 university, college and research establishments.
Boston has many famous sons, the most famous being the statesman, scientist and inventor Benjamin Franklin.
Refering to itself as the ‘Walking City’, Franklin’s Boston can be rediscovered on foot.
The Freedom Trail, around 2.5 miles long, is a physical manifestation of the birth of the modern American Republic.
The Black Heritage Trail, around 1.6 miles long, is an insight into black American history as the city was a goal of black slaves escaping the oppressive South on the ‘Underground Railway’.
KEY FACTS
Location – Massachusetts, northeast USA.
Time zone – GMT – 5 (GMT – 4 from second Sunday in March to first Sunday in November).
Average January temperatures – - 2ºC (29ºF).
Average July temperatures – 23ºC (73.5ºF).
CLIMATE
Boston has the typical east coast climate of hot, humid summers and freezing winters.
THINGS TO SEE AND DO
Boston has plenty of history to experience, although there are lots of other activities to enjoy. There are many bargain holidays to Boston available throughout the internet.
North End
Some of the city’s main attractions are walking tours. The Freedom Trail takes in the city’s revolutionary past, while the Black Heritage Trail highlights Boston’s part in the USA’s anti-slavery history.
Boston’s oldest section, the North End, now the Italian quarter, contains Boston’s narrowest house, at 44 Hull Street, which is just 9.5ft wide.
Boston Common
Boston Common, as old as the city itself, is a huge central plot of greenery where cattle and sheep originally grazed. To its north and northeast sides is Beacon Hill, where the Massachusetts State House is situated, historically the centre of power and wealth.
To the south side of the common are Chinatown and the Theatre District.
Over the river is Harvard Square, with it’s old buildings covered in Virginia creeper, cafes, bookstores, shops and eating establishments.
Towards the mouth of the river is Charlestown, a centre of the Irish-American community and where shipbuilding used to be the major industry. The USS Constitution, launched in 1797 and better known as ‘Old Ironsides’, having survived many hard-fought campaigns on behalf of Thomas Jefferson, is open for tours.
For the best views of the city you should go to North End’s Copp’s Hill Burying Ground, across the river to the Bunker Hill Monument or for the best aerial view, the Prudential Skywalk Observation Deck.
Freedom Trail marker
Freedom Trail
This self-guided walking tour starts at the Boston Common Visitor Information Centre and follows a red-brick line on the pavement. The historic sights along this route are associated with the movement to free the colonies from British control and information is provided at every point. The trail goes through North End, over the Charles River and onto the Bunker Hill Monument. The trail’s highlights include the Park Street Church (an early 1800s, anti-slavery venue), Granary Burying Ground (where revolutionaries Samuel Adams, John Hancock and Paul Revere and the original ‘Mother’ Elizabeth Goose are interred), the Old South Meeting House (the site of the decisive meeting regarding the Tea Party), Faneuil Hall, the Paul Revere House and the USS Constitution.
Black Heritage Trail
Black Heritage Trail
The 1.6 mile Black Heritage Trail includes 14 historic sites, most in the Beacon Hill district. Some of its attractions include the Robert Gould Shaw and 54th Regiment Memorial (a commemoration to the first black regiment of the Civil War), the Phillips School (one of the first mixed-race schools), John J Smith House (the home of the black abolitionist), part of the Underground Railroad and the Lewis and Harriet Hayden House. The trail finishes at the 1806 African Meeting House (8 Smith Court). This is the oldest existing church building in the USA dedicated to the black community.
Museum of Afro-American History
New England’s largest Afro-American museum has in-depth information on white abolitionists and free African Americans.
Harvard Square
Harvard University & Harvard Square
Harvard is one of the country’s oldest (1638) and most prestigious universities. Combined with the neighbouring Massachusetts Institute of Technology, there are over 30,000 students from all over the world enrolled here. Harvard Square is in fact a triangle of brick pavement sitting above the Harvard subway station. In and around it are cafes, bookshops, banks and restaurants which provide a backdrop to street performers, politically and religiously motivated campaigners and other activities. Harvard University makes up one side of the triangle.
Harvard Yard (1636), is the entrance into the quadrangle which is surrounded by ivy-covered buildings. These buildings chronicle American architecture from colonial 18th century to the present day.
Harvard also has six museums which are well worth a visit. Fogg Art Museum covers the European Renaissance to the modern day, with works by Renoir, Monet, Van Gogh, Whistler and Klee.
The Bush-Reisinger Museum, the only museum in the country dedicated to the understanding of Central and North European art between 1880-1980.
The Arthur Sackler Museum focuses on Islamic and Asian exhibits, including Chinese jade, Japanese woodprints and Indian art.
The Museum of Natural History, is renowned for its display of authentic-looking, hand-blown glass flowers.
The Semitic Museum has a collection of Middle Eastern art and archaeology with artefacts from Egypt, Mesopotamia and the Levant.
The Peabody Museum of Anthropology and Ethnology, is a collection of exhibits of archaeology and cultures from six continents.
Boston Tea Party Ship & Museum
Boston Tea Party Ship & Museum
This museum is part of the Museum Wharf complex. Taking place in 1773, The ‘Boston Tea Party’ was an act of rebellion against British rule and in particular against new taxes, imposed on, among other commodities, tea. A group of Bostonians, disguised as Mohawk Indians, boarded the tea-clipper Beaver and threw all of its cargo into the harbour waters. Here at the museum you will find a full-size replica ship.
The Children’s Museum
Aimed at 0-10 year olds, The Children’s Museum encourages children to touch everything. One of its most popular exhibits, Arthur’s World, encourages role-playing, fantasy exploration, reading and writing in the child’s favourite Arthur setting.
JFK Presidential Library and Museum
JFK Presidential Library and Museum
The JFK Library and Museum chronicles the life of Jack Kennedy until his assassination in 1963. The exhibition begins with an 18-minute documentary of Kennedy’s life from birth until his presidential nomination in 1960. TV monitors broadcast his speeches and there is a reproduction of the TV studio where the Kennedy-Nixon debates took place. His presidential accomplishments are displayed in a reproduction of the White House. From here you can see the harbour where JFK’s sailboat, complete with sail flags that spell out JFK and JBK (Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy), sits on the shore.
The Mary Baker Eddy Library for the Betterment of Humanity
This is the world headquarters of the First Church of Christ Science and The Mary Baker Eddy Library for the Betterment of Humanity. Baker founded both the church and the Christian Science Monitor. The library is a plethora of her works and the Quest Gallery features exhibits on her life and philosophy. The main attraction here is the three-storey Mapparium which
Mapparium
measures over 30ft in diameter. The structure is an inverted stained-glass globe with acoustics so fine that even the smallest whisper is a shout. Visitors enter the globe over a glass bridge and can see the world borders as they were in 1935.
Museum of Fine Arts
The Museum of Fine Arts is home to a worldwide collection, which spans from 6,000BC to the contemporary works of such artists as Andy Warhol and Rineke Dijkstra. Its Temple Room has the finest Buddhist collection outside Japan, and the collection of Netsuke (Japanese fine art of miniature sculpture used on obis (Japanese sashes) to counterbalance purses, tobacco cases or medicine containers) is fascinating. The Chinese collection includes stone sculptures and furniture. The Impressionism gallery displays the works of Renoir, Monet, Cassatt, Degas, Pissaro and Cezanne.
New England Aquarium
Here a spiral ramp ascends four floors while circling a giant tank and passing a critical care ward for sick animals, a touch tank, penguins, a coral reef, sharks, eels, turtles and lots of other creatures of the deep. Frogs live on the lower level near the ecosystem exhibit. There is also an IMAX theatre, a kids’ activity centre and an outdoor sea lion show.
The island has good summer weather and beautiful beaches, hence it is fast becoming a popular tourist destination.
Oak Bluffs Harbour
BEST BEACHES
LA is made up of Downtown which is 16 miles inland from the coast, Pasadena to the northeast, to the west and northwest are Hollywood, Beverly Hills and Century City and the wide San Fernando Valley, Long Beach to the south and along the west coast Santa Monica, Venice Beach and Marina del Rey.
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