#1 of 30 Things To Do in Boston
Old State House
Boston MA
~0.05 miles from Boston city center
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The Old State House is a historic legislative building located at the intersection of Washington and State Streets in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. Built in 1713, it is the oldest surviving public building in Boston, and the seat of the first elected legislature in the New World. It is now operated by the Bostonian Society, Boston's historical society. It is one of many historic landmarks that can be visited along the Freedom Trail.
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#2 of 30 Things To Do in Boston
Boston City Hall
Boston MA
~0.12 miles from Boston city center
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Boston City Hall is the home of the municipal government of Boston, Massachusetts.
City Hall is a 9-level, horizontally-oriented brutalist building designed by Kallmann McKinnell & Knowles and located at the heart of a brick-paved Government Center plaza in downtown Boston, Massachusetts. It is rectangular in plan, but is an inverted pyramid in elevation. Although critically acclaimed upon its completion, it is widely regarded by Bostonians as an ugly building.
City Hall is located in Government Center in downtown Boston. The adjoining 8-acre (32,000 m2) City Hall Plaza is often used for parades and rallies; most memorably, the region's championship sports teams, the Boston Celtics, Boston Bruins, New England Patriots and the Boston Red Sox, have been feted in front of City Hall. A huge crowd in the plaza also greeted Queen Elizabeth II during her 1976 Bicentennial visit, as she walked from the Old State House to City Hall to have lunch with the Mayor.
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#3 of 30 Things To Do in Boston
Faneuil Hall
Boston MA
~0.13 miles from Boston city center
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Faneuil Hall (pronounced /'fæn(j)?l/, previously /'f?n?l/), located near the waterfront and today's Government Center, in Boston, Massachusetts, has been a marketplace and a meeting hall since 1742. It was the site of several speeches by Samuel Adams, James Otis, and others encouraging independence from Great Britain, and is now part of Boston National Historical Park and a well known stop on the Freedom Trail. It is sometimes referred to as "the Cradle of Liberty".
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#4 of 30 Things To Do in Boston
New England Holocaust Memorial
Boston
~0.16 miles from Boston city center
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Plaques and Time Capsule
The memorial begins with two large, granite monoliths which face each other. In between the two monoliths, a time capsule was buried. The time capsule, buried on Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) on April 18, 1993, contains "the names, submitted by New Englanders, of family and loved ones who perished in the Holocaust."
The Glass Towers
The main part of the memorial consists of six, large towers of glass. Each of these towers represents one of the sixth death camps (Belzec, Auschwitz-Birkenau, Sobibor, Majdanek, Treblinka, and Chelmno). Each tower is made out of plates of glass that are etched with white numbers, which represent the registration numbers of victims.
There is a paved path which travels through the base of each of these towers.
Along the sides of the concrete, in between the towers, are short quotes that give information as well as give remembrance. One quote reads, "Most infants and children were killed immediately upon arrival at the camps. The Nazis murdered as many as one and a half million Jewish children."
When you walk underneath the tower, you realize a number of things. When standing there, your eyes are immediately drawn to the numbers on the glass. Then, your eyes focus on a short quote from survivors, different on each tower, about life either before, within, or after the camps. Soon, you realize that you are standing upon a grate in which warm air is coming out. As Stanley Saitowitz, the designer of the memorial, described it, "like human breath as it passes through the glass chimneys to heaven."*
Under the Towers
If you get down on your hands and knees (which I noticed most visitors did not do), you can look through the grate and see a pit, which has ragged rocks at the bottom. Among the rocks, there are very small, stationary white lights as well as a single light that moves. I have yet to find a reason for the lights at the bottom of this pit, but there are many analogies that can be made, such as light even amongst darkness, etc.
Plaque With Famous Quote
At the end of the memorial, there is a large monolith that leaves the visitor with the famous quote ...
They came first for the Communists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.
Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Catholics,
and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant.
Then they came for me,
and by that time no one was left to speak up.
---Martin Niemoeller
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#5 of 30 Things To Do in Boston
Old South Meeting House
Boston MA
~0.18 miles from Boston city center
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The Old South Meeting House, in the Downtown Crossing area of Boston, Massachusetts, gained fame as the organizing point for the Boston Tea Party on December 16, 1773. 5,000 colonists gathered at the Meeting House, the largest building in Boston at the time.
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#6 of 30 Things To Do in Boston
Downtown (Neighborhood)
Boston MA
~0.19 miles from Boston city center
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#7 of 30 Things To Do in Boston
Financial District (Neighborhood)
Boston MA
~0.22 miles from Boston city center
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The Financial District of Boston, Massachusetts, United States is located in the downtown area near Government Center and Chinatown.
Like most areas within Boston, the Financial District has no official definition. It is roughly bounded by Atlantic Avenue, State Street, and Devonshire Street. Parts of the Financial District are in various USPS postal ZIP Codes including 02108, 02109, 02110, and 02111. The T subway station at Atlantic Avenue and State Street is officially designated "Aquarium/Financial District".
The area includes Post Office Square, the Exchange Place and International Place complexes, and the landmark Custom House Tower (now a private condominium).
125 High Street, One International Place, and the Flag of Massachusetts in the Financial District near South Station
The Financial District also contains the headquarters of the mutual fund companies Fidelity Investments, Putnam Investments, and DWS Scudder Investments; the world headquarters for State Street Bank; the Boston Stock Exchange; accounting firm RSM McGladrey; loan advisor The Debt Exchange; the law firms of Goodwin Procter, WilmerHale, Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Nicholson Graham, and Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky, and Popeo, PC; the local headquarters of Bank of America (formerly Fleet Bank) and Sovereign Bank; the Langham Hotel Boston and Hilton Hotel; and the local offices of Merrill Lynch and other brokerages.
Dewey Square, One Financial Center, and the plaza and towers housing the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston are located near South Station, adjacent to and just south of the area defined above. Also part of the Financial District are 33 Arch Street, One Federal Street, the First National Bank Building building, and 101 Federal Street. The area contains many of Boston's highrise buildings in a fairly densely packed area, significantly more than the Back Bay which contains Boston's two tallest highrises, the Prudental Center and the John Hancock Tower. Many of the Financial District's highrises range in heights upwards of 500 feet and most climb above 40 stories.
There area also numerous proposals and highrises under construction in the area.Russia Wharf is currently the tallest under construction, rising to 32 stories and 395 feet when completed. South Station Tower has been approved for the area above South Station and will rise to 41 stories and 621 feet.
Other proposals that would significantly change and enlarge the skyline of Boston inclue Trans National Place which would rise to 1,175 feet becoming one of the nation's tallests highrises. There have also been some other proposals such as the Congress Street Towers, and the Aquarium Garage Towers which woud both be upwards of 50 stories and at least 500 feet.
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#8 of 30 Things To Do in Boston
Boston Athenaeum
Boston MA
~0.26 miles from Boston city center
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Boston Athenæum is one of the oldest independent libraries in the United States. It is also one of only sixteen extant membership libraries, meaning that patrons pay a yearly subscription fee to use the Athenaeum's services. The institution was founded in 1807 by the Anthology Club of Boston, Massachusetts.
The Oxford English Dictionary defines “athenaeum” as:
1. An association of persons interested in scientific and literary pursuits, meeting for the purpose of mutual improvement; a literary or scientific club;
2. A building or institution in which books, periodicals, and newspapers are provided for use; a literary club-room, reading-room, library.
Just as a museum is a place for the muses who inspire art, so an athenaeum is a place for Athena, the goddess of wisdom who inspires intellectual pursuits.
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#9 of 30 Things To Do in Boston
Old Granary Burying Ground
Boston MA
~0.27 miles from Boston city center
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Founded in 1660, the Granary Burying Ground in Massachusetts is the city of Boston's third-oldest cemetery. Located on Tremont Street, it is the final resting place for many notable Revolutionary War-era patriots, including three signers of the Declaration of Independence and the five victims of the Boston Massacre. The cemetery is adjacent to Park Street Church and immediately across from Suffolk University Law School.
The cemetery's Egyptian revival gate and fence were designed by Boston architect Isaiah Rogers (1810-1849), who designed an identical gate for Newport's Touro Cemetery.
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#10 of 30 Things To Do in Boston
Orpheum Theater
Boston MA
~0.28 miles from Boston city center
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The Orpheum Theatre is a music venue located at 1 Hamilton Place in Boston, Massachusetts. One of the oldest theaters in the United States, it was built in 1852 and was originally known as the Boston Music Hall, the original home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. The concert hall was converted for use as a vaudeville theater in 1900 and was renamed the Orpheum Theatre in 1906. In 1915 it was acquired by Loew's Theatres and substantially rebuilt. Today it operates as a mixed use hall for live music concerts.
(The theater has no connection with Boston's "Music Hall", which is now known as the Citi Performing Arts Center.)
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#11 of 30 Things To Do in Boston
King's Chapel
Boston MA
~0.29 miles from Boston city center
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King's Chapel is a Christian Unitarian church in Boston, Massachusetts, located at the corner of Tremont Street and School Street.
King's Chapel was founded by Royal Governor Sir Edmund Andros in 1686 as the first Anglican Church in New England during the reign of King James II. The original King's Chapel was a wooden church built in 1688 at the corner of Tremont and School Streets, where the church stands today. It was situated on the public burying ground because no resident would sell land for a non-Puritan church.
In 1749, construction began on the current stone structure, which was designed by Peter Harrison and completed in 1754. The stone church was built around the wooden church. When the stone church was complete, the wooden church was disassembled and removed through the windows of the new church. The wood was then shipped to Lunenburg, Nova Scotia where it was used to construct St. John's Anglican Church. That church was destroyed by fire on Halloween night, 2001. It has since been rebuilt.
During the American Revolution, the chapel sat vacant and was referred to as the "Stone Chapel." The loyalist families left for Canada, and those who remained reopened the church in 1782. It became Unitarian under the ministry of James Freeman, who revised the Book of Common Prayer along Unitarian lines in 1785. Although Freeman still considered King's Chapel to be Episcopalian, the Anglican Church refused to ordain him. The church still follows its own Anglican/Unitarian hybrid liturgy today. It is a member congregation of the Unitarian Universalist Association.
Inside, the church is characterized by wooden columns with Corinthian capitals that were hand-carved by William Burbeck and his apprentices in 1758. Seating is accommodated by box pews, most of which were originally owned by the member families who paid pew rent and decorated the pews to their personal tastes. The current uniform appearance of the pews dates from the 1920s.
Music has long been an important part of King's Chapel, which acquired its first organ in 1723. The present organ, the sixth installed in King's Chapel, was built by C. B. Fisk in 1964. It is decorated with miters and carvings from the Bridge organ of 1756. For over forty years, the eminent American composer Daniel Pinkham was the organist and music director at King's Chapel. He was succeeded by Heinrich Christensen.
The King's Chapel bell, cast in England, was hung in 1772. In 1814 it cracked, was recast by Paul Revere, and was rehung. It is the largest bell cast by the Revere foundry, and the last one cast by Paul Revere himself. It has been rung at services ever since.
Within King's Chapel is a monument to Samuel Vassall, brother of the colonist William Vassall, a patentee of the Massachusetts Bay Company, and an early deputy of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Samuel Vassall of London was also named a member of the Company in its 1629 Royal Charter but never sailed for New England, instead remaining in London to tend to business affairs; his brother William frequently clashed with John Winthrop, and eventually removed himself to Scituate, Massachusetts.
The monument to Samuel Vassall, London merchant, mentions his resistance to King Charles's taxes imposed on Tonnage and Poundage, especially as Parliament had refused the King's request for a lifetime extension. Samuel Vassall subsequently represented London as a Member of Parliament (1640-1641), which restored some of Vassall's estate thought destroyed by the Crown. Ironically, later Vassalls in Massachusetts, including William Vassall for whom Vassalboro, Maine was named, turned Loyalist and fled to England during the Revolutionary War.
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#12 of 30 Things To Do in Boston
Suffolk University
8 Ashburton Place Boston MA - 617-573-8000
~0.30 miles from Boston city center
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Suffolk University is a private university in Boston, Massachusetts with over 9,000 students. It was founded as a law school in 1906 and named after its location in Suffolk County, Massachusetts.
The university is co-educational and comprises the Suffolk University Law School, the Suffolk College of Arts and Sciences, the Sawyer Business School, and the New England School of Art and Design at Suffolk University (NASAD). It has three international campuses in addition to the main campus in downtown Boston. Due to its location and well-known law school, Suffolk often attracts notable scholars and prominent speakers; for example, former President John F. Kennedy, former Chief Justice of the United States, William Rehnquist, and former President George H.W. Bush.
http://www.suffolk.edu
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#13 of 30 Things To Do in Boston
Park Street Church
Boston MA
~0.31 miles from Boston city center
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The Park Street Church in Boston, Massachusetts is an active Conservative Congregational Church at the corner of Tremont Street and Park Street. The church is currently pastored by Gordon P. Hugenberger.
Park Street Church is a historic stop on the Freedom Trail. It was founded on February 27, 1809 by twenty-six local people, mostly former members of the Old South Meeting House. The cornerstone of the church was laid on May 1 and construction was completed by the end of the year, under the guidance of Peter Banner (architect), Benajah Young (chief mason) and Solomon Willard (woodcarver). Banner took inspiration from several early pattern books, and his design is reminiscent of a London church by Christopher Wren. Park Street church's steeple rises to 217 feet (66 m), and remains a landmark visible from several Boston neighborhoods. The steeple is seen as the terminus of both Columbus Avenue and Tremont Street, two of Boston's radial avenues. The church is adjacent to the historic Granary Burying Ground. It had its first worship service on January 10, 1810.
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#14 of 30 Things To Do in Boston
New England Aquarium
Boston MA
~0.31 miles from Boston city center
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The New England Aquarium, in Boston, Massachusetts, is one of the most prominent and popular public aquariums in the United States. Founded in 1969 on the city's waterfront, it is considered one of the first modern public aquariums and is credited with revolutionizing the modern aquarium experience for visitors through its emphasis on a more natural setting for aquatic life. With a mission “to present, promote and protect the world of water,” it remains one of the few such institutions with commitments to research and conservation as well as education and entertainment. In addition to the main aquarium building, attractions at the New England Aquarium include the Simons IMAX Theatre and the New England Aquarium Whale Watch, which operates from April through October. More than 1.5 million people visit the aquarium and theatre each year. The New England Aquarium’s initial conceptual design, architecture and exhibit design (opened in 1969), was led by Peter Chermayeff of Peter Chermayeff LLC while at Cambridge Seven Associates.
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#15 of 30 Things To Do in Boston
Freedom Trail
Boston
~0.32 miles from Boston city center
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The Trail takes the visitor to 16 historical sites in the course of two or three hours and covers two and a half centuries of America's most significant past. A red brick or painted line connects the sites on the Trail and serves as a guide.
Since the past and the present live alongside the Trail, its visitors have the opportunity to see the City as it truly is. Many visitors prefer to linger and study the many exhibits, thus a full day or more can be devoted to browsing along the Trail.
One can take a self-guided tour or one of the many tours available through the Boston Common Visitors Center at 148 Tremont Street or the Bostix Booth located at Faneuil Hall. If you prefer to ride, you can pay for one of the trolley tours, which are unofficial guided tours, but do take the rider to many of the sites along the Trail and allow one to disembark at selected stops. To find out more about guided tours contact the Greater Boston Convention and Visitors Bureau.
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#16 of 30 Things To Do in Boston
Massachusetts State House
Boston MA
~0.36 miles from Boston city center
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The Massachusetts State House, also called Massachusetts Statehouse or the "New" State House, is the state capitol and seat of government of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It is located at Boston in the Beacon Hill neighborhood. The building houses the Massachusetts General Court (state legislature) and the offices of the Governor of Massachusetts.
The building is situated on 6.7 acres (27,000 m²) of land on top of Beacon Hill in Boston. It was built on land once owned by John Hancock, Massachusetts's first elected governor.
Before the current State House was completed in 1798, Massachusetts's government sat in the Old State House on Court Street. In his design for the building, architect Charles Bulfinch was inspired by two London buildings: William Chambers's Somerset House, and James Wyatt's Pantheon.
A major expansion of the original building was done in 1898. The architect for the annex was Bostonian Charles Brigham.
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#17 of 30 Things To Do in Boston
Long Wharf
Boston MA
~0.37 miles from Boston city center
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Long Wharf and Customhouse Block is a historic area located at the foot of State Street on Long Wharf (Boston) in Boston, Massachusetts. Constructed in the 17th century, the Long Wharf in downtown Boston, Massachusetts was once the focal point of that city's shipping industry. The area was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1966.
Construction of the wharf began in 1711. As originally built the wharf extended from the shoreline adjacent to Faneuil Hall and was one-third of a mile long, thrusting considerably farther than other wharves into deep water and thus allowing larger ships to tie up and unload directly to new warehouses and stores. Over time the water areas surrounding the landward end of the wharf were reclaimed, including the areas now occupied by Quincy Market and the Customs House.
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#18 of 30 Things To Do in Boston
North End
Boston MA
~0.39 miles from Boston city center
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Boston's North End is the city's oldest residential community, where people have lived continuously since it was settled in the 1630s. Though small (? mi²), the neighborhood has approximately 100 eating establishments, and a variety of tourist attractions. It is known as the city's Little Italy for its Italian-American population.
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#19 of 30 Things To Do in Boston
Paul Revere's House
Boston MA
~0.40 miles from Boston city center
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The Paul Revere House (1680) is the colonial home of American patriot Paul Revere during the time of the American Revolution. It is located at 19 North Square, Boston, Massachusetts, in the city's North End, and is now operated as a nonprofit museum by the Paul Revere Memorial Association; an admission fee is charged.
The original three-story house was built circa 1680. It occupied the former site of the Second Church of Boston's parsonage, home to Increase Mather and Cotton Mather, which was destroyed in the Great Fire of 1676. Its first owner was Robert Howard, a wealthy merchant. His L-shaped townhouse contained spacious rooms and would have been enhanced by exterior features such as a second-floor overhang and casement windows.
As is typical of early Massachusetts Bay timber construction, the main block of the three-story dwelling consisted of four structural bays demarcated by heavy framing posts and overhead beams. The larger ground-floor room in this main block was dominated by its chimney bay and adjoining lobby entrance. Although some contemporary Boston houses had separate kitchen buildings, the two-story extension behind the Revere House was typical. As the Revere House was set quite close to neighbors, its double casement windows were installed in the rear elevation rather than the more common placement in a gable.
Around the middle of the eighteenth century, the Paul Revere House went through two major renovations. First, the roofline facing the street was raised substantially to bring the house in line with the Georgian architectural style that had become prevalent at that time (the roofline was returned to its original pitch, albeit without a gable, by the restorers in 1907-1908, which gave rise to a commonly-held misconception that the attic had been removed). Second, a two-story lean-to was added in the ell between the two 17th-century portions of the house (this lean-to was removed by the restoration in 1907-1908).
Paul Revere owned this house from 1770–1800, although he and his family may have lived elsewhere for periods in the 1780s and 1790s. It is believed that during the Revere occupancy the rear chimney was added (c. 1790) including the kitchen that visitors see in the first room they enter.
After Revere sold the house, it became a tenement with its ground floor remodeled for use as shops, including at various times a candy store, cigar factory, bank and vegetable and fruit business. In 1902, Revere's great-grandson, John P. Reynolds Jr. purchased the building to prevent demolition, and restoration took place under the guidance of architect and historic preservationist Joseph Chandler. In April 1908, the Paul Revere House opened its doors to the public as one of the earliest historic house museums in the United States.
Despite the substantial renovation process which returned the house to its conjectured appearance around 1700, ninety percent of the structure (including two doors, three window frames, and portions of the flooring, foundation, inner wall material and raftering) is original to 1680, though none of the window glass is original. Its heavy beams, large fireplaces, and absence of interior hallways are typical of colonial living arrangements. The two chambers upstairs contain several pieces of furniture believed to have belonged to the Revere family.
Immediately adjacent (across the entry courtyard, the original site of the John Barnard House) is the brick Pierce-Hichborn House, built about 1711 as an early Georgian house, and also operated as a nonprofit museum by the Paul Revere Memorial Association.
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#20 of 30 Things To Do in Boston
Boston Opera House
Boston MA
~0.42 miles from Boston city center
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Two Boston, Massachusetts theaters have been known as the Boston Opera House. The first was a purpose-built opera house opened in 1909 and demolished in 1958. The second, a former movie palace, was operated by the Opera Company of Boston from 1980 to 1991. After suffering severe damage while closed, the theater was completely renovated and reopened in 2004.
The first Boston Opera House was built in 1909 on Huntington Ave. in Boston, Massachusetts. It was described as a "perfect jewel-box of an opera house" and despite its smallish size, was the venue for many of the local opera companies, as well as regular visits by the Metropolitan Opera. It was just two blocks from Boston Symphony Hall, and one block from the New England Conservatory of Music.
During the Great Depression and World War II, the Opera House fell into disuse and disrepair. In 1957, the Boston Redevelopment Authority, acting on behalf of the Northeastern University Trustees, declared the Opera House unsafe, and scheduled it for demolition. The local opera community demonstrated and petitioned the BRA to spare their only venue, but the order stood. The solidly built building was gutted in 1958, but proved difficult to demolish. Two demolition companies gave up in frustration, as the opera house resisted their efforts. Only after a new and larger wrecking derrick arrived, did the walls fall. A brick rescued from the demolished theater by noted WGBH-FM announcer Ron Della Chiesa is preserved in the theater's archives at Northeastern University. Speare Hall, a Northeastern University dormitory, now stands on the site at the corner of Opera Place and Huntington Ave.
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#21 of 30 Things To Do in Boston
Boston Harbor Islands State Park
Boston MA
~0.42 miles from Boston city center
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This 17-island state park is part of the 34-island Boston Harbor Islands National Park Area. They are a wonderful natural resource, only 45 minutes by ferry from downtown Boston. Seventeen of the islands are managed the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR). Six of the 17 islands, and Webb State Park, a 36-acre peninsula in Weymouth, are staffed and open for public use daily during the summer and weekends in the spring and fall.
Visitors to the park enjoy shell and slate beaches, easy hiking paths, old hay fields gone wild with bayberry, raspberry and elderberry, and old roadways to historic foundations and forts. Shade is found at picnic sites, trailside benches, and on wooded trails. There are many historic and scenic harbor vistas such as Dorchester, Quincy, Hull and Hingham Bays, the Blue Hills, Boston's skyline, 34 islands, and outward to Massachusetts Bay. Resident Park Managers/ Interpreters live on-island during the visiting season. They provide island supervision, give island tours, and. offer ongoing educational programs and special events. Check Boston Harbor Islands for schedules of island openings and special event listings.
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#22 of 30 Things To Do in Boston
Museum of African American History
Boston MA
~0.43 miles from Boston city center
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Sept-May, Mon-Sat: 10am-4pm; May-Sept, daily: 10am-4pm; closed major holidays
The first African Americans arrived as slaves in Boston in February, 1638, only eight years after the city was founded. By 1705, there were 400 slaves in Boston and the nucleus of a free black community formed in the North End. By 1790, after the American Revolution, Massachusetts became the only state in the Union to record no slaves.
The life and struggles of these free blacks centered around The African Meeting House on Beacon Hill. A National Historic Landmark, The Meeting House is the oldest extant black church building in the United States built by free African American artisans.
The Museum of African American History (MAAH) oversees The Meeting House and the Abiel Smith School in Boston, as well as The African Meeting House on Nantucket. Through its exhibits and the Black Heritage Trail, the museum places pre- and post-colonial African American experience in an accurate social, cultural, and historical context. MAAH's resouces bring to life the remarkable stories of the free blacks and white abolitionists who endured great risks that remade the nation.
The Black Heritage Trail explores the history of Boston's nineteenth century African American community. The 1.6-mile (2.5 km) walking tour wends its way through the largest collection of historic sites in the country evoking the life of a free pre-Civil War African American community.
A self-guided walking tour map and guide are available at the museum. Guided walking tours are offered daily from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day weekend or, at other times, by special request.
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#23 of 30 Things To Do in Boston
Harrison Gray Otis House
Boston MA
~0.43 miles from Boston city center
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There are three houses named the Harrison Gray Otis House in Boston, Massachusetts. All were built by noted American architect Charles Bulfinch for the same man, Harrison Gray Otis.
The 1st Harrison Gray Otis House is located at 183 mass ave, next to the Old West Church in Boston's West End. It is listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places and, further, has been designated a U.S. National Historic Landmark.
This house is now owned by the Historic New England organization, and is open as a nonprofit museum.
Although similar to the other two houses, it is the simplest and in that way perhaps the most appealing. The design is said to be inspired by a William Bingham house that Bulfinch saw in 1789 in Philadelphia, in turned derived from a London example. The house is three stories, in five bays, with elegant string courses. Today's graceful entrance was added after 1801. Above it is a fine Palladian window, and above that a lunette. The third floor is very short; ceilings are just over 6 feet tall. Floor plan is in the Colonial fashion, with two rooms on either side of the central hallway. The kitchen was in an ell.
The house was originally located about 40 feet from its present location, but was moved by the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities (now Historic New England) in the 1920s after it was threatened by the widening of Cambridge Street. The original cellar was lost during this move. The house is now connected to a group of row houses on Lynde Street, which serve as office and program space for Historic New England.
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#24 of 30 Things To Do in Boston
Nichols House Museum
Boston MA
~0.45 miles from Boston city center
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Nichols House Museum is a museum in Boston, Massachusetts. It was designed by the architect, Charles Bulfinch, and built by Jonathan Mason, the politician, in 1804. The building was renovated in 1830. The museum is named for Rose Standish Nichols (1872–1960), the renowned landscape gardener, suffragist, pacifist, and member of the Cornish Art Colony, who lived in the house between 1885 and 1960. She left the house to be used as a museum after her death. The museum preserves the lifestyle of the American upper class during Nichols' lifetime, with turn-of-the-century period rooms.
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#25 of 30 Things To Do in Boston
TD Banknorth Garden - Boston Celtics - Boston Bruins
Boston MA
~0.53 miles from Boston city center
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TD Garden is a sports arena in Boston, Massachusetts. It is named after its sponsor, TD Bank, N.A. and is often simply called The Garden, or the traditional Boston Garden. It was formerly known as the FleetCenter and the Shawmut Center (title sponsor Shawmut Bank was bought by FleetBoston Financial before the arena opened). TD Bank, N.A. has been in control of the arena's naming rights since 2005, with the arena called TD Banknorth Garden until July 16, 2009, when the TD Banknorth name ceased to exist.
TD Garden is the home arena for the Boston Bruins of the National Hockey League, the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association, and the Boston Blazers of the National Lacrosse League. It is the site of the annual Beanpot college hockey tournament, and hosts the annual Hockey East Championships. The arena has also hosted many major national sporting events including the 1999 and 2003 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball regional first and second rounds, the 2009 Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight, the 2004 Frozen Four, and the 2006 Women's Final Four.
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#26 of 30 Things To Do in Boston
Old North Church
Boston MA
~0.53 miles from Boston city center
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The Old North Church (officially known as Christ Church in the City of Boston), at 193 Salem Street, in the North End of Boston, Massachusetts, is the location from which the famous "One if by land, and two if by sea" signal is said to have been sent. This phrase is related to Paul Revere's midnight ride, of April 18, 1775, which preceded the Battles of Lexington and Concord during the American Revolution.
The church is a parish of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts. The Old North Church is the oldest active church building in Boston and is a National Historic Landmark. Inside the church is a bust of George Washington, which the Marquis de Lafayette reportedly remarked was the best likeness of him he had ever seen.
The Old North Church was built in 1723, and was inspired by the works of Christopher Wren, a British architect who was responsible for rebuilding London after the Great Fire.
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#27 of 30 Things To Do in Boston
Copp's Hill Burying Ground
Boston MA
~0.55 miles from Boston city center
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Founded by the town of Boston in 1659, Copp's Hill Burying Ground is the second oldest burying ground in the city. The cemetery's boundaries were extended several times, and the grounds contain the remains of many notable Bostonians in the thousands of graves and 272 tombs.
Among the Bostonians buried here are the original owner, William Copp's, children, also Increase Mather, Cotton Mather, Robert Newman (the patriot who placed the signal lanterns in the steeple of Old North Church for Paul Revere's midnight ride to Lexington and Concord), Prince Hall (the father of Black Freemasonry) and many unmarked graves of the African Americans who lived in the "New Guinea" community at the foot of the hill. The cemetery was not an official stop on the Freedom Trail when it was created in 1951, but it has since been added and is much-frequented by tourists and photographers.
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#28 of 30 Things To Do in Boston
Leather District (Neighborhood)
Boston MA
~0.56 miles from Boston city center
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The Leather District in Boston, Massachusetts is a neighborhood near South Street, between the Financial District and Chinatown. The Leather District (occasionally referred to as the "LD") is a tightly defined area bounded by Kneeland Street to the south, Essex Street to the north, Atlantic Avenue to the east and Lincoln Street to the west. It is so named due to the dominance of the leather industry in previous times.
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#29 of 30 Things To Do in Boston
Beacon Hill (Neighborhood)
Boston MA
~0.60 miles from Boston city center
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Beacon Hill is a historic neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts that along with neighboring Back Bay is home to about 26,000 people. It is a neighborhood of Federal-style rowhouses and is known for its narrow, gas-lit streets and brick sidewalks. Today, Beacon Hill is regarded as one of the most desirable and expensive neighborhoods in Boston.
The Beacon Hill area is located just north of the Boston Common and the Boston Public Garden and is bounded generally by Beacon Street on the south, Somerset Street on the east, Cambridge Street to the north and Storrow Drive along the riverfront of the Charles River Esplanade to the west. The block bounded by Beacon, Tremont and Park Streets is included as well, as is the Boston Common itself. The level section of the neighborhood west of Charles Street, on landfill, is known locally as the "Flat of the Hill."
Because the Massachusetts State House is in a prominent location at the top of the hill, the term "Beacon Hill" is also often used as a metonym in the local news media to refer to the state government or the legislature.
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#30 of 30 Things To Do in Boston
Boston Tea Party Ship
Boston MA
~0.62 miles from Boston city center
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