Did you know Harvard University was named after John Harvard of Charlestown, who upon his death in 1638 left his library and half his estate to the institution?
Built in 1809-1810, gunpowder was stored in the basement during the War of 1812 & Samuel Francis Smith’s hymn, America (“My Country ‘Tis of Thee“) was sung here for the first time in 1831
Built in 1660, this cemetery is the final resting place of notable figures of the American Revolution, including Samuel Adams, Paul Revere, Boston Massacre victims & Elizabeth "Mother Goose" herself.
The Common was used for public hangings up until 1817. In early 1965, 100 people gathered here to protest the Vietnam War, & speeches have been given here by Martin Luther King Jr & Pope John Paul III
Built in 1729, this was where some 5,000 colonists gathered on December 16, 1773, for a protest that culminated that night in the Boston Tea Party.
This monument commemorates the Battle of Bunker Hill, where the famous command "Don't fire until you see the whites of their eyes" was issued. The ambitious visitor may climb the 295 steps to the top.
The original King's Chapel was a wooden church built in 1688 on this land that had been part of the town’s oldest burying ground. It was the first Anglican church in Puritan Boston.
The original school building was torn down in the mid-1700s; today, an 1856 statue by Richard Saltonstall Greenough of Franklin (who dropped out of Boston Latin) marks that location.
Faneuil Hall was built by artist John Smibert in 1742 in the style of an English country market, with an open ground floor and an assembly room. The hall burned down in 1761 but was rebuilt in 1762.
Be sure to see over 3,000 glass flowers commissioned in 1886, representing more than 830 plant species. Read more.
You could spend an entire day here and still want to come back to see everything you missed. Membership highly recommended.
Starting from his home, Paul Revere set out on his famous midnight ride in 1775 to warn his compatriots that the British were coming. Built in 1680, it is one of the oldest houses in downtown Boston.
