Boston Attractions
Boston Vacation Rental Attractions
Attractions near Custom House (distance):
Freedom Trail
(.025 mi)A 3-mile tour of the sites of the American Revolution, the Freedom Trail is a crash course in history. There are 16 sites beginning at the Boston Common and ending at the Bunker Hill Monument in Charlestown; depending on how many are visited in depth, the walk can take from an aerobic 90 minutes to a leisurely half day. Trail walks led by National Park Service rangers take place from mid-April to November and begin at the Boston National Historic Park Visitor Center, 15 State Street; self-guided tour maps are available here and at the Visitor Information Center on the Tremont Street side of Boston Common.
Old North Church
(0.75 mi)193 Salem St.
Boston
617-5236676
Standing at one end of the Paul Revere Mall is a church famous not only for being the oldest one in Boston (built in 1723) but for housing the two lanterns that glimmered from its steeple on the night of April 18, 1775. This is Christ Church, or the Old North, where Paul Revere and the young sexton Robert Newman managed that night to signal the departure by water of the British regulars to Lexington and Concord. Longfellow's poem aside, the lanterns were not a signal to Revere but from him to Charlestown across the harbor. Newman, carrying the lanterns, ascended the steeple, while Revere began his clandestine trip by boat across the Charles. Although William Price designed the structure after studying Christopher Wren's London churches, the Old North is an impressive building in its own right. Inside, note the gallery and the graceful arrangement of pews; the bust of George Washington; the brass chandeliers, made in Amsterdam in 1700 and installed here in 1724; and the clock, the oldest still running in an American public building. Try to visit when changes are rung on the bells, after the 11 AM Sunday service Behind the church is the Washington Memorial Garden, where volunteers cultivate a plot devoted to plants and flowers favored in the 18th century. The garden is studded with several unusual commemorative plaques. www.oldnorth.com. June-Oct., daily 9-6; Nov.-May, daily 9-5. Sun. services at 9, 11, and 5. T stop: Haymarket, North Station.
Black Heritage Trail
(0.65 mi)This is a do-it-yourself walking tour that explores the history of Boston's black community during the 19th century. The community was centered in the West End, between Pinckney and Cambridge, Joy and Charles streets -- what is now the north slope of Beacon Hill. The trail includes homes, monuments, schools, even what might have been a notorious gaming house. The 14 sites on the trail reveal a rich, fascinating story that is continuing to unfold today. Obtain a pamphlet from the National Park Service Visitor Center (14 Beacon St.) or at the Museum of Afro-American History (8 Smith Ct. 617/725-0022). Park rangers give tours daily Memorial Day-Labor Day and by special request the rest of the year at 10 AM, noon, and 2 PM starting from the Shaw Memorial on the Boston Common.
Arnold Arboretum
(5.0 mi)Rtes. 1 and 203, 125 Arborway
Jamaica Plain
617-5241718
This 265-acre living laboratory, administered by Harvard University, is incongruously set in a dense urban area. Established in 1872, it contains more than 4,000 kinds of woody plants, most from the hardy north temperate zone. The rhododendrons, azaleas, lilacs, magnolias, and fruit trees are eye-popping when in bloom. In October, the park puts on a display in blazing colors. The Larz Anderson bonsai collection, with individual specimens imported from Japan that are more than 200 years old, now includes a 3 1/2-acre Sun-Loving Shrub and Vine Collection. The arboretum, 6 mi from downtown Boston, is accessible by MBTA Orange Line or Bus 39 from Copley Square to Centre Street. Walk four blocks south. www.arboretum.harvard.edu. Grounds daily dawn-dusk; visitor center Mar.-Nov., weekdays 9-4, weekends noon-4; Dec. and Feb., weekdays 9-4, weekends 10-2; closed January. Free tours Sat. 10:30 and Wed. 12:15; call to confirm. T stop: Forest Hills.
Beacon Street
(0.55 mi)Some New Englanders believe wealth is a burden to be borne with a minimum of display. Happily, the early residents of Beacon Street were not among them. They erected many fine architectural statements, from the magnificent State House to grand patrician mansions. Here are some of the most important buildings of Charles Bulfinch, the ultimate designer of the Federal style in America: dozens of bowfront row houses, the Somerset Club, and the glorious Harrison Gray Otis House. After the Boston Athenaeum, Beacon Street highlights begin at No. 34, originally the Cabot family residence and until 1996 the headquarters of Little, Brown and Company, once a mainstay of Boston's publishing trade. At 33 Beacon Street is the George Parkman House, its gracious facade hiding more than a few secrets. One of the first sensational "trials of the century" involved the murder of Dr. George Parkman, a wealthy landlord and Harvard benefactor. He was bludgeoned to death in 1849 by Dr. John Webster, a Harvard medical professor and neighborhood acquaintance who allegedly became enraged by Parkman's demands that he repay a personal loan. At the conclusion of the trial, the professor was hanged; he's buried in an unmarked grave on Copp's Hill in the North End. Notice the windows of the twin Appleton-Parker Houses, built by the pioneering textile merchant Nathan Appleton and a partner at Nos. 39 and 40. These are the celebrated purple panes of Beacon Hill; only a few buildings have them, and they are as valuable as an ancestor in the China Trade. Their amethystine mauve color was the result of the action of the sun's ultraviolet light on the imperfections in a shipment of glass sent to Boston around 1820. The mansions aren't open to the public. The quintessential snob has always been a Bostonian -- and the Somerset Club, at 42 Beacon Street, has always been the inner sanctum of blue-nose Cabots, Lowells, and Lodges. The mansion is a rare intrusion of the granite Greek Revival style into Beacon Hill. The older of its two buildings was erected in 1819 by David Sears and designed by Alexander Parris, the architect of Quincy Market. Just a few doors down is the grandest of the three houses Harrison Gray Otis built for himself during Boston's golden age.
Charles Street
(0.55 mi)Charles Street, chockablock with antiques shops, bookstores, small restaurants, and flower shops, more than makes up for the general lack of commercial development on Beacon Hill. You won't see any glaring neon; in keeping with the historic character of the area, even the 7-Eleven has been made to conform to the prevailing aesthetic standards. Notice the old-fashioned signs hanging from storefronts -- the bakery's loaf of bread, the florist's topiary, the tailor's spool of thread, and the chiropractor's human spine. The contemporary activity would present a curious sight to the elder Oliver Wendell Holmes, the publisher James T. Fields (of the famed Bostonian firm of Ticknor and Fields), and many others who lived here when the neighborhood belonged to establishment literati. Charles Street sparkles at dusk from gas-fueled lamps, making it a romantic place for an evening stroll.
Newbury Street
(0.65 mi)Eight-block-long Newbury Street has been compared to New York's 5th Avenue, and certainly this is the city's poshest shopping area, with branches of Chanel, Brooks Brothers, Armani, Burberry, and other top names in fashion. But here the pricey boutiques are more intimate than grand, and people live above the trendy restaurants and hair salons, giving the place a neighborhood feel. Check out the famous faces in the mural overlooking the public parking lot between Dartmouth and Exeter streets. Toward the Mass Ave. end, cafes proliferate and the stores get funkier, ending with Newbury Comics, Virgin Records, and the hipsters' housewares and clothing store, Urban Outfitters.
The Museum of Fine Arts
(2.0 mi)465 Huntington Ave.
Boston
617-3693770
Founded in 1870, the MFA first resided on the upper floors of the Boston Athenaeum. As the museum was beginning to outgrow that space, the Fenway area was becoming fashionable, and in 1909 the move was made to Guy Lowell's somewhat severe Beaux Arts building, to which the West Wing, designed by I. M. Pei, was added in 1981. The MFA has impressive holdings of American art, with more than 60 works by John Singleton Copley and major paintings by Winslow Homer, John Singer Sargent, Fitz Hugh Lane, and Edward Hopper. American decorative arts are also amply represented. French Impressionists abound, including 38 Monets. Fifteen second-floor galleries contain the MFA's European painting and sculpture collection, dating from the 11th century to the 20th. Most striking is the William I. Koch Gallery, a former tapestry room whose 40-ft-high marble walls are now hung, nearly floor to ceiling, with 53 dramatic Renaissance and Baroque paintings by El Greco, Claude Lorraine, Poussin, Rubens, Tintoretto, Titian, Van Dyck, Velazquez, Veronese, and other masters. Also well represented are Japanese art; Chinese porcelains of the Tang Dynasty; Egyptian statuary, furniture, jewelry, and funerary arts; and the art of Africa, Oceania, and the Ancient Americas. The West Wing has two restaurants, a cafeteria, and a cafe serving light snacks. Set to begin in 2003 is an expansion that will ultimately double the MFA's size. The museum will remain open during construction. www.mfa.org. COST: $12, or with CityPass; free-will donation Wed. 4-9:45. Entire museum Mon.-Tues., weekends 10-5:45, Wed.-Fri. 10-9:45. West Wing only Thurs.-Fri. 5-10. 1-hr tours available weekdays. Garden Apr.-Oct., Tues.-Sun. 10-4. T stop: Museum.
Longfellow National Historic Site
105 Brattle St.
Cambridge
617-8764491
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -- the poet whose stirring tales of the Village Blacksmith, Evangeline, Hiawatha, and Paul Revere's midnight ride thrilled 19th-century America -- once lived in this elegant mansion. Once called the Vassall-Craigie-Longfellow House after its various occupants, it was built in 1759 by John Vassall Jr., and is one of the seven original Tory Row homes on Brattle Street; George Washington lived here during the siege of Boston from July 1775 to April 1776. Longfellow first boarded here in 1837, and later received the house as a gift from his father-in-law on his marriage to Frances Appleton, who burned to death here in an accident in 1861. For 45 years Longfellow wrote his famous verses here and filled the house with the exuberant spirit of his own work and that of his literary circle, which included Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Charles Sumner, an antislavery senator. Even in Longfellow's day, the house was a draw for those who wanted to tread the floors where Washington once stood. Across the street is Longfellow Park, created to preserve the view immortalized in the poet's "To the River Charles." www.nps.gov/long. COST: $3. May-Oct., Wed.-Sun., 10-4:30.
Hammond Castle Museum
80 Hesperus Ave. (south side of Gloucester off Rte. 127)
Gloucester
978-2832080
Hammond Castle Museum, a "medieval" stone castle built in 1926 by the inventor John Hays Hammond Jr., who is credited with more than 500 patents, including ones associated with the organ that bears his name. The museum contains medieval-style furnishings and paintings throughout, and the Great Hall houses an impressive 8,200-pipe organ. Walk into the serene Patio Room, with its pool and garden, and you may feel as if you've entered a 15th-century village. From the castle you can see "Norman's Woe Rock," made famous by Longfellow in his poem "The Wreck of the Hesperus." In addition to being closed during the last two weeks of October, the museum often closes to host weddings or special events; call ahead. www.hammondcastle.org. COST: $6.50. Memorial Day-Labor Day, daily 9-5; Labor Day-Memorial Day, weekends 10-3.
Wingaersheek Beach
Exit 13 off Rte. 128
Gloucester
Wingaersheek Beach is a well-protected cove of white sand and dunes, with the white Annisquam lighthouse in the bay. It's on the North Shore in Gloucester.
Good Harbor Beach
Signposted from Rte. 127A
Gloucester
Good Harbor Beach, on the North Shore in Gloucester, is a huge, sandy, dune-backed beach with a rocky islet just offshore.
Long Beach
off Rte. 127A on Gloucester-Rockport town line
Gloucester
For excellent sunbathing on the North Shore, visit Gloucester's Long Beach; parking here is only $5.
Rockport Art Association Gallery
12 Main St.
Rockport
978-5466604
The Rockport Art Association Gallery, on the North Shore in Rockport, displays the best work of local artists. It's open all year except January.
Plimoth Plantation
(60.0 mi)Warren Ave. (Rte. 3A)
Plymouth
508-7461622
Over the entrance of the Plimoth Plantation is the caution: "You are now entering 1627." Believe it. Against the backdrop of the Atlantic Ocean, a Pilgrim village has been carefully re-created, from the thatch roofs, cramped quarters, and open fireplaces to the long-horned livestock. Throw away your preconception of white collars and funny hats; through ongoing research, the Plimoth staff has developed a portrait of the Pilgrims that's more complex than the dour folk in school textbooks. Listen to the accents of the "residents," who never break out of character. You might see them plucking ducks, cooking rabbit stew, or tending garden. Feel free to engage them in conversation about their life, but expect only curious looks if you ask about anything that happened after 1627. Elsewhere on the plantation is Hobbamock's Homestead, where descendants of the Wampanoag Indians re-create the life of a Native American who chose to live near the newcomers. In the Carriage House Craft Center you can see objects created using the techniques of 17th-century English craftsmanship -- that is, effects the Pilgrims might have imported. (You can also buy samples.) At the Nye Barn you can see goats, cows, pigs, and chickens. Most of the animals were bred from 17th-century gene pools and are probably similar to those raised in the original plantation. The visitor center has gift shops, a cafeteria, and multimedia presentations. Dress for the weather, since many exhibits are outdoors. Admission tickets are good for two consecutive days. www.plimoth.org. COST: $20; $22 ticket includes Mayflower II. Apr.-Nov., daily 9-5.
Holocaust Memorial
(0.05 mi)Union St.
Boston
At night, its six 50-ft-high glass-and-steel towers glow like ghosts who vow never to forget. During the day, the monument seems at odds with the 18th-century streetscape of Blackstone Square behind it. Shoehorned into the north end of Union Park, the Holocaust Memorial is the work of Stanley Saitowitz, whose design was selected through an international competition; the finished memorial was dedicated in 1995. Recollections by Holocaust survivors are set into the glass-and-granite walls; the upper levels of the towers are etched with 6 million numbers in random sequence, symbolizing the Jewish victims of the Nazi horror. Manufactured steam from grates in the granite base makes for a particularly haunting scene after dark.
New England Aquarium
(0.05 mi)Central Wharf
(0.05 mi)between Central and Milk Sts.
Boston
617-9735200
This aquarium challenges you to really imagine life under the sea. You can see penguins, jellyfish, sea otters, several different kinds of sharks, and other exotic sea creatures -- more than 2,000 species in all. Some make their home in the aquarium's four-story, 200,000-gallon ocean reef tank. Don't miss the five-times-a-day feedings, which take divers 24 ft into the tank. From outside the glassed-off Aquarium Medical Center, you can watch veterinarians treat sick animals. At the "Edge of the Sea" exhibit children can gingerly pick up starfish and other creatures. Sea-lion shows are held aboard Discovery, a floating marine-mammal pavilion; whale-watch cruises leave from the aquarium's dock April-early November and cost $27. Across the plaza is the aquarium's Education Center, which has changing exhibits. The 3-D IMAX theater, at 6 1/2 stories high, is the largest movie screen in New England. www.neaq.org. COST: $13, or with CityPass. July-early Sept., Mon.-Tues. and Fri. 9-6, Wed.-Thurs. 9-8, weekends 9-7; early Sept.-June, weekdays 9-5, weekends 9-6. T stop: Aquarium, State St.
USS Constitution
(0.50 mi)Charlestown Navy Yard, 55 Constitution Rd.
Boston
617-2425670
Better known as "Old Ironsides," the USS Constitution rides proudly at anchor in her berth at the Charlestown Navy Yard. The oldest commissioned ship in the U.S. fleet is a battlewagon of the old school, of the days of "wooden ships and iron men" -- when she and her crew of 200 succeeded at the perilous task of asserting the sovereignty of an improbable new nation. Every July 4 and on certain other occasions she's towed out for a turnabout in Boston Harbor, the very place her keel was laid in 1797. The venerable craft has narrowly escaped the scrap heap several times in her long history. She was launched on October 21, 1797, as part of the nation's fledgling navy. Her hull was made of live oak, the toughest wood grown in North America; her bottom was sheathed in copper, provided by Paul Revere at a nominal cost. Her principal service was during Thomas Jefferson's campaign against the Barbary pirates, off the coast of North Africa, and in the War of 1812. In 42 engagements, her record was 42-0. The men and women who look after the Constitution, regular navy personnel, maintain a 24-hour watch. Tours are every 30 minutes, beginning at 10:30 and ending at 3:30. Security checkpoint is in force. No knives of any size are allowed aboard the ship. www.ussconstitution.navy.mil. COST: Free. Tuesday-Sunday, 10-3:50. T stop: Haymarket; then MBTA Bus 92 or 93 to Charlestown City Sq. or Boston Harbor Cruise water shuttle from Long Wharf to Pier 4. Head to the Constitution Museum (617/426-1812, www.ussconstitutionmuseum.org) for artifacts and hands-on exhibits pertaining to the ship -- firearms, logs, and instruments. One section takes you step by step through the Constitution's most important battles. Old meets new in a video-game battle "fought" at the helm of a ship. Museum hours are 10-5 from November through April and 9-6 from May through October.
Faneuil Hall
(0.050 mi)Faneuil Hall Sq.
Boston
617-6353105
A considerable part of Boston's spirit resides in Faneuil Hall. It was erected in 1742, the gift of wealthy merchant Peter Faneuil. It burned in 1761 and was immediately reconstructed according to the original plan. In 1772 Samuel Adams stood here and first suggested that Massachusetts and the other colonies organize a Committee of Correspondence in the face of hardening British repression. In later years, the abolitionists Wendell Phillips and Charles Sumner pleaded for support from its podium. The tradition continues to this day: in presidential election years, the hall hosts debates between contenders in the Massachusetts primary. Faneuil Hall was substantially enlarged and remodeled in 1805 according to a Greek Revival design of the noted architect Charles Bulfinch. Today, the aroma of cinnamon wafts through the hall from a coffee and snack bar. The shops at ground level are essential for those seeking New England bric-a-brac. City Store (enter on the north side of the hall) sells authentic Boston souvenirs. www.faneuilhallmarketplace.com. COST: Free. Great Hall daily 9-5. Shops June-mid-Sept., Mon.-Sat. 10-8, Sun. 10-6; mid Sept.-May, daily 10-6. T stop: Government Center, Aquarium, State Street.
Acorn Street
Surely the most photographed street in the city, Acorn is Ye Olde Colonial Boston at its best. For drivers, the cobblestone street may be Boston's roughest ride (and so narrow that only one car can squeeze through at a time). Delicate row houses line one side, and on the other are the doors to Mt. Vernon's hidden gardens. Once the homes of nineteenth-century artisans and tradesmen, these little jewels are now every bit as prestigious as their larger neighbors on Chestnut and Mt. Vernon streets.
Boston Athenaeum
10 1/2 Beacon St.
Boston
617-2270270
Founded in 1807 from the seeds sown by the Anthology Club (headed by Ralph Waldo Emerson's father), the Boston Athenaeum moved to its present imposing quarters -- modeled after Palladio's Palazzo da Porta Festa in Vicenza, Italy -- in 1849. Only 1,049 proprietary shares exist for membership in this cathedral of scholarship. The Athenaeum is, however, open for use by qualified scholars, and yearly memberships are open to all by application. The first floor is open to the public and houses an art gallery with rotating exhibits, marble busts, porcelain vases, lush oil paintings, and books. Take the guided tour to spy one of the most marvelous sights in the world of Boston academe, the fifth-floor Reading Room. Among the Athenaeum's holdings are most of George Washington's private library and the King's Chapel Library, sent from England by William III in 1698. With a nod to the Information Age, an on-line catalog contains records for more than 600,000 volumes. The Athenaeum has additional space at 14 Beacon St., the exterior of which starred as Ally McBeal's law office on the popular Boston-set television show. www.bostonathenaeum.org. COST: Free. Call ahead for hours and tour availability. T stop: Park St.
Boston Common
(0.45 mi)Between Beacon, Charles, and Tremont Sts.
Boston
Nothing is more central to Boston than the Common, the oldest public park in the United States and undoubtedly the largest and most famous of the town commons around which New England settlements were traditionally arranged. Boston Common is not built on landfill like the adjacent Public Garden, nor is it the result of 19th-century park planning; it started as 50 acres where the freemen of Boston could graze their cattle. Dating from 1634, it's as old as the city around it. Although no building of substance ever stood here, the Common contains many noteworthy sites. The Central Burying Ground (Boylston St. near Tremont, Beacon Hill, www.cityofboston.gov/parks, Apr.-Nov., daily 9-5; Dec.-Mar., daily 9-dusk, T stop: Park St.) is the final resting place of Tories and Patriots alike, as well as many British casualties of the Battle of Bunker Hill. The most famous person buried here is Gilbert Stuart, the portraitist best known for his likenesses of George and Martha Washington; he died a poor man in 1828. The Common's highest ground, near the park's Parkman Bandstand, was once called Flagstaff Hill. It's now surmounted by the Soldiers and Sailors Monument, honoring Civil War troops. The Common's only body of water is the Frog Pond, a tame and frog-free concrete depression used as a children's wading pool during steamy summer days and for ice skating in winter. It marks the original site of a natural pond that inspired Edgar Allan Poe to call Bostonians "Frogpondians." On the Beacon Street side of the Common sits the splendidly restored Robert Gould Shaw 54th Regiment Memorial, executed in deep-relief bronze by Augustus Saint-Gaudens in 1897. It commemorates the 54th Massachusetts Regiment, the first Civil War unit made up of free blacks, led by the young Brahmin Robert Gould Shaw. He died, along with nearly half of his troops, in an assault on South Carolina's Fort Wagner; their story inspired the 1989 movie Glory. Also note the 1888 Boston Massacre Memorial, on Tremont Street near Boylston; the sculpted hand of one of the victims has a distinct shine from years of sightseers' caresses. T stop: Park St.
Granary Burying Ground
(0.4 mi)Entrance on Tremont St.
Boston
"It is a fine thing to die in Boston," A. C. Lyons, an essayist and old Boston wit, once remarked, alluding to the city's cemeteries, among the most picturesque and historic in America. If you found a resting place here at the Old Granary, as it's called, chances are your headstone would have been impressively ornamented with skeletons and winged skulls. Your neighbors would have been impressive, too: among them Samuel Adams, John Hancock, Benjamin Franklin's parents, and Paul Revere. Note the winged hourglasses carved into the stone gateway of the burial ground; they are a 19th-century addition, made more than 150 years after this small plot began receiving the earthly remains of colonial Bostonians. www.cityofboston.gov/parks. Dec.-Apr., daily 9-dusk; May-Nov., daily 9-5. T stop: Park St.
Louisburg Square
One of the most charming corners in a neighborhood that epitomizes charm, Louisburg Square was an 1840s model for townhouse development that was never repeated on the Hill because of space restrictions. Today, the grassy square -- enclosed by a wrought-iron fence and considered the very heart of Beacon Hill -- belongs collectively to the owners of the houses facing it. The houses, most of which are now divided into apartments and condominiums, have seen their share of famous tenants, including author and critic William Dean Howells at Nos. 4 and 16, and the Alcotts at No. 10 (Louisa May not only lived but died here, on the day of her father's funeral). In 1852 the singer Jenny Lind was married in the parlor of No. 20. T stop: Park St.
Museum of Afro-American History
8 Smith Ct.
Boston
617-7250022
Ever since runaway slave Crispus Attucks became one of the famous victims of the Boston Massacre of 1770, the African-American community of Boston has played an important part in the city's history. Throughout the 19th century, abolition was the cause celebre for Boston's intellectual elite, and during that time, blacks came to thrive in neighborhoods throughout the city. The Museum of Afro-American History was established in 1964 to promote this history. What was once the country's first public school for black children reopened in 2000 as a fascinating tribute to the history of Boston's African-Americans. The Abiel Smith School operated from 1835 to 1855, educating an estimated 200 students. Built in 1806 and the centerpiece of Beacon Hill's African-American community, the African Meeting House is the oldest black church building still standing in the United States. It was constructed almost entirely with African-American labor, using funds raised in both the white and the black communities. The facade is an adaptation of a design for a town house published by the Boston architect Asher Benjamin. The Museum of Afro-American History has been in the process of renovating the African Meeting House, so call ahead. www.afroammuseum.org. COST: Free. Abiel Smith School, Memorial Day-Labor Day, daily 10-4; mid-Sept.-May, Mon.-Sat. 10-4. African Meeting House, call ahead for hours. T stop: Charles/MGH.
State House
(0.05 mi)Beacon St. between Hancock and Bowdoin sts.
Boston
617-7273676
On July 4, 1795, the surviving fathers of the Revolution were on hand to enshrine the ideals of their new Commonwealth in a graceful seat of government designed by Charles Bulfinch. Governor Samuel Adams and Paul Revere laid the cornerstone; Revere would later roll the copper sheathing for the dome. Bulfinch's State House is one of the most architecturally distinguished state government buildings in America. The neoclassical design is poised between Georgian and Federal; its finest features are the delicate Corinthian columns of the portico, the graceful pediment and window arches, and the vast yet visually weightless golden dome. Inside the State House are Doric Hall, with its statuary and portraits; the Hall of Flags, where an exhibit shows the battle flags from all the wars in which Massachusetts regiments have participated; the Great Hall, an open space used for state functions that houses 351 flags from the cities and towns of Massachusetts; the governor's office; and the chambers of the House and Senate. Despite its civic function, the building holds its share of art. Perhaps the best known artwork in the building is the carved wooden Sacred Cod, mounted in the Old State House in 1784 as a symbol of the commonwealth's maritime wealth. COST: Free. Tours weekdays 10-3:30. Call in advance, no minimum number of people required. http://www.state.ma.us/sec/trs/ T stop: Park St.
Esplanade
(0.5 mi)At the northern end of Charles Street is one of several footbridges crossing Storrow Drive to the Esplanade and the Hatch Memorial Shell. The free concerts here in summer include the Boston Pops' immensely popular televised Fourth of July show. For shows like this, Bostonians haul lawn chairs and blankets to the lawn in front of the shell. An impressive stone head of the late maestro Arthur Fiedler watches over the walkers, joggers, picnickers, and sunbathers who fill the Esplanade's paths on pleasant days. The green is home port for the fleet of small sailboats that dot the Charles River Basin; they belong to Community Boating. The turn-of-the-20th-century Union Boat Club Boathouse is headquarters for the country's oldest private rowing club.
Museum of Science
(0.5 mi)Science Park at the Charles River Dam
Boston
617-7232500
With 15-ft lightning bolts in the Theater of Electricity and a 20-ft-long Tyrannosaurus rex model, this is just the place to ignite any child's Jurassic spark. More than 550 exhibits cover astronomy, astrophysics, anthropology, progress in medicine, computers, the organic and inorganic earth sciences, and much more. The emphasis is on hands-on education. At the "Investigate!" exhibit children explore such scientific principles as gravity by balancing objects -- there are no wrong answers here, only discoveries. The Museum of Science's Charles Hayden Planetarium (617/523-6664), with its sophisticated multimedia system based on a Zeiss planetarium projector, produces exciting programs on astronomical discoveries. Laser light shows, with laser graphics and computer animation, are scheduled Thursday through Sunday evenings. The shows are probably best for children older than five. Admission to the Planetarium alone is $7.50 (it's $5 if you paid the admission for the museum). The Mugar Omni Theater (617/723-2500), a five-story dome screen, has a state-of-the-art sound system with extra-sharp acoustics. Try to get tickets in advance. Admission for the shows is $7.50 ($5 if you paid the admission for the museum). Shows play on Friday and Saturday from 10 to 10, and on Monday from 10 until 4. Schedules vary for other days. www.mos.org. COST: $11, or with CityPass. Museum: July 5-Labor Day, Sat.-Thurs. 9-7, Fri. 9-9; Labor Day-July 4, Sat.-Thurs. 9-5, Fri. 9-9. T stop: Science Park.
Quincy Market
(0.025 mi)Bordered by Clinton, Commercial, and Chatham Sts.
Boston
617-3382323
Across a plaza from Faneuil Hall, the market consists of three block-long annexes loaded with souvenirs, chain stores, and specialty boutiques. The structures, restored in the 1970s, were designed in 1826 by Alexander Parris as part of a public-works project. Today, stalls purveying international and specialty foods -- raw shellfish, sausage-on-a-stick, egg rolls, boutique chocolate-chip cookies -- make this perhaps Boston's best locale for grazing. Quintessential Boston remains here only in Durgin-Park, opened in 1826 and known for its plain decor, surly waitresses, and large portions of traditional New England fare. Mon.-Sat. 10-9, Sun. noon-6. Restaurants and bars generally open daily 11 AM-2 AM; food stalls open earlier. T stop: Haymarket, Government Center, State St., Aquarium.
Paul Revere House
(0.25 mi)19 North Sq.
Boston
617-5232338
It's an interesting coincidence that the oldest house standing in downtown Boston should also have been the home of Paul Revere, patriot activist and silversmith, as many homes of famous Bostonians have burned or been demolished over the years. It was saved from oblivion in 1902 and restored to an approximation of its original 17th-century appearance. Revere owned the house from 1770 until 1800, although he lived there for only 10 years, and rented it out for the next two decades. Pre-1900 photographs show it as a shabby warren of storefronts and apartments. The clapboard sheathing is a replacement, but 90% of the framework is original; note the Elizabethan-style overhang and leaded windowpanes. A few Revere furnishings are on display here. Special events are scheduled throughout the year, many designed with children in mind. During the first weekend in December, the staff dresses in period costume and serves up apple-cider cake and other colonial-era goodies. From May through October, there's something going on every Saturday afternoon. www.paulreverehouse.org. COST: $2.50; $4 with Pierce-Hichborn House. Jan.-Mar., Tues.-Sun. 9:30-4:15; Nov.-Dec. and first 2 wks of Apr., daily 9:30-4:15; mid-Apr.-Oct., daily 9:30-5:15. T stop: Haymarket, Aquarium, Government Center.
Paul Revere Mall
Bordered by Tileston, Hanover, and Unity Sts.
Boston
This makes a perfect time-out spot from the Freedom Trail. Bookended by two landmark churches -- Old North and St. Stephen's -- the mall is flanked by brick walls lined with bronze plaques bearing the stories of famous North Enders of old. An appropriate centerpiece for this enchanting cityscape is Cyrus Dallin's equestrian statue of Paul Revere. Despite his depictions in such statues as this, the gentle Revere was stocky and of medium height -- whatever manly dash he possessed must have been in his eyes rather than his physique. That physique served him well enough, however, for he lived to be 83 and saw nearly all of his Revolutionary comrades buried.
Children's Museum
300 Congress St.
Boston
617-4266500
This fun museum isn't just for children. Creative hands-on exhibits demonstrate scientific laws, cultural diversity, the human body, and the nature of disabilities. Some of the most popular stops are also the simplest: bubble-making machinery, the two-story New Balance climbing sculpture, and Boats Afloat, where children can build a wooden boat and float it down a 15-ft-long channel. "Arthur's World" brings the gregarious aardvark from the PBS series to life. In the toddler Smith Family PlaySpace, children under three can go free in a safe environment; attached is a parent resource room. The downstairs museum shop overflows with children's books and gifts; upstairs, at Recycle, arts and crafts materials are sold in bulk for $2 and $6 a bag. www.bostonkids.org. COST: $7. Sat.-Thurs. 10-5, Fri. 10-9. T stop: South Station.
King's Chapel
58 Tremont St.
Boston
617-2272155
Both somber and dramatic, King's Chapel looms over the corner of Tremont and School streets. Its distinctive shape wasn't achieved entirely by design; for lack of funds, it was never topped with the steeple that architect Peter Harrison had planned. It took five years to build the solid Quincy granite structure, which was essentially built around the first chapel erected on the site, dating from 1688. The interior, finished in 1754, is a masterpiece of proportion and Georgian calm. The pulpit, built in 1717 by Peter Vintoneau, is the oldest pulpit in continuous use on the same site in the United States. To the right of the main entrance is a special pew once reserved for condemned prisoners, who were trotted in to hear a sermon before being hanged on the Common. The chapel's bell is Paul Revere's largest and, in his judgment, his sweetest sounding. www.cityofboston.gov/freedomtrail. Mid-Apr.-Nov., Mon. and Fri.-Sat. 10-4; Dec.-mid-Apr., Sat. 10-4. Year-round music program Tues. 12:15-1; services Sun. at 11, Wed. at 12:15. T stop: Park St., Government Center.
Boston Public Garden
(0.55 mi)Charles, Beacon, Boylston, and Arlington Sts.
Boston
617-6354505
The Boston Public Garden is the oldest botanical garden in America, dating from 1837. It occupies what had been salt marshes on the edge of the Common. The Public Garden has the finest formal plantings in central Boston. The beds along the main walkways are replanted for spring and summer. The tulips during the first two weeks of May are especially colorful, and there's a sampling of native and European tree species. The central feature of the Public Garden is its irregularly shaped pond, famous since 1877 for its foot pedal-powered Swan Boats. It also contains a special delight for the young at heart; follow the children quack-quacking along the pathway between the pond and the park entrance at Charles and Beacon streets to the Make Way for Ducklings bronzes sculpted by Nancy Schon, a tribute to the 1941 classic children's story by Robert McCloskey. www.swanboats.com. COST: Swan Boats $2. Swan Boats Apr. 14-June 20, daily 10-4; June 21-Labor Day, daily 10-5; Labor Day-Sept. 17, weekdays 12-4, weekends 10-4. T stop: Arlington.
Boston Public Library
(0.55 mi)700 Boylston St., Copley Square
Boston
617-5365400
This venerable institution is a handsome temple to literature and a valuable research library. When the building was opened in 1895, it confirmed the status of architects McKim, Mead & White as apostles of the Renaissance revival style, while reinforcing Boston's commitment to an enlightened citizenry that goes back 350 years, to the founding of the Public Latin School. Philip Johnson's 1972 addition emulates the mass and proportion of the original, though not its extraordinary detail. Charles McKim saw to it that the interior of his building was ornamented by several of the finest painters of the day. The murals at the head of the staircase, depicting the nine muses, are the work of the French artist Puvis de Chavannes; those in the book-request processing room to the right are Edwin Abbey's interpretations of the Holy Grail legend. Upstairs, in the public areas leading to the fine-arts, music, and rare-books collections, is John Singer Sargent's mural series on the subject of Judaism and Christianity. The corridor leading from the annex opens onto the Renaissance-style courtyard around which the original library is built. A covered arcade furnished with chairs rings a garden and fountain. Beyond the courtyard is the main entrance hall of the 1895 building, with its immense stone lions by Louis Saint-Gaudens, vaulted ceiling, and marble staircase. The corridor at the top of the stairs leads to Bates Hall, one of Boston's most sumptuous interior spaces. This is the main reference reading room, 218 ft long with a barrel-arched ceiling 50 ft high. www.bpl.org. Mon.-Thurs. 9-9, Fri.-Sat. 9-5; Oct.-May, also Sun. 1-5. Free guided art and architecture tours Mon. at 2:30, Tues. and Thurs. at 6, Fri. and Sat. at 11, Sun. at 2. T stop: Copley.
Prudential Center
(0.65 mi)800 Boylston St.
Boston
800-7467778
The only rival to the John Hancock's claim on Boston's upper skyline is the 52-story Prudential Tower, built in the early 1960s when the scale of monumental urban redevelopment projects had yet to be challenged. The Prudential Center, which dominates the acreage between Boylston Street and Huntington Avenue two blocks west of the library, adds considerably to the area's overabundance of mall-style shops and food courts. The "Pru" replaced the railroad yards that blocked off the South End. Its enclosed shopping mall is connected by a glass bridge to the more upscale Copley Place. Prudential Center Skywalk, a 50th-floor observatory atop the Prudential Tower, offers panoramic vistas of Boston, Cambridge, and the suburbs to the west and south -- on clear days, you can even see Cape Cod. There are also interactive exhibits on Boston's history; the Skywalk is one of the attractions on the Boston CityPass. www.prudentialcenter.com. COST: Skywalk $6. Mon.-Sat., 10-8, Sun. 11-7; Skywalk daily 10-10. T stop: Prudential.
Trinity Church
(0.55 mi)206 Clarendon St.
Boston
617-5360944
In his 1877 masterpiece, architect Henry Hobson Richardson brought his Romanesque Revival style to maturity; all the aesthetic elements for which he was famous come together magnificently -- bold polychromatic masonry, careful arrangement of masses, sumptuously carved interior woodwork. The Episcopal church remains the crowning centerpiece of Copley Square. A full appreciation of its architecture requires an understanding of the logistical problems of building it here. The Back Bay is a reclaimed wetland with a high water table. Bedrock, or at least a stable glacial till, lies far beneath wet clay. Like all older Back Bay buildings, Trinity Church sits on submerged wooden pilings. But its central tower weighs 9,500 tons, and most of the 4,500 pilings beneath the building are under that tremendous central mass. The pilings are checked regularly for sinkage by means of a hatch in the basement. Richardson engaged some of the best artists of his day -- John LaFarge, William Morris, and Edward Burne-Jones among them -- to execute the paintings and stained glass that make this a monument to everything that was right about the pre-Raphaelite spirit and the nascent aesthetic of Morris's Arts and Crafts movement. LaFarge's brilliant paintings, including the intricate ornamentation of the vaulted ceilings, have been cleaned only once, in the late 1950s, and have never been substantially retouched. Today they look as though the paint were barely dry. Along the north side of the church, note the Augustus Saint-Gaudens statue of Phillips Brooks -- the most charismatic rector in New England, who almost single-handedly got Trinity built and furnished. Shining light of Harvard's religious community and lyricist of "O Little Town of Bethlehem," he's shown here with Christ touching his shoulder in approval. For a nice respite, try to catch one of the Friday organ concerts beginning at 12:10; the Aeolian Skinner attracts organists from around the world. www.trinitychurchboston.org. Daily 8-6; Sun. services at 8, 9, 11:15, and 6; services Mon.-Thurs. at 7:30, 12:10, and 5:30, Fri. 7:30. Tours, $5, weekdays at 1, 2, and 3 (call to confirm); self-guided tours, $3. T stop: Copley.
Fenway Park
(2.0 mi)4 Yawkey Way, between Van Ness and Lansdowne Sts.
Boston
617-2671700
Red Sox fans will continue to blame "The Curse of the Bambino" -- Babe Ruth was sold as a rookie by the Sox to the New York Yankees -- for their beloved team's inability to repeat its 1918 World Series win. Fenway may be one of the smallest parks in the major leagues (capacity almost 34,000), but it's one of the most loved, despite its oddball dimensions and the looming left-field wall, otherwise known as the Green Monster. It was built in 1912 and it still has a real-grass field. Fenway has been bittersweet for the Red Sox, with pennants in 1946, 1967, 1975, and 1986, and a divisional championship in 1988 -- but long droughts in between. There's been no shortage of heroics: Ruth pitched here when the stadium was new; Ted Williams and Carl Yastrzemski slugged out their entire careers here. More recently, Pedro Martinez won the hearts of Bostonians with his pitching prowess. www.redsox.com/. COST: Tours $5. Tours May-Sept. weekdays at 10, 11, and noon on day-game days; additional tour at 2 on non-game or night-game days.
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
(2.0 mi)280 The Fenway
Boston
617-5661401
A spirited young society woman, Isabella Stewart had come from New York in 1860 to marry John Lowell Gardner, one of Boston's leading citizens. "Mrs. Jack" promptly set about becoming the most un-Bostonian of the Proper Bostonians. When it came time finally to settle down with the Old Master paintings and Medici treasures she and her husband had acquired in Europe (with her money -- she was heir to the Stewart mining fortune), she decided to build the Venetian palazzo of her dreams along Commonwealth Avenue. In a city where expensive simplicity was the norm, Gardner's palazzo was amazing: a trove of paintings -- including such masterpieces as Titian's Rape of Europa, Giorgione's Christ Bearing the Cross, Piero della Francesca's Hercules, and John Singer Sargent's El Jaleo -- overflows rooms bought outright from great European houses. Spanish leather panels, Renaissance hooded fireplaces, and Gothic tapestries accent salons; eight balconies adorn the majestic Venetian courtyard. At one time, Gardner lived on the fourth floor of Fenway Court. When she died, the terms of her will stipulated that the building remain exactly as she left it -- paintings, furniture, everything, down to the smallest object in a hall cabinet. The courtyard, fully protected from New England winters by a glass roof, is decorated with fresh poinsettias at Christmastime, bright orange South African nasturtiums in spring, and chrysanthemums in the fall -- just as when Mrs. Jack lived here. An intimate restaurant overlooks the garden, and in spring and summer tables and chairs spill outside. Try to attend one of the concerts still held from September to May in the Tapestry Room. A first-floor gallery has revolving exhibits of historic and contemporary art. www.gardnermuseum.org. COST: $10 adults ($11 on weekends), $7 seniors, $5 students with current ID, and free for members and children under 18. Museum, Tues.-Sun. 11-5, some holidays; cafe, Tues.-Sun. 11:30-4. Weekend concerts at 1:30. T stop: Museum.
Kenmore Square
(2.0 mi)Two blocks north of Fenway Park is Kenmore Square, where you'll find fast-food joints, rock clubs, crowds of university students, and an enormous sign advertising Citgo gasoline. The red, white, and blue neon sign from 1965 is so thoroughly identified with the area that historic preservationists fought, successfully, to save it. Opening in spring 2003, Hotel Commonwealth, a six-story luxury European-style hotel, is smack in the middle of the square. The project also includes retail space, a French bistro, traffic-flow improvements, a new canopy for the T station, and a general sprucing up, with brick sidewalks and promenades, new gaslight-style street lamps, and tree plantings. In the shadow of Fenway Park between Brookline and Ipswich is Lansdowne Street, a nightlife magnet for the young and trendy who have their pick of can't-hear-yourself-think dance clubs such as Avalon and Axis. The urban campus of Boston University begins farther west on Commonwealth Avenue, in blocks thick with dorms, businesses -- including the popular Nickelodeon movie theater -- and restaurants.
Fogg Art Museum
32 Quincy St.
Cambridge
617-4959400
Seldom has so much been packed into so small a space. Harvard's most famous art museum is a virtual history of art, stunningly arranged in a way intended to stimulate, not overtax. Opened in 1895, and occupying its current space since 1927, the collection of more than 80,000 works focuses primarily on European, American, and East Asian art. It has notable collections of Italian Renaissance paintings and 19th-century French Impressionists, including Renoir and Monet, plus works by van Gogh and Degas. There are also works by Gauguin, Whistler, Klee, and Kandinsky. The museum has an impressive collection of decorative arts, including American and English silver, and the most curious and distinctly uncomfortable Harvard University "President's Chair," used only at commencement. A ticket to the Fogg also gains admission to the Arthur M. Sackler Museum as well as Busch-Reisinger Museum, in the Werner Otto Hall and entered through the Fogg. Also part of the Fogg complex is the Sert Gallery, adjacent to the Fogg in the Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts, which is the only building in North America designed by French architect Le Corbusier. Harvard has announced plans for a new art-museum complex on the Charles River, to be designed by noted architect Renzo Piano, the man behind Houston's Menil Collection. www.artmuseums.harvard.edu. COST: $5, free all day Wed. and Sat. 10-noon. Mon.-Sat. 10-5, Sun. 1-5.
Harvard Square
(2.0 mi)Students, street musicians (known as buskers), homeless people, end-of-the-world preachers, and political-cause proponents make for a nonstop pedestrian flow at this most celebrated of Cambridge crossroads. Harvard Square is where Massachusetts Avenue, coming from Boston, turns and widens into a triangle broad enough to accommodate a brick peninsula (beneath which the MBTA station is located). Sharing the peninsula is the Out-of-Town newsstand, a local institution that occupies the restored 1928 kiosk that used to be the entrance to the MBTA station. Harvard Square is bordered on two sides by banks, restaurants, and shops and on the third by Harvard University. www.harvardsquare.com.
Harvard University
(2.0 mi)Bounded by Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge St., and Quincy St.
Cambridge
617-4951000
The shade-dappled expanse of Harvard Yard -- the very center of Harvard University -- exudes peace and gentility. Named in 1639 for John Harvard, a young Charlestown clergyman who died in 1638, leaving the college his entire library and half his estate, Harvard remained the only college in the New World until 1693, by which time it was firmly established as a respected center of learning. Today the country's finest university encompasses various schools or "faculties," including the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, the Medical School, the Law School, and the John F. Kennedy School of Government. Although the college dates from the 17th century, the oldest buildings in Harvard Yard are of the 18th century; together the buildings chronicle American architecture from the colonial era to the present. Many of Harvard's cultural and scholarly facilities are important sights in themselves, including the Arthur M. Sackler Museum, the Fogg Art Museum, the Harvard Museum of Natural History, the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, and the Widener Library. Most campus buildings, other than museums and concert halls, are off-limits to the general public. www.harvard.edu.
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