African Meeting House / Abiel Smith School & More
The Meeting House church on Beacon Hill, dedicated in 1806, is the oldest extant black church building in the U.S. built by free African-American artisans. The Abiel Smith School, constructed in 1834, was named after a white businessman who left a $2,000 endowment to Boston for educating black children. The Museum of Afro American History (MAAH) is dedicated to preserving accurate interpretations of African-American contributions during the Colonial period in New England. The Black Heritage Trail is a 1.6 mile walking tour encompassing the largest collection of historic sites in the nation relating to lifestyles of a free African-American community prior to the Civil War.
Meeting House, 46 Joy Street. (617) 742-1853
American Repertory Theatre
Among the nation’s most celebrated resident theaters and winner of numerous awards, the A.R.T., located at the Loeb Center in Harvard Square, presents a classic mix of drama, music, comedy, and important new cutting-edge works.
63 Brattle Street, Cambridge. (617) 547-8300
Boston Art Tours
For "cultural fun with style," Boston Art Tours covers artistic ground in and around Boston for individuals, families and groups, offering a variety of private tours and packages for adults and children. Foreign language tours are also available. Art Gallery tour participants meet across from Public Garden.
Corner of Newbury and Arlington. (617) 732-3920
Boston Common
As starting point of the Freedom Trail, the nearly 50-acre Boston Common is among the nation’s oldest public parks. Purposes have varied over the years. Public hangings took place here until 1817, and cattle grazed the Common until 1830. British troops left from Boston Common to encounter Colonial resistance at Lexington and Concord in April, 1775. Today’s fare at the park ranges from swan boat rides on the lake to winter ice skating at the Frog Pond.
Between Boylston, Park, Tremont and Beacon streets.
Boston Movie Tours
Insider gossip and behind-the-scenes trivia abound during Theater-on-Wheels tours and on Boston Movie Tours of the famed Movie Mile, covering locations made famous by television shows and movies such as Ally McBeal, Cheers, Mystic River, and more. Custom tours are offered on request.
927 Lagrange Street. (866) 668-4345
Boston PhotoWalks
PhotoWalks captures distinct angles on walking tours of Boston, with each of four tours -- Public Garden, Beacon Hill, Freedom Trail, and Waterfront -- accompanied by fascinating historic commentary and tips for composing artistic photographs of city sites and attractions. With or without a camera, PhotoWalks offers creative perspective.
Starting points are at Shaw Memorial and elsewhere, depending on tour. (617) 851-2273
Boston Public Library
Built in 1888, the Boston Public Library’s three-story monumental free-standing block building is the first outstanding example of Renaissance Beaux-Arts Classicism in America, and it set the precedent for grand scale urban libraries. Copley Square’s McKim Building is reminiscent of an Italian Renaissance palace surrounding an open courtyard. Established in 1848, the Boston Public Library has a pioneering history of revolutionary notions, having been the first publicly supported municipal library in America, the first public library to lend a book, and the first with a children’s room. Holdings include more than 650,000 photographs, and 100,000 prints (30 by Rembrandt) and drawings (72 by Toulouse-Lautrec), and the Newspaper Room has more than 250 papers from Boston’s Southie News to the Egyptian Gazette Mail. With 27 branches, BPL has free Internet access, two restaurants, and an on-line store with reproductions of its priceless photographs and artwork. BPL each year fields more than one million reference questions. All programs and exhibits are free, open to the public, and books are only the beginning.
666 Boylston Street, Copley Square. (617) 536-5400
Boston Tea Party Ship and Museum
Fire damage forced closure of the Boston Tea Party Ship and Museum, with plans to reopen after restoration. The Boston Tea Party Ship and Museum offers a multitude of exhibits, films and memorabilia. A full-size working replica of one of three original Boston Tea Party ships, allows visitors to walk along her decks, explore the galley, crew's quarters, and cargo hold.
Congress Street Bridge on Harbor Walk. (617) 338-1773
Bull and Finch Pub, Birthplace to Cheers
Across from the Public Garden, this neighborhood institution was the inspiration for Cheers, the long-running TV sitcom with Sam, Diane, Norm and the gang. The menu features wings, nachos and burgers along with Cheers memorabilia. Service is friendly, and clientele is heavy on out-of-towners.
84 Beacon Street. (617) 227-9605.
Bunker Hill Monument
At the Battle of Bunker Hill on June 17, 1775 – one of the Revolutionary War’s earliest confrontations -- British troops incurred heavy losses as Americans held back their fire with inaccurate muskets until the last possible “whites of the eyes” moment. A 221-foot monument on Breed’s Hill, where most of the blood was spilled, was dedicated in 1843. A 294-step spiral staircase leads to sweeping vistas. Dioramas and other exhibits tell how the British won the battle, while confirming American hopes of winning the war.
Monument Square. (617) 242-5641
Cambridge
Dominated by a pair of world-renowned institutions – Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology – Cambridge, just across the Charles, teems with cafes, bookstores, and boutiques, providing off-beat alternatives to comparatively staid Boston. Its squares – Central Square (a seat of government), Harvard Square (surrounding brick walls of the nation’s oldest university), Inman Square (brimming with shopping and dining), Kendall Square (home to M.I.T.), and Porter Square (with antique shops, boutiques, sidewalk cafes and a serious concentration of Japanese enterprises) are all treasure-troves of museums and historic sites. Porter Square was home of the late Tip O’Neill, former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, who opined that “all politics is local.”
Cambridge Common
As a focal point for social, religious, and political activity for more than 360 years, Cambridge Common’s land – it was once four times larger – was staked out in 1631 for grazing cattle, training militia, and holding assemblies. Annual elections were conducted under the “Election Oak” and George Whitefield delivered controversial sermons under the Whitefield Elm. When Gen. George Washington arrived in Cambridge on July 2, 1775, the common was the Continental Army’s main camp and training ground. A trio of British cannons captured by the Patriots in 1775, a Civil War Monument, and a new memorial commemorating the Irish Famine are now on the Common.Massachusetts Avenue/Garden Street, Harvard Square.
