![]() ![]() Open Monday to Friday from 8:45 AM to 5 PM, closed on weekends and holidays. Massachusetts State House, 24 Beacon St, Boston, MA (tour entrance is through Ashburton Park on the Bowdoin Street side). Tours must be pre-scheduled by calling (617) 727-3676. Tours of the interior, focusing on the building’s history and architecture, are free and last approximately 40 minutes. Today, The State House houses both the offices of the Governor as well as the state legislature and the Massachusetts General Court. Revolutionary War Patriot Paul Revere presided over the building’s Masonic cornerstone ceremony, held on July 4, 1795.īefore the current State House was completed, Massachusetts’ primary government building was the Old State House, which will be stop #10 on your walking tour. The State House was constructed on land once owned by John Hancock, a signer of the Constitution and Massachusetts’ first elected governor. The seat of state government since 1798, the Massachusetts State House sits high on Beacon Hill overlooking Boston Common.ĭesigned by renowned architect Charles Bulfinch, The State House is a National Historic Landmark and is considered a masterpiece of Federal architecture. ![]() It’s either “Boston Common” or (as most locals say) “The Common”. (617) 536-4100īoston native tip: Although you might hear tourists say it, “Boston Commons” isn’t correct. The park also houses several notable monuments, including Saint-Gaudens’ bronze-relief Robert Gould Shaw Memorial depicting the 25-year-old colonel leading his African-American 54th Volunteer Infantry unit down Beacon Street in May 1863.įreedom Trail walkers will want to stop at the park’s Visitor Information Center to pick up a map before starting their trek through Boston’s history.ī oston Common Visitor Information Center, 139 Tremont St, Boston, MA. Today Boston Common is a peaceful green oasis in the city, with sports fields, a carousel, and the Frog Pond for summer splashing and ice skating in the winter months. The Common was a multi-purpose site in its early days, serving as a cow pasture for local families’ livestock, as well as a site for public punishments and hangings.ĭuring the British occupation of Boston in 1775, a thousand British soldiers camped on the Common when three Redcoat brigades marched to Lexington and Concord, where the first battle of the Revolutionary War took place. Puritan colonists purchased the Common’s original 44 acres from Anglican minister William Blackstone, the first European settler of the area. Boston Commonīeautiful Boston Common, established in 1634, is the United States’ oldest public park. Here’s a quick history of each place you’ll see on your journey through Boston’s past, and how each site is an important part of Boston and the birth of the United States. The Freedom Trail has sixteen historic stops along the way, ranging from verdant green spaces to historic cemeteries, an eighteenth-century naval ship, and fascinating museums housed in some of the city’s oldest buildings. Today, that number has grown to over four million people annually, making it the number-one most popular thing to do in Boston. It was a success-by 1953, 40,000 people walked the trail each year. The Freedom Trail is a 2.5-mile route encompassing many of the best historic places you need to see in Boston.Īlthough the American Revolution began in Boston (and many people believe that the trail only covers the history of that war) the Freedom Trail’s diverse sites include the history of the city before, during, and even well after the War of Independence.Ĭonceived in 1951 by Boston Herald-American journalist William Schofield and Old North Church member Bob Winn, the plan to create a pedestrian trail to link the most important Boston landmarks was put into place by Mayor John Hynes. ![]() More resources for your day in Boston What is the Freedom Trail? ![]()
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