Boston: Where the revolution left its trail on foot
A trip to Boston, a city where the American Revolution took much of its early shape, is not complete without navigating through its history. In 1773, Parliament’s Tea Act let the British East India Company sell tea to the colonies at low prices, a move many colonists saw as a way of forcing them to accept British taxation. When the tea ships reached Boston, colonists refused to let the cargo land. Later that December, men dressed as Mohawks dumped 342 chests of tea into the harbor to protest taxation without representation. Britain answered with the Coercive Acts, which united the colonies and helped push them toward war.
Today, the story unfolds on foot, and you can explore notable sites along the way on the Freedom Trail. It begins at Boston Common and follows a red brick line for 2.5 miles past sixteen sites of the Revolution, ending at the Bunker Hill Monument in Charlestown.
Stops along the way:
- Commonwealth Avenue Mall: a 32-acre shaded promenade through Back Bay, one of the city’s most elegant neighborhoods
- Boston Common: America’s oldest public park, where the Freedom Trail begins
- Beacon Hill: cobbled, brick-lined streets named for a Revolutionary War beacon
- Massachusetts State House: home of state government, crowning Beacon Hill
- Old South Meeting House: the gathering place before the 1773 Tea Party; charges admission
- Faneuil Hall: built in 1742 as a gift from Peter Faneuil, with a market below and a meeting hall above
- Quincy Market: food stalls, shops, and cannoli in granite halls
- North End: Hanover Street cafes serving coffee and cannoli
- Christopher Columbus Waterfront Park: a bicentennial-era park on the harbor
