Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Trail Mix
Faneuil Hall Marketplace
is a great spot for a break. Time your walk right, and
it can be the starting point of a picnic lunch. Visit the
Quincy Market
food court
for takeout, then head across Atlantic Avenue toward the water.
Christopher
Columbus Waterfront Park,
on the left-hand side of the Marriott Long Wharf
hotel, is a popular place to picnic, watch the action at the marina, and play in
the playground.
As you walk from Faneuil Hall to the Paul Revere House, you'll find yourself
in the midst of
Haymarket.
On Friday and Saturday, the bustling open-air mar-
ket on Hanover and Blackstone streets consists of stalls piled high with pro-
duce, seafood, and flowers. Shoppers aren't allowed to touch anything they
haven't bought, a rule you might learn from a hollering vendor or a cutthroat
customer. It's a great scene and a favorite with photographers.
Moments
view—but this experience is anything but a static history lesson. A multimedia pres-
entation helps visitors learn about the Boston Massacre, an interactive display helps
recount the story of the building, and changing exhibits focus on other topics, such as
the Great Fire of 1872, using vintage photographs and artifacts from the society's
collections.
To continue on the Freedom Trail:
Leave the building, turn left, and walk half a
block.
206 Washington St.
&
617/720-1713,
ext. 21. www.bostonhistory.org. Admission $5 adults, $4 seniors and stu-
dents, $1 children 6-18, free for children under 6. Freedom Trail ticket (with Old South Meeting House and Paul
Revere House) $11 adults, $3 children. July-Aug daily 9am-6pm, Feb-June and Sept-Dec daily 9am-5pm, Jan daily
9am-4pm. T: Blue or Orange Line to State.
Boston Massacre Site
A ring of cobblestones on a traffic island marks the location
of the skirmish that helped consolidate the spirit of rebellion in the colonies. On March
5, 1770, angered at the presence of royal troops in Boston, colonists threw snowballs,
garbage, rocks, and other debris at a group of redcoats. The soldiers panicked and fired
into the crowd, killing five men. Their graves, including that of Crispus Attucks, the
first black man to die in the Revolution, are in the Old Granary Burying Ground.
To continue on the Freedom Trail:
Turn left onto Congress Street and walk down
the hill, covering 1 long block. Faneuil Hall will be on your right.
State St. at Devonshire St. T: Blue or Orange Line to State.
Faneuil Hall
Built in 1742 (and enlarged using a Charles Bulfinch design in
1805), this building was a gift to Boston, which was then just a town, from prosper-
ous merchant Peter Faneuil. This “Cradle of Liberty” rang with speeches by orators
such as Samuel Adams—whose statue stands outside the Congress Street entrance—
in the years leading to the Revolution. Abolitionists, temperance advocates, and suf-
fragists also used the hall as a pulpit. The upstairs is still a public meeting and concert
hall, and downstairs holds retail space, all according to Faneuil's will. The grasshopper
weather vane,
the sole remaining detail from the original building, is modeled after
the weather vane on London's Royal Exchange.
National Park Service rangers give
free historical talks
every half-hour from 9am
to 5pm in the second-floor auditorium. On the top floor is a small museum that
