Boston’s Revolutionary Trail

Boston Common is a fifty-acre expanse of green space bounded by Tremont, Park, Beacon, Charles, and Boylston Streets. Established in sixteen thirty-four, it holds the distinction of being the oldest public park in the United States. Its…

The Massachusetts State House is distinguished by its massive golden dome, which sits at the crest of Beacon Hill. Designed by architect Charles Bulfinch and completed in seventeen ninety-eight, this Federal-style building replaced the Old…

The most distinct feature of Park Street Church is its two hundred seventeen foot white steeple, which rises high enough to remain visible from multiple neighborhoods in Boston. When the building was completed in eighteen ten, that spire…

The Granary Burying Ground is identifiable by its Egyptian revival gate and the dense rows of slate headstones sitting in the shadow of downtown skyscrapers. Founded in sixteen sixty, this site was the third cemetery established in Boston,…

King's Chapel Burying Ground is the oldest cemetery in Boston, established in sixteen thirty. You can identify the site by its collection of weathered, dark slate headstones, many carved with macabre symbols like skulls, crossbones, and…

An eight-foot bronze statue of Benjamin Franklin stands on School Street, positioned before the historic Old City Hall. Erected in eighteen fifty-six, this was the first portrait statue of a human placed in any American city. The figure…

The Old Corner Bookstore is a two-and-a-half-story brick building with a distinctive gambrel roof that sits at the corner of Washington and School Streets. Constructed in seventeen eighteen by Thomas Crease as a residence and apothecary…

The Old South Meeting House is a Georgian-style building made of red brick with a prominent steeple at the front. Completed in seventeen twenty-nine, it was the largest building in colonial Boston, offering enough space to hold the massive…

The Old State House is the oldest surviving public building in Boston, marked by a prominent second-floor balcony that overlooks the intersection of Washington and State Streets. Built in seventeen thirteen, this brick structure served as…

A circle of gray cobblestones set into the pavement marks the site of the Boston Massacre. This ring of stone, located at the intersection of State and Congress Streets, indicates where British soldiers fired into a crowd of colonists on…

Faneuil Hall is identified by the golden grasshopper weathervane that sits atop its roof, a copper icon crafted by the artisan Shem Drowne in the eighteenth century. Completed in seventeen forty-two, the building was gifted to the city of…

The Paul Revere House is the oldest surviving structure in downtown Boston, recognizable by its steep gabled roof and dark, wooden clapboard exterior. Built around sixteen eighty, this building stands in North Square as a rare example of…

The Old North Church is distinguished by its towering steeple, which rises higher than any other in the city. Completed in seventeen twenty-three, this Georgian-style brick building stands as the oldest surviving church structure in…

Copp’s Hill Burying Ground is defined by its uneven rows of thin, weathered headstones that lean at irregular angles across two acres of high ground. Established in sixteen fifty-nine as the North Burying Ground, it is the second oldest…

The USS Constitution is a three-masted, wooden-hulled frigate recognizable by her massive masts and black and white hull. Authorized by the Naval Act of seventeen ninety-four and launched in seventeen ninety-seven, she stands as the…

The Bunker Hill Monument is a two hundred and twenty-one foot granite obelisk that rises from a square park in the Charlestown neighborhood of Boston. Although it shares a name with the famous seventeen seventy-five battle, the structure…