One of the main tourist draws to Boston is the Freedom Trail, a 2.5 mile trail which goes from the north of the city to the Boston Common. A benefit of this trail is that it is entirely marked with a red stripe in the sidewalk, making it very easy to follow without a map. There are 15 official stops along the way (here is the official maps page), although the map I tended to use can be found here.
Because our hotel was in the North End, we ended up doing the trail over a few days (with the last sites visited being the Bunker Hill monument and USS Constitution to the north). The Bunker Hill monument looks similar to the Washington Monument, but the one in Boston was constructed first:
Bunker hill monument
Due to being in dry docks for renovation, the USS Constitution was only available a handful of days each week, so we didn’t go inside (we did visit the nearby museum, however). It was pretty impressive to see a video of the ship entering dry dock.
We actually started with the Old North Church and Paul Revere’s house. We did go inside his house – it’s a rather cheap admission ($6) but only two large rooms. It’s also a very old house (of course) so quite creaky. I can imagine it gets crowded during the peak tourist season.
Paul Revere’s house
Other points of interest included Faneuil Hall and Copp’s Hill Burying ground. It’s almost impossible for a tourist to miss the hall since the hall (with a free museum inside) is right next to a marketplace and shopping area. The marketplace has a ton of eating options with seating in the middle of the hall.
Faneuil hall
And the cemetery:
Copp’s Hill burying ground
Not to be forgotten is the marker for the Boston massacre site as well as a statue of Benjamin Franklin commemorating the first public school in area. Interestingly, the statue is right next to the old city hall which now houses (among other things) a Ruth’s Chris steakhouse.
marker of the Boston massacre
The trail begins (or ends, depending on how you start it at) at Boston Common, a large public park. Just don’t expect the lakes to have any water in them in March, apparently! I will spare you a photo of that muddy mess.
Life in the Hague 