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BOSTON — The city of Boston is known for its “wicked” rich history, to use a term the locals love, going back to the Boston Tea Party and roots of the American Revolution.
But pride is not limited to the past: The city is also home to the World Series champion Red Sox team.
This spring will mark the one-year anniversary of a tragic event in the resilient city’s recent history: the Boston Marathon bombing. A memorial service to honor the victims will take place on April 15, exactly a year after the bombs exploded on Boylston Street. The marathon takes place this year on April 21, Patriots’ Day in Massachusetts.
For most visitors, it is the history of the city that calls to them. Historic landmarks are scattered across the downtown, from 17th-century churches and meeting houses to some of the nation’s oldest schools. And taking in these treasured sites won’t cost you a penny. Just remember that the cramped, vintage streets are better tackled without taking the car:
Freedom Trail
The city’s most-trekked tourist attraction is the 2.5-mile bricked pathway that takes visitors on a tour of Boston’s past.
The route starts in the heart of the city at Boston Common and winds its way over the Charles River to Charlestown to the site of the Battle of Bunker Hill. Visitors can stop at any of the 16 designated sites from museums to graveyards to churches and meeting houses dating back to the 17th century.
One notable spot is the home of Paul Revere, famous for the ride he made on horseback to warn colonists that the British were coming. The 1680 wooden home is the oldest existing building downtown.
Another memorable site is the nation’s oldest public school, called the Boston Latin School, which was attended by four signers of the Declaration of Independence: Ben Franklin, Samuel Adams, John Hancock and Robert Treat Paine.
The trail also passes the Old South Meeting House where colonists planned their protest against the British tax on tea. The event became known as the Boston Tea Party, where revolutionists dumped 340 crates of tea into the city harbor.