According to timedictionary, Boston is indisputably the cultural and commercial heart of Massachusetts. Historical sights are almost naturally interspersed with large supermarkets. Narrow, picturesque streets with carefully restored houses wind through the city with the ever-changing leaves as a majestic roof. It all started here, on the East Coast of America; almost every street corner has a monument or plaque that reminds of the time when the omens of the revolution struck a spark in everyone’s heart. In Boston, past, present and future live side by side and you get a good idea of the most turbulent times in the United States. Whether you like it or not.
Highlights van Boston
Historic Boston is a place you should take with a grain of salt at times. Although the monuments and buildings have been beautifully preserved and restored, Americans regularly exaggerate their longing for the past. Still, the city is a pleasant way to learn a little more about the time when America broke free from British rule and took its first steps on its own path.
Beacon Hill
Nine of the ten photos you see in the travel guides next to the offers to Boston were taken in Beacon Hill. The brick houses are a feast for the eyes in every season. The streets, paved with cobblestones, take you back to the time when Boston’s wealthiest residents strolled here with their families.
There are also plenty of sights here. Built in 1798, the Massachusetts State House continues to pass and pass laws under its distinctive dome, which you can see from afar. The old State House is where residents first heard the Declaration of Independence. At the Old South Meeting House, an objection meeting in 1774 got quite out of hand; from this hall hundreds of people went to the harbor of Boston for the legendary ‘Boston Tea Party’, where thousands of kilos of tea were unloaded from the ships of the English in the harbor. And we don’t mean on the quay.
Historic Boston is a place you should take with a grain of salt at times. Although the monuments and buildings have been beautifully preserved and restored, Americans regularly exaggerate their longing for the past. Still, the city is a pleasant way to learn a little more about the time when America broke free from British rule and took its first steps on its own path. It’s only natural, then, that most of the country’s leading schools are based here: Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology deliver America’s future here. Boston is original in full. And is proud of that.
Charlestown
Another living museum can be found in the Charlestown neighborhood, which showcases Boston’s heyday in shipbuilding. In the harbor it immediately becomes clear why: here lies the oldest ship that was built for the American Navy, the USS Constitution. This warship was launched in 1797 and survived more than 40 attacks during the war with North African pirates. The nickname of the barge also stems from this time: ‘Old Ironsides’. At the ‘Charlestown Navy Yard’ you can see how a shipyard works, illustrated by one of the first dry docks in the US, a rope factory and a real World War II warship. Nearby is the Bunker-Hill Monument, where a battle between the British and the American rebels claimed many victims. Around the square where the monument stands,
North End
It may be said that the Americans are proud of their successful battle against the English. The ‘Bostonians’ are almost shouting it from the rooftops; practically every church, paving stone or bullet impact present during the revolution was preserved as a monument to the past. In Boston, for example, you can get lost in neighborhoods that almost resemble the Efteling; You won’t even find Sleeping Beauty’s castle so clean and accurately renovated.
Particularly in the North End, Boston’s oldest neighborhood, the colonial heart beats as if time has stood still. There’s always the smell of fresh coffee here, thanks to the countless Italian cafes, delis and bakeries on Salem Street. If you want to see how you combine a shopping center with an amusement park, you should go to Quincy’s Market, a sprawling marketplace from 1822. Fish stalls, greengrocers and bakery stalls used to do good business here; today they share their space with GAP stores, Starbucks and Burger Kings. The combination between past and present is sometimes a bit hard to swallow; street artists show off their skills in modern antics in front of picturesque stepped gables. This district is also home to the legendary Old North Church, where two lanterns were lit to warn resistance against the British invasion. However, the eight bells in the tower were initially cast for the English rulers. They are traditionally sounded when an American president dies. The irony of this is almost exclusively spent on the British.
Old Granary Burying Ground
Remnants of the heyday can be found, literally and figuratively, in the cemeteries of Boston. Three famous ‘Bostonians’ rest on the Old Granary Burying Ground in the picturesque neighborhood of Beacon Hill. Paul Revere, John Hancock and Samuel Adams, key figures in American history, rest in peace here. Don’t miss the beautifully carved tombstones scattered around the cemetery. Dead Boston residents have been lying on Copp’s Hill since 1660, with the bullet holes of musket balls in the tombstones attesting to their age.
