Boston is best known for its famous baked beans, Fenway Park, the Boston Marathon and, of course, the Cheers bar, but if you dig a little deeper beneath the surface, you'll find a surprising amount of things that make Boston one of the best cities in America and the world. Boston baked beans are a variety of famous baked beans. What makes this Boston variant very special is that it is sweetened with molasses and flavored with cured pork or bacon. The popularity of baked beans in Boston gave rise to the well-known nickname Beantown in the city.
Its history dates back to the pilgrims of Plymouth in the 1620s. Boston was a well-known exporter of rum, which comes from fermented molasses when distilled. This use of molasses also resulted in the preparation of baked bean recipes. Wholemeal bread, baked beans and frankfurters are still a staple in the city.
Boston is known for its iconic port. It is a city built around water, from the Charles River that runs through it to the Atlantic Ocean to the east. One of the best ways to experience the Boston coast is on Boston Harborwalk. This nearly 40 mile (64 km) long trail winds along Boston Harbor, starts at Chelsea Creek and continues to the Neponset River.
The walk runs through iconic neighborhoods such as North End, Charlestown and East Boston. Along the trails there are parks, places to sit, art installations and informative exhibitions. The three-mile Freedom Trail takes you through 16 of the city's major landmarks and historic sites. It is easy to follow, by the line of red bricks on the sidewalk and by the footprints at the crossroads.
Start by collecting flyers about attractions at the Visitor Center on the Boston Common before heading to the State House of Representatives. Known as the cradle of liberty, Faneuil Hall was built in 1740-42 by the Huguenot merchant Peter Faneuil as a market and was presented to the city on the condition that it was always open to the public. The ground floor is still occupied by market stalls; on the upper floor there is a council room, which in the 18th and 19th centuries was the meeting place for revolutionaries and, later, abolitionists. On its fourth floor is the Museum of Ancient and Honorable Artillery, with weapons, uniforms and paintings of important battles.
The adjacent Faneuil Hall Marketplace includes three long rooms (Quincy Market, North Market and South Market), dating back to the early 19th century, now occupied by a lively array of shops, restaurants and exhibitions. Adjacent to it, on the west side of Charles Street, is the 24-acre Public Garden, the oldest botanical garden in the United States, as well as Victorian monuments and statues, including an equestrian statue of George Washington and popular modern bronzes of a family of ducks immortalized in Robert's children's book McCloskey Make Way for Ducklings. One of Boston's most iconic experiences for all ages is strolling around the lake in the middle of the garden on the famous swan boats, first launched in the 1870s. Housed in a building that its eccentric creator is modeled after a 15th-century Venetian palace, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum displays its collections in rooms that surround a four-story central courtyard filled with flowering plants and fountains.
The invaluable collection of paintings, sculptures, furniture, tapestries, decorative arts, books, and manuscripts reflects the personal tastes and considerable experience of Mrs. Gardner herself, whose own extravagance adds even more to the museum's charm. Harvard University, founded in 1636, is the oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is widely considered one of the world's leading academic centers. Go to the Harvard Information Center for a free and entertaining campus walking tour led by a student who will share history, Harvard traditions, and personal perspective.
Or you can download a tour from their website. Boston's lively Italian neighborhood, known as the North End, is one of the oldest in Boston, where silver leader and activist Paul Revere lived at the time of the American revolution. The Paul Revere House, which he bought in 1770 and which he lived in when he made his famous walk, is the only house of the patriot on the Freedom Trail, and is open to tour. You can climb the tower of Old North Church, where lanterns were hung in April 1775 to alert Paul Revere that British troops were on their way to Lexington to arrest patriot leaders and confiscate ammunition supplies.
The beautiful white interior of the church still retains its historic cash benches. On the night of December 16, 1773, more than a year before the first battle of the American Revolution, angry Bostonians protesting a tax on goods sent to the colonies, assaulted ships from England and threw tea into the port of this site. Featuring large-scale replicas of the original ships from which the Children of Liberty threw tea overboard, the Boston Tea Party Ships Museum offers tours with a participatory recreation of that event. Overlooking the coast, the New England Aquarium boasts more than 20,000 fish and aquatic animals representing more than 550 species.
An artificial Caribbean coral reef is home to a wide variety of tropical fish and underwater life, including sharks, turtles and moray eels. Edge of the Sea touch tank allows visitors to manipulate small invertebrates such as crabs, starfish and hedgehogs. Outside the aquarium, visitors can watch harbor seals play, perform and live in their enclosed habitat. The New England Aquarium also sponsors educational programs and whale watching tours outside Boston Harbor, and the adjacent IMAX theater shows 40-minute films on nature themes.
Although the four museums that make up this complex contain treasures such as the artifacts brought by Lewis and Clark, for most people, the highlight is the more than 3,000 models of 830 species of flowers and plants, some with insects, and all so realistic that you will have trouble believing they are made of glass. Created between 1887 and 1936 by artisans Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka, the flowers are unique in the world and their secret process has never been replicated. These are part of Harvard's huge research collections, which are displayed under one roof at the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, the Mineralogical Museum, the Museum of Comparative Zoology and the Botanical Museum. Those who like the Victorian Cabinet of Curiosities, feel like the old traditional museums, will love the balcony of the Pacific Islands, it's like going back a century.
The Museum of Comparative Zoology, founded by Louis Agassiz in 1859, contains an extensive collection of fossils, including a 25,000-year-old mastodon. Mineralogy collections include a dazzling display of rough and cut gemstones, a collection of world-renowned meteorites, rocks, minerals and minerals from around the world. Beyond is the Prudential Center, a 32-acre complex of apartments, shops, restaurants and a 52-story tower. On its 50th floor, you can visit the Skywalk observation deck for 360-degree views of Boston and the surrounding area.
The Abiel Smith School of 1834 was the first public elementary school for African-American children. Exhibits at both include artifacts, films, art and sculpture related to the black experience in Boston and New England. Boston's waterfront has undergone many changes since its inception as a colonial seaport. After a period of decline for much of the 20th century, new life was breathed in the area in the mid-1970s with an ambitious redevelopment plan.
The 150-acre MIT campus is of special interest to fans of modern and postmodern architecture, a living museum of works by prominent architects such as Alvar Aalto, Eduardo Catalano, I. Pei, Frank Gehry and Eero Saarinen. While they have played in the suburbs of Foxborough since 1971, the New England Patriots of the National Football League were founded in 1960 as Boston Patriots, they changed their name after relocating. During the summer, the Boston Symphony Orchestra plays at Tanglewood, an open-air music venue in the west.
Boston has museums and performance venues that completely immerse you in the city's unique culture and history. At Rowes Wharf, you can board the Odyssey to sail through Boston Harbor, from Castle Island to George's Island, then east to Boston Light on Little Brewster Island and back north to Charlestown Naval Yard before returning to the pier. In 1770, the Boston massacre marked an important event that provoked increasing early tensions between settlers and Britain. Boston's port activity was significantly restricted by the Embargo Act of 1807 (adopted during the Napoleonic Wars) and the War of 1812.The Boston Tea Party was an iconic event in US history, rooted in a resistance movement against the British Parliament.
The Boston Neck Strait, which at that time was only about a hundred feet wide, prevented Washington's ability to invade Boston, and a long stalemate ensued. For many visitors, the highlight of a trip is a concert by Pops, either at Symphony Hall or at the Hatch Memorial Shell, an Art Deco outdoor music shell on the riverside esplanade that has become a Boston landmark. In 1770, during the Boston massacre, British troops fired at a crowd that had begun to violently harass them. By the end of the 19th century, Boston's main neighborhoods had become enclaves of ethnically distinct immigrants, and their residence produced a lasting cultural change.
If you are a sports fan, you should definitely visit the Sports Museum located in TD Garden, which has exhibits that celebrate sports in Boston and elsewhere. As one of the most prominent cities in the United States, there is a long list of things that Boston is known for. . .
