Trace American History in Seafaring Boston

Posted - April 7, 2017

One of the first must-sees on any traveler’s agenda should be to follow the famed Freedom Trail. Linking more than a dozen historic sites throughout the old town area, the route traces Boston’s pivotal role in the American Revolution. Structures of historic importance include the Paul Revere House, Old State House, Old South Meeting House, King’s Chapel, and Granary Burying Ground.

Boston is designed for walking. Stroll through the Public Garden and ride a swan boat around the lagoon. Explore the cool wonders of the New England Aquarium on the waterfront at Central Wharf. The aquarium features a colony of African and rockhopper penguins, a rare collection of Australian seadragons, and an outdoor home for harbor seals.

If you’re visiting Boston during the summer, take a sunset sail aboard the 125-foot Liberty Clipper. This beautiful vessel from the Liberty Fleet of Tall Ships departs from Long Wharf for a cruise around the islands of Boston Harbor.

One could easily spend an entire afternoon at the 6.5-acre Faneuil Hall Marketplace, which bustles with activity. The marketplace includes designer shops, fresh produce, flower stands and pushcarts displaying handmade crafts. If you’re not in the mood to shop, watch the jugglers, puppeteers and street performers, and enjoy a meal at any number of casual taverns or upscale restaurants.

Boston museums are renowned, so be sure to take some time to view their great works of art.
Spend an afternoon with Monet, Picasso and Whistler at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, or the Venetian-style palazzo of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, just two blocks away. For an art alternative, take the kids to the Museum of Science, which is surprisingly fun for adults too.

For an enjoyable day trip outside the city, visit Plimoth Plantation in Plymouth, Massachusetts. The plantation’s 17^th-century English Village is a recreation of the small farming and maritime community built by the Pilgrims along the shore of Plymouth Harbor. Here you will find modest timber-framed houses furnished with reproductions of the types of objects that the Pilgrims owned, aromatic kitchen gardens, and heritage breeds livestock. Costumed role players portray actual residents of Plymouth Colony.