Boston Guide » More About Boston: Overview

Overview

Boston, the "cradle of liberty," juxtaposes sleek skyscrapers and Colonial churches, beautifully manicured parks and pulsating urban bustle, and genteel college campuses and diverse, blue-collar neighborhoods. The always-proud city is riding high these days, thanks to recent landscaping and beautification, the almost-completed highway upgrade known as the Big Dig, and, most importantly, the long-awaited World Series victory of the beloved Red Sox. Civic pride is abundant, and, fortunately for visitors, citizens and officials are taking great pains to ensure that modern growth and change do not squelch the city's colorful past.

Bostonians are proud of the city's claims to fame – nation's oldest public park, first public library, first subway system, and first public school – not to mention the key role the city and its denizens played in the American Revolution. The Freedom Trail takes familiar characters from schoolbooks – Revere, Adams, Hancock, Hawthorne, Emerson, and Longfellow – and turns them into living, breathing heroes, highlighting the extraordinary contributions they made to America's foundation and its culture.

The city also has a historic commitment to education and is home to dozens of colleges and universities, including Harvard and MIT, which are considered among the best in the world. These educational institutions provide an intellectual flavor to the city, not only attracting politicians, artists, and writers but bringing in an annual deluge of youthful enthusiasm.

Boston's beginnings trace back to 1629, when the Massachusetts Bay Colony was founded by 1,000 Puritans escaping religious persecution in England. First governor John Winthrop named the town in honor of his hometown of Boston, Lincolnshire. Today, the city is divided into distinct neighborhoods, and each offers restaurants, museums, leisure activities, historic sites, shops, and pursuits befitting a flourishing metropolis. In Back Bay, hip folks congregate in cutting-edge galleries and cool cafes and frequent Boston's best collection of boutiques and shops. The South End section of Back Bay, whose population represents more than 40 nationalities, showcases the city's ethnic diversity.

For a taste of the upper crust, head to Beacon Hill, a gorgeous, tree-lined section with posh restaurants and shops, and historic sites like Boston Common and the State House. Chinatown – the third largest Chinese neighborhood in the US – is known for its plethora of eateries, the city's theater district, and for Downtown Crossing, one of Boston's top shopping destinations.

The downtown area and financial district are home to skyscrapers full of lawyers, bankers and executives, as well as a Colonial section featuring many of the most popular stops on the 2.5-mile Freedom Trail. Here, you'll find Faneuil Hall Marketplace, a landmark where Samuel Adams stirred public interest in independence that's now the city's most popular destination, full of shops, restaurants, and bars.

The Italian-flavored North End also features historical standouts, including Paul Revere's House and the Old North Church that he made famous at the start of the Revolutionary War. And no sightseer will want to miss the waterfront, home to Boston's active seaport and to attractions like the USS Constitution, better known as Old Ironsides.

Boston is ideally suited to visitors, thanks to pedestrian-friendly streets and a compact size that allows ambitious sightseers to explore the city's wealth of offerings in just a few days. Longer stays allow tourists to peel back the city's layers and explore the impressive diversity of the country's original melting pot. Numerous cultures, ethnicities, commercial offerings, and recreational opportunities only strengthen Boston's rich Colonial character and showcase a dignified city that manages to keep one eye on its bright future and another on its revered past.