photo by gusto

When an American strolls along the historic and hectic streets of Massachusetts’ capital city for the first time, a sense of déjà vu may well arise. Boston Harbor, the Boston Massacre, the Boston Tea Party, the Battle of Bunker Hill, and the revelry of Irish-Americans on St Patrick’s Day are so ingrained in the national identity that New England’s largest and most influential city may well feel familiar.

There is evidence of Native American habitation as far back as 8,000 years. When the first Europeans, led by former Church of England cleric William Blackstone, settled the narrow Shawmut Peninsula at the mouth of the Charles River in 1625, the dominant native group was the Massachuset people. After the British Crown granted the Massachusetts Bay Company a charter to colonize the area in 1629, the company dispatched about 800 Puritans, led by John Winthrop, to establish the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

In 1630 the group settled in today’s Charlestown, between the Mystic and Charles Rivers, but soon joined Blackstone across the river. The settlement was first named Trimountaine, after the three large hills that later residents excavated away for landfill. The theocratic Pilgrims later named their new home Boston.

Boston’s early economy was based on providing English immigrants with food and supplies. In the 1640s, they turned to fishing, shipbuilding, and maritime trade, and the autonomous Massachusetts Bay Colony was on its way to becoming the most important city in British America. Boston was the third-busiest British port by 1700, and the largest city in the colonies until it was surpassed by Philadelphia in 1760.

When the Crown reestablished control over the colony, its charter was annulled, and the colony’s first royal governor, Sir Edmund Andros, arrived in 1686 replacing the intolerant Puritan clergy. He abolished the colony’s representative assembly, and imposed taxes without the colonials’ consent. After King James II was deposed and Andros was sent back to England, a new royal charter took effect in 1691 that extended the colony’s authority to Plymouth and Maine. Importantly, it established an elected popular assembly and extended voting rights to property-owning non-Puritans.

Bostonians’ opposition to taxation without representation reached fever pitch when Britain imposed a series of taxes to help pay the cost of the French and Indian War (1754–63). After opposition to the Stamp Act erupted into riots in 1765, the British government ordered the military occupation of Boston in 1768. Two years later British soldiers fired on a mob and killed five protestors.

In 1773 a group of Bostonians protested against a tax on tea by tossing almost 45 tons of it into Boston Harbor. (Visitors can reenact the moment at the Boston Tea Party Ship & Museum, at the Congress Street Bridge.) In 1775 British troops marched to Concord, launching the Revolutionary War. The Redcoats suffered terrible losses at the Battle of Bunker Hill, but won the fight. They later evacuated the city by sea on March 17, 1776, after General Washington positioned captured British cannon on Dorchester Heights, overlooking the city and harbor.

Boston Harbor, the center of maritime commerce after the Revolutionary War, saw its fortunes decline during the wars, embargoes, and blockades of the early nineteenth century. Boston’s businessmen then turned to textile manufacturing, launching the Industrial Revolution in America with huge water-powered mills. As immigrants, particularly Irish fleeing the potato famine of the 1840s and 1850s, poured into Boston, cheap labor became readily available. As the city became dominant in banking, insurance, and the manufacture of inexpensive clothing, the grip of the upper-class Yankee (English-descendant) Republicans on city government began to give way to Irish Democrats, who saw control of government as a road to advancement. The city elected the first of many Irish-American mayors, Hugh O’Brien, in 1885.

Boston’s economy peaked in 1920, but as the Great Depression deepened in the 1930s, it began a long and steep decline. Revival began in 1960, but the 1970s were marred by interracial strife over forced busing to desegregate public schools. Still, Boston’s resurrection continued. Boston Harbor, once among the country’s most polluted, has been cleaned up. The city is the largest center for banking and insurance in the northeast, and about 700 high-technology and electronics companies are in the Boston area. The $10.8 billion Central Artery/Tunnel Project—The Big Dig, as it’s called—is being touted as the largest and most complex highway construction project in American history. Scheduled to be completed in 2004, it is expected to dramatically reduce the city’s notorious traffic congestion.

It’s easy to wander through the centuries in Boston, where history and modernity stand juxtaposed. High above buildings that were the foundry of the American nation—such as Faneuil Hall, where many rousing revolutionary meetings were held— stand modern edifices like the 60-story John Hancock Tower, New England’s tallest structure.

The Boston National Historical Park links a variety of sites (including the 16 sites of the Freedom Trail) that help visitors gain a coherent view of the city’s role in American history. The park visitor center is located at 15 State Street. The park includes South Boston’s Dorchester Heights, where the colonial army, led by newly appointed General George Washington, installed a battery of cannon during the siege of Boston, thereby forcing the British to evacuate on March 17, 1776.

In the three-mile Freedom Trail Walking Tour, visitors can stroll to 16 of Boston’s—and the nation’s—most important historic sites. Boston Common is a large green originally set aside in 1634 as a military training ground and public pasture. It also served for public hangings. From there the Freedom Trail zigzags past sites such as the Granary Burying Ground (1660), where lie the bones of three signatories of the Declaration of Independence, patriot Paul Revere, Boston Massacre victims, and Benjamin Franklin’s parents. It passes the Old South Meeting House (1729); the Old State House, Boston’s oldest public building (1713) and the site of the Boston Massacre (1770); Faneuil Hall (1740) and Quincy Market; the Paul Revere House (circa 1680); and the Old North Church (1723), from which a sexton signaled with two lanterns that British troops were leaving Boston to seize the militia’s arms cache at Concord. From there, it crosses the Charles River to the Charlestown Navy Yard, where the oldest commissioned US Navy ship, the USS Constitution, is anchored; then, finally, to the Bunker Hill Monument.

Located in the heart of Boston’s historically upscale Beacon Hill neighborhood is the Boston African-American National Historic Site, which includes 15 pre–Civil War structures related to the history of the city’s nineteenthcentury African-American community and Boston’s ardent opposition to slavery. It includes the African Meeting House, built in 1806, the oldest standing African-American church in the country.

Highlighting the contribution of women is the Boston Women’s Heritage Trail, comprising four interesting walks that each require about 1 to 1½ hours to complete.

For those with aquatic inclinations there is the New England Aquarium, which features more than 12,000 fish and aquatic animals. The Charles River and Boston Harbor both offer sailing, canoeing, and kayaking. The Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area provides a range of outdoor recreation opportunities, from hiking and camping to picnicking. Sweeping views of the region can also be gained from the John Hancock Observatory, atop the Hancock Tower, where elevators take visitors 740 feet above Boston’s streets.

Art lovers can take in Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts, while technophobes and technophiles alike will enjoy the Computer Museum or the Museum of Science. Sports fans may want to see a Boston Red Sox baseball game at Fenway Park (built in 1912), a Celtics basketball game, or Bruins ice hockey match at the FleetCenter. The annual Boston Marathon is held on the same day as the Patriots Day celebration, the third Monday in April. St Patrick’s Day (March 17) is one of the largest annual celebrations. The week preceding July 4 is marked by the waterfront Harborfest. On the Fourth itself, Bostonians bring picnic lunches to the banks of the Charles River to hear the Boston Pops Orchestra.

Logan International Airport provides commercial air service to Boston. The easiest and most affordable way to get around is the “T,” the system of subways, buses, trolleys, boats, and commuter trains.