Downtown Freedom Trail Walking Tour - History & Architecture

Highlights

Inclusions

Itinerary

1. The history and architecture of the Downtown Freedom Trail from Faneuil Hall to Boston Common. Includes Faneuil Hall, Quincy Market, The Old State House, Boston Massacre Site, Old South Meeting House, Old Corner Bookstore, Old City Hall, First Schoolhouse Site, King's Chapel, Tremont Temple, Old Granary Cemetery, Park Street Church, New State House and Boston Common.

   1.2 h

2. Often called the "Cradle of Liberty," this marketplace hosted the fiery protests that led to the American Revolution. Don't forget to look up at the famous grasshopper weathervane.

   Passes by

3. Marked by a cobblestone ring in the pavement, this is the exact spot where the 1770 skirmish between Redcoats and colonists ignited the spark of rebellion.

   Passes by

4. Built in 1713, this was the seat of British colonial government. The Declaration of Independence was first read to Bostonians from its balcony.

   Passes by

5. The Old Corner Bookstore is a historic commercial building located at 283 Washington Street at the corner of School Street in the historic core of Boston, Massachusetts. It was built in 1718 as a residence and apothecary shop, and first became a bookstore in 1828.

   Passes by

6. The massive brick church where the signals were given to start the Boston Tea Party in 1773.

   Passes by

7. The Boston Irish Famine Memorial is a memorial park located on a plaza between Washington Street and School Street in Boston, Massachusetts. The park contains two groups of statues to contrast an Irish family suffering during the Great Famine of 1845–1852 with a prosperous family that had immigrated to America.

   Passes by

8. Old City Hall is a building at 45 School Street in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S., which housed the Boston City Council from 1865 to 1969. Designed by Gridley James Fox Bryant and Arthur Gilman, it was one of the first buildings in the French Second Empire style to be built in the United States.

   Passes by

9. The Boston Latin School, founded on April 23, 1635, is the first public school in America, originally located on School Street. Established by Puritans, it provided free, classical education to boys. A statue of alumnus Benjamin Franklin and a sidewalk mosaic now mark its original site.

   Passes by

10. As one of the sixteen historic landmarks along Boston’s Freedom Trail, King’s Chapel is an important part of a collective. Yet the historic church also stands alone with history unique to its own site. The history of King’s Chapel spans more than 330 years, from its founding in 1686; through the American Revolution and the birth of a new nation; through great periods of change, both difficult and triumphant; to its continued presence in 21st-century Boston.

    Passes by

11. Hotels in Boston, Massachusetts | Omni Parker House, Boston ...The Omni Parker House, founded by Harvey D. Parker in 1855, is the oldest continuously operating hotel in the United States. Located on School Street in Boston, this historic hotel has hosted every U.S. president since Ulysses S. Grant and is the birthplace of the Boston Cream Pie, Parker House Rolls, and the term "scrod".

    Passes by

12. Tremont Temple was formed in 1839 under the name The Free Baptist Church. Timothy Gilbert, a piano maker in Boston, resigned his membership at Charles Street Baptist Church when the congregation dissapproved of him inviting a black family into his pew stall at Sunday worship. The church met at several locations until 1843, when Gilbert purchased the Tremont Theater for $55,000 of his own money, which is the location at which our church currently meets. Tremont Temple is famous for being the first integrated church in America, since the church from its inception offered open attendance without charge, which fostered a church community that embraced racial diversity. While primarily dedicated as a place of worship, the Temple's versatile halls also hosted an array of public events, such as the unique display of an Egyptian mummy in 1850 and influential speeches against the scourge of slavery by renowned figures like Sam Houston and Frederick Douglass.

    Passes by

Cancellation

Free cancellation up to 24 hours before the experience starts, for a full refund.

Reviews

Ratings come from 194 reviews collected by our booking partner. They are travellers' own words, in the order they were written — never reordered to flatter the experience.

Know before you go

How it compares in Boston

• Its from-price is 88% below the median of the 81 city tours we list in Boston.
• It is shorter than most of them.
• By number of reviews it ranks 12 of 81.
• The operator lists free cancellation on it.

About Boston

Boston, the capital of Massachusetts, is a compact harbour city of colonial history, red-brick streets, universities and seafood on the New England coast.

Boston was founded in 1630 and played a central part in the American Revolution, and its Freedom Trail, a red line on the pavement, links sixteen sites across the old centre, from Boston Common to Charlestown. Beacon Hill has gas lamps, cobbled streets and brick row houses, while the North End, the old Italian quarter, has the Old North Church and the Paul Revere House.

Top-ranked sights in Boston: Boston North End, Boston Old State House, Massachusetts State House.

See all 476 experiences in Boston