DK Travel : Boston : Places of interest

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Boston Tea Party Ship

The historic occasion (known as the Boston Tea Party) when patriots, dressed as native Americans, threw a consignment of English tea overboard to protest against the Stamp Tax of 1773, proved to be a precipitating event of the American Revolution (see Boston Tea Party (1773)). The Boston Tea Party ship is a replica of the brig Beaver, one of the vessels deprived of its cargo that fateful December night. Aboard the ship, costumed storytellers recount events in rousing detail while visitors sip tea (or dump it over the rail). Over the centuries Boston has expanded into the harbor and the tea party site now lies firmly inland at 470 Atlantic Avenue, where a plaque marks the event.
Boston University

Founded as a Methodist Seminary in 1839, BU was chartered as a university in 1869. Today it enrolls approximately 28,000 students from all 50 states and some 125 countries. The scattered colleges and schools were consolidated at the Charles River Campus in 1966. Both sides of Commonwealth Avenue are lined with distinctive university buildings and sculptures. The Special Collections department of the Mugar Memorial Library is big on the memorabilia of show biz figures, displayed on a rotating basis. Artifacts include Gene Kelly’s Oscar and a number of Bette Davis’s film scripts. It also exhibits selections from its holdings of rare manuscripts and books. The Photographic Resource Center, a focus for Boston’s considerable photographic community, frequently mounts challenging exhibitions of local and international photographers.

Mugar Memorial Library, Boston University
Cambridge Multicultural Arts Center

Housed in a beautiful 19th-century courthouse, the CMAC presents performance and visual art exhibitions which promote cross-cultural exchange. A unique feature is the encouragement of dialogue between audience and artist after performances and openings.
Centre Street

Jamaica Plain is home to many artists, musicians, and writers as well as a substantial contingent of Boston’s gay and lesbian community. Centre Street is the area’s main artery and hub. There is a distinctly Latin American flavor at the Jackson Square end, where Caribbean music shops and Cuban, Dominican, and Mexican eateries abound. At the 600 block, Centre Street morphs into an urban counter-cultural village, with design boutiques, funky second-hand stores, and small cafés and restaurants.
Charles River Banks

Whether you’re cheering the rowers of the Head of the Charles Regatta (see Head of the Charles Regatta) or watching the “T” cross Longfellow Bridge through a barrage of snowflakes, the banks of the Charles River offer a fantastic vantage point for taking in Boston’s celebrated scenes. In summer, the adjacent Memorial Drive becomes a sea of strollers, joggers, and rollerbladers (see Memorial Drive).
Children’s Museum

This venerable funhouse pioneered the interactive-exhibit concept that is now utilized in museums worldwide. Accolades aside, the Children’s Museum is an absolute blast for kids and parents alike. It includes a climbing wall, a sprawling jungle gym, and cultural experiences like a walk-through, simulated Latin American supermarket.
Children’s Museum

Educators at this ground-breaking interactive museum for kids pioneered some of the features now found in similar facilities around the world, including giant soap bubbles and complex rampways for marbles (see Children’s Museum).
Christian Science Center

While believers head for the Romanesque-Byzantine basilica, the library (entered from Massachusetts Avenue) emphasizes inspirational facets of the founder’s life rather than church doctrine of the power of faith over sin and disease. The Mapparium, a walkthrough stained glass globe with 1935 political boundaries, remains the most popular exhibit. Peer into the newsroom of the Christian Science Monitor. Outside, a 670 ft- (204-m) long reflecting pool designed by I. M. Pei is lined with begonias, marigolds, and columbines.
Commonwealth Avenue

With its leafy pedestrian mall and belle époque -inspired architecture, Commonwealth Avenue aptly deserves its comparison to les rues parisiennes . A morning jog on the mall is a popular pastime, as is the occasional picnic or afternoon snooze on a bench. Highlights include Boston’s first Baptist church (110 Clarendon; closed to non-worshipers) and the pedestrian mall’s stately statues, including the William Lloyd Garrison bronze, sculpted by local artist Anne Whitney.
Concord

Concord Rebels put the Redcoats to rout at North Bridge, Concord’s main revolutionary battle site. This historical town was also the epicenter of American literature in the mid-19th century. Visitors can tour the homes of writers Ralph Waldo Emerson (Cambridge Turnpike), Nathaniel Hawthorne (455 Lexington Rd), and Louisa May Alcott (399 Lexington Rd). Henry David Thoreau’s woodland haunts at Walden Pond now feature hiking trails and a swimming beach.