First time in Boston...

[Bushrod Carter]

I'm going to Boston for a business trip this coming weekend (12th 15th), and having NEVER been to New England I'll ask the simple question: What do I need to see?

I will not have a lot of time, but will make time to be a tourist. So, with limited time and NO knowledge of the area, what is on the "must see" or "must do" short list?

Thanks.

[Mike Ventura]

Re: First time in Boston...

I'd suggest strating with the Freedom Trail - a 2.5 mile route virtually through the heart of Boston that can be walked or traversed by modern conveyance. It covers 15 of the most important historic sites in Boston. Info at

http://www.thefreedomtrail.org/

There are tons of on-line resources accessed via Google.

You'll discover that other historic sites such as Lexington and Concord are nearby, and if you can manage the time to do so, are worth the trip.

Great time of the year to be in New England

[Dignann]

Re: First time in Boston...

Pat,

I'd suggest:

The Robert Gould Shaw Memorial and The Boston African American National Historic Site

The Boston National Historic Park, which includes a lot of great sites. Nearby is the Charlestown Navy Yard and the USS Constitution.

Of course, no trip to Boston is complete without a visit to Fenway Park.

Eric

[Cornfed]

Re: First time in Boston...

I got up there for the first time a couple of years ago. Try to head north to Lexington and Concord. Its only about 35 minutes from Boston. Walking on the ground where our American Revolution began is a must. Also, on the Freedom Trail in Boston you can tour Paul Revere's home, built in the 1600's. That's gotta be on your "must see" list. Be careful though, they drive like maniacs. - Phil Maddox

[dusty27]

Re: First time in Boston...

Pat,

Faneuil Hall is great http://www.faneuilhallmarketplace.com/, ride the "T", and Little Italy in Boston is one of the best areas to eat, if you have time.

[Kevin O'Beirne]

Re: First time in Boston...

Visit the NPS site from Lexington to Concord: "Battle Road" and see where the American Revolution's shootin' started.

- Kevin

[Andy Ackeret]

Re: First time in Boston...

Wow, first in August you braved the snowfields of Wisconsin, now this.

Freedom trail is a definate. If you can't manage the time for the whole thing, go see the USS Constitution at the very least. Not in Boston proper, it's in Charlestown, but you can get to it over a foot bridge. Boston is a great walking city, you can get to quite a bit on foot without having to spend a ton in taxi fare.

[LibertyHallVols]

Re: First time in Boston...

I'm going to Boston for a business trip this coming weekend (12th 15th), and having NEVER been to New England I'll ask the simple question: What do I need to see?

Pat,

I was in your EXACT situation in August!! Park the car downtown, eat at Faneuil Hall marketplace, and walk the freedom trail. Boston is very compact and very walkable. Old Ironsides is closed on Mondays... I found out the hard way. Bunker Hill is closed for renovation... I found out the hard way (e.g. lots of walking)

I agree with others on taking the trip to see Lexington/Concord, etc. Nice park, great site to see.

The restaurants in Little Italy (right around Paul Revere's house) look really great... I only got to sample one and it was fantastic.

If you can find some time, drive about 90 min west and see Springfield Armory - Simply AWESOME!!!!!!!

Have fun!

[MassPvt]

Re: First time in Boston...

Patrick,
You can't go wrong with any of the replies listed here already. While walking or taking the T is a good way to get around, you may want to check out the Duck Tours as well.

http://www.bostonducktours.com/about_main.html

It's a unique way of taking in alot of the city and if you see a part that really interests you, you can always head back and check it out.
I have to agree about the North End and Fenway Park. Unfortunately, baseball season ended weeks ago around here!!!
Enjoy your stay,

[Bushrod Carter]

Re: First time in Boston...

A big THANK YOU to everyone who replied! It seems my biggest problem will be choosing a priority list.

Thanks again!

[Mrs. Buttrick]

Re: First time in Boston...

If you include the Springfield Armory on your itinerary, you might want to call ahead (413-747-8062) to see what days the second floor storage area is open. The last time I was home (just west of Springfield), the second floor tours were held on Tuesdays only.

[pambryda]

Re: First time in Boston...

Good recommendations for the Freedom Trail and Battle Road.

If you have some free time to play tourist, you might also want to consider Old Sturbridge Village (Mass Turnpike and Route 84 in CT) which concentrates on the 1840s. Also, Plimoth Plantation for some of the most thorough first-person research and portrayals I've ever seen.

Pam Kingsley-Bryda

[Tom Craig]

Re: First time in Boston...

If you have time to get out into Boston Harbor, be sure not to miss Fort Warren, on Georges Island. Fort Warren is an 1850s costal defense fort that was used as a training ground and prison during the Civil War. Several high ranking Confederates were held here. This is one of best Civil War sites in New England!

The fort is part of the Boston Harbor Islands National Park.
http://www.bostonislands.org/ You can take the ferry out there from Long Wharf right in Boston.

http://www.bostonislands.org/trip_3d_lngwhrf.html

You can also check out Fort Independence at Castle Island in Boston (not really an island more!). This is also a stone costal defence fort. It will be familar to those who have read "Diary of a Dead Man" the CW Journal of Ira Pettit. http://www.mass.gov/dcr/parks/metroboston/castle.htm

Have fun and be sure to have some chowda in Quincy Market!

Tom Craig

[KarinTimour]

Translations for Non Bay Staters

Dear Patrick:

Perhaps a bit of translation would be in order for some of the suggestions you've gotten.

1. Fanuiel Hall is located downtown. It houses a meeting hall as well as "Quincy Market" which is an "open air enclosed street market" with lots of small restauarants and little shops. Lots of fun, plan to explore it by foot.

2. The Springfield Armory is quite amazing, but as mentioned, you want to go on a day when they have the tours. It is also a considerable distance from Boston (about 90 miles). As the AAA says "well worth a side trip" but you need to plan some time to get there.

3. Concord and Lexington -- also side trips, but closer to Boston. In addition to the Revolutionary history that you'll find in both places, Concord was also a hotbed of Radical Abolitionism and a major station on the Underground Railroad. Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Bronson and his daughter Louisa May Alcott all lived there. Most of their homes are now house museums that you can visit. Louisa May Alcott write "Little Women" and was a Civil War nurse in a Washington hospital for about six months before she got a very bad case of typhoid, and had to be brought home. She wrote up her adventures as a thinly fictionalized book entitled "Hospital Sketches," her first best-seller. The Alcott family often helped move escaped slaves and one summer in the 1850s were in the midst of dressing one for the next stage North when the local marshal and a couple of slave catchers showed up on their doorstep. They hid the escapee in the (hopefully cold) kitchen range. Thoreau was a conductor on the Underground Railroad. The famous Walden Pond is about a mile outside of Concord, and you can visit the site of Thoreau's cabin. If you won't be renting a car, you can get to Concord by suburban commuter train, and probably Lexington as well.

4. Plimouth Plantation -- As Pam mentioned, this is a private museum/open air village recreation of the 1635 town of Plymouth, Mass, complete with 3/4 scale ship of the Mayflower, and just outside it, in the woods, an Indian village. The interpreters who are Indians are often descendents of the Native Americans who were in Massachusetts when the Mayflower landed. The interpreters who depict the settlers are assigned a person to portray when they are hired, and then spend the next 6 months - year learning in language lab how to portray that person's accent, as well as the material culture, skills, crafts, etc. that person knew. It is a lot of fun to talk to them, because they stay in first person and have ooodles of knowledge, but most tourists are too intimidated to talk to them.

5. Duck Tours -- These are group tours of downtown Boston and the Bay conducted in World War II amphibious troop transports ("Ducks"). They just drive off the land and into the Charles River or the Harbor and the tour continues, then drive up on to the land.

6. Chowda -- This is Bostonese for "chowder" -- a cream based soup that can have any number of ingredients. The most famous is clam chowder, though there are also fish chowder, corn chowder, and some say oyster chowder (though others insist the proper term is "oyster stew" or "oyster soup"). Want to kick up a fuss? Ask three Bostonians how to make chowder. This is like asking four Southerners from different states how to make proper barbeque. That red-based stuff called "Manhattan clam chowder?" All true New Englanders view this as an upstart abomination and proof of the existance of Satan.

Some say the best is to be had at Durgin Park -- a restaurant with a branch in Quincy Market (see #1 above), others claim Legal Seafood (now nationwide franchise which originated in Boston), and there are many other contenders I'm sure.

7. If you like fish, you can get some of the freshest most wonderful seafood in Boston. I don't know if it's still there, but one of my favorite restaurants was located down on the docks, very close to the Children's Museum and was called the "No name" because it didn't have a sign. Lobster, fried clams, fried oysters, and terrific fish chowder.

8. The Freedom Trail is a walking tour which connects many of the most famous historic sites in Revolutionary era Boston. One end has the Old North Church (whose tower is where the lanterns were hung to signal the movements of the British -- "one if by land...two if by sea"). Also included in the tour are Paul Revere's home, the Old South Meeting House and the site of the Boston Massacre. Don't attempt this by car -- you'll want to get out at each place and the parking in Boston can be scarce and expensive. Not to mention the streets in that part of Boston which are notorious for always being one way going in the wrong direction from the one you want to go. As mentioned, a much better idea is the "T" which is above ground in some parts of Boston and below ground in others. I think the "T" stood for "trolley" way back when, but I could be wrong.

9. The Boston Accent -- This is a lot of fun to listen to -- I sometimes ask directions just to listen to it. Compounded of working class Irish accent (and some would say with influences from Italian and working class French Canadian), it is noted by the broad A (pronounced as "Ah" as when your doctor wants to see your tonsils) and the absence of many "R"s.
'Mary, Muther a Gawd, ware did I pahk the cahh?"

Hope that was helpful, have a terrific time!
Karin Timour
Period Knitting -- Socks Sleeping Hats, Balaclavas
Atlantic Guard Soldiers' Aid Society
Email: Ktimour@aol.com

[Nor'easter]

Re: First time in Boston...

Are you a veteran? If you are you can stay at the Constitution Inn on the historic Charleston Navy Yard for cheap ($99/night). All you need is proof---DD214 or something similar.

Beautiful shipyard----historic, and now quite deserted since it was downsized. Reminded me of a ghost town actually. Beautiful old granite buildings abound with cobblestone streets in places. You are about a 10 walk from the USS Constituion and it's museum, a few steps from the Freedom Trail, and a very brief walk to pier 6 will take you to a nice restaurant/upstairs pub that is literally on the water from which you can watch the boats enter and leave. You can also catch the water taxi which will take you 'cross harbor to other historical sites------information all available at the front desk.

I've stayed there before and plan on going back. It's a relatively unknown oasis right in Boston for cheap, making it a great base of operations from which to work out of.