This sometimes raucous, often serious, always exact tour offers a curated history of Boston from the arrival of William Blackstone, its first hermit settler, to today’s “bustling hub of the universe.” We meet the severely deeply superstitious Puritans, the heroes of the Revolution, the leaders of the Abolitionist movement, and Boston soldiers on the battlefields of the Civil War. Along the way, we visit the site of the 1800s most illustrious literary hang-out where everyone from Dickens to Thoreau gathered, and the location of America's first public school commemorated by a statue of its most famous drop-out.
We pass the Old South Meeting House down Newspaper Row to the site of the Boston Massacre, also in the area where Boston began its rise from a regional power to an international city, progress at a price with the destruction of our beloved Scollay Square and the displacement of 25,000 Bostonians.
Revealed, too, are secret histories of Boston. Guests will see the love-nest of JFK, discover the workshop where Charles Ponzi devised his fraudulent investment scheme, learn of a long-running, almost deadly feud between two pie shops, and encounter Mayor James Michael Curley, the Rascal King of Boston. Ending near the Green Dragon, the famous haunt of Paul Revere, this is a fascinating history you do not want to miss.
Tour Information
Reservations: REQUIRED. Click here to reserve. Groups of 6 or more must contact us before booking.
WHERE: Meet your guide at Boston Common outside the Park St. MBTA Station
The tour ends at the James Michael Curley Statue next to Faneuil Hall.
Duration: Approximately 2 hours. Tour distance is approximately 1 mile (1.6K)
When: View our full tour schedule.
This tour runs year-round
Cost: This tour is free to take, and you get to decide what, if anything, the tour was worth when it's done. A name-your-own-price tour is a tour for anyone's budget.
Save even more money with a Boston tourist discount pass.