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The political past is everywhere in next week’s convention city

Visit Boston's famed American Revolution sites.
Image: USS Constitution
The USS Constitution makes its way by the Boston skyline, in this July 4, 1996 photo, during its annual Independence Day turn-around in Boston HarborJames Rogash / AP
/ Source: The Associated Press

It's the site of one of the seminal events of the American Revolution, but the circular cobblestone marker draws little notice, except from the pedestrians and pigeons that occasionally cross it.

This monument to the Boston Massacre of 1770, smack in the middle of a downtown traffic island, is typical of a Boston landmark in its understatement. That can surprise visitors, said Sean Hennessey, a spokesman for the National Parks Service.

“I think they're a little aghast we haven't set these sites aside like jewel boxes,” he said.

Instead, many of historical sites for which Boston is famous remain working parts of the streetscape or the neighborhood where they first became prominent.

The Old South Meeting House, where the Boston Tea Party plotters debated the tea tax and then launched their stealth attack, remains a meeting place for community activists centuries later.King's Chapel, the famous loyalist outpost, is a working church with regular services.

The USS Constitution, the oldest commissioned warship in the Navy, has a full crew and takes an annual turnaround cruise in Boston Harbor.

“It's a good example that the best way to save something is to use it,” Hennessey said.

Boston looks to be packed with visitors during this year's Democratic National Convention, set for July 26-29, and tourists are urged not to miss the important historic sites that blend in with modern Boston.

Walking the Trails

Boston's old-time charm has a downside—tight neighborhoods and cramped streets among them. No matter what visitors are looking for in Boston, it's often best to walk there, if possible, rather than risk navigating a maze of one-way streets and notoriously rude drivers. The Freedom Trail is one way visitors can find Boston history on foot.

The trail, created in 1951, was promoted by a columnist at the former Boston Herald Traveler, who was tired of seeing befuddled tourists wander around town. The trail is laid out on the sidewalk in either vertical brick paths or red paint, making it easy to follow.

It winds past the Boston Massacre site, right in front of the old State House where the Declaration of Independence was read to rapt Boston residents from a balcony in July 1776. Then it climbs past numerous attractions up to Beacon Hill and then Boston Common.

From there visitors can take the Black Heritage Trail, which includes a stop at the Abiel Smith School, the first school building in the nation erected specifically for publicly educating black students.

Taking the Freedom Trail away from Beacon Hill leads to Faneuil Hall—the colonial gathering spot where new citizens are still naturalized—and the adjacent outdoor market, Quincy Market.

The trail continues through the North End to the Old North Church, where two lanterns in the steeple warned patriots in Charlestown that the British were coming. It ends at the Bunker Hill monument, which is dedicated to the first major battle of the Revolution.

The Freedom Trail was first among Boston's top six attractions in a 2003 survey by the convention bureau, but it's merely one of the "three F's"—the Freedom Trail, Fenway Park and Filene's Basement—that Pat Moscaritolo, president of the Greater Boston Visitor & Convention Bureau said are the city's biggest draws.

Play ball, shop mall

Fenway Park, built in 1912 to house the Boston Red Sox, has hosted decades of baseball fans, but not a World Series winner since 1918. The park gives regular weekday tours. Filene's Basement, which Moscaritolo said is not only a destination for bargain hunters, but also a bit like the city itself.

“The way the store's laid out, it's kind of like the uniqueness of Boston streets,” Moscaritolo said. "Nothing goes in a straight line."

Visitors interested in spending more money can head to the boutiques on Newbury Street in the city's tony back bay neighborhood. The Public Garden, with swan boat rides on its lagoon, borders Newbury Street to the east. A short walk north leads to the parks along the Charles River, which separates Boston from Cambridge, home to Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Because historic sites have remained a seamless part of the city, people will see Boston's links to the past no matter where they look, Hennessey said. “I think they'll come away with a sense of how far the city has come,” he said. “It's kind of amazing how the city has grown around all these sites.”

If You Go

FREEDOM TRAIL: www.thefreedomtrail.org or (617) 227-8800. The 2 1/2-mile Freedom Trail runs from Boston Common to Bunker Hill. Marked by a red brick line on the sidewalk, it consists of 16 sites, including Boston Common, the State House, the Park Street Church, Granary Burying Ground, King's Chapel, the site of the First Public School, Old South Meeting House, the Old Statehouse, the Boston Massacre Site, Paul Revere's House, the Old North Church, Copp's Hill Burying Ground, the USS Constitution and Bunker Hill Monument.

FANEUIL HALL/QUINCY MARKET: www.faneuilhallmarketplace.com or (617) 523-1300. Open Monday to Saturday, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Sunday, 12 noon to 6 p.m. Stores close at 9 p.m.; some restaurants and bars stay open later.

FENWAY PARK: Tours of the ballpark leave from the Souvenir Store across Yawkey Way daily from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., or until three hours before game time, whichever is earlier. No tours will be held July 26 to 30. Tour tickets: $10 adults, $8 children 14 and under. For tour information, contact (617) 226-6666; for game tickets, go to www.bostonredsox.com or call (877) REDSOX9.

FILENE'S BASEMENT: 426 Washington St.; www.filenes.com or (617) 357-2100.

BLACK HERITAGE TRAIL: www.afroammuseum.org/trail.htm.

GREATER BOSTON VISITOR & CONVENTION BUREAU: www.bostonusa.com or (888) SEE-BOSTON.