Beacon Hill Attractions

Old Granary Burying Ground

Near corner of Park and Tremont streets

(617) 536-4100

The great names from American history books reunite on the grave stones in this burial ground, Boston’s third oldest cemetery dating back to 1660.

Silversmith Paul Revere, who made the famous midnight ride on April 18, 1775, is buried in the cemetery, along with Boston merchant Peter Faneuil, who built Faneuil Hall for the city.

Three of the five Massachusetts men who signed the Declaration of Independence are here: John Hancock, Samuel Adams and Robert Treat Paine. Hancock and Adams each took a turn at the Massachusetts governorship, along with James Bowdoin, Increase Sumner and Christopher Gore, who are also buried at the cemetery. Gore additionally served in the U.S. Senate.

The five Boston Massacre victims are at the cemetery: Crispus Attacks, Samuel Gray, Samuel Maverick, James Caldwell and Patrick Carr, as are Revolutionary War Patriot James Otis and Mary Goose, otherwise known as “Mother Goose.” Benjamin Franklin’s parents also have a tall marker, while their famous Boston-born son is buried in Philadelphia.

The cemetery has a path making walking through the graves easier, but the graves are all so old that they haven’t lined up with the appropriate bodies in a long time.

Park Street Church

1 Park Street

(617) 523-3383

A short distance from the State House stands Park Street Church, where William Lloyd Garrison made his first abolitionist speech and where, “My Country ‘Tis of Thee,” was first sung.

The red-brick structure has a white Georgian steeple that stands 217 feet over Beacon Hill. Designed by Peter Banner, the church was built in 1809, after a group of 10 people, including Oliver Wendell Holmes, met and decided to form the parish. The group wanted to model its steeple after the London churches designed by Christopher Wren. Writer Henry James proclaimed the result to be, “the most interesting mass of bricks and mortar in America.”

The church sits on Brimfield Corner, a name picked up during the War of 1812, when the church’s basement stored gun powder. Garrison made his passionate speech against slavery there on July 4, 1829 while “America,” by Samuel Francis Smith (more commonly known as, “My Country ‘Tis of Thee,” was first sung here on July 4, 1831.

Open Jun. 17 – Aug., Tue. - Sat. 9:30 am – 3:30 pm

State House

Beacon and Park streets

The State House gleams over Beacon Hill, and was famously declared the, “hub of the solar system,” by Oliver Wendell Holmes in 1858. The statement became, “hub of the universe,” in the retelling and eventually earned Boston as a whole the nickname, “the Hub.”

The State House was completed in 1798, three years after Governor Samuel Adams and Paul Revere, Grand Master of the Masons, laid the cornerstone on John Hancock’s former cow pasture. The building replaced the Old State House on Washington Street.

Charles Bulfinch designed the architectural gem that now spans two city blocks, topping it with a dome Paul Revere & Sons coppered in 1802 to prevent water damage. The dome was gilded in 23 carat gold some 70 years later.

Bulfinch’s masterpiece holds many rooms worth exploring. He designed the second-floor Doric Hall with 10 Doric columns, carved of pine trees from the State House lawn. Safety fears later led to fireproof iron and plaster replacing the wood. The room also holds an 1826 marble stone statue of George Washington by Sir Frances Chantrey and a full-length portrait of Abraham Lincoln.

The second-floor Hall of Flags is another fine showroom, built of Italian marble that beautifully displays the flags, actually copies of the tucked-away originals.

Visitors who venture in the House Chamber want to look to the Speaker’s chair, where the “Sacred Cod,” a pine wood carving, hangs in honor of the state’s fishing industry. Head to the Grand Staircase leading to the third floor to see the state’s seals. The seal used today hangs in the middle, bearing a Latin motto that means, “By the sword we seek peace, but peace only under liberty.”

Several statues grace the State House lawn, including those of orator Daniel Webster, educator Horace Mann and slain U.S. President and Boston native, John F. Kennedy. Webster, a New Hampshire native who rose to be U.S. Secretary of State, is also honored with a statue on that state house’s lawn.

Open Mon. – Fri., 10 am – 4 pm

Boston Common

Park, Beacon, Charles and Tremont streets

The nation’s oldest public park, Boston Common is no longer used for its original mission of public cow grazing, but remains an important landmark for connecting many of the city’s pillars of history.

Surrounded by the State House, Park Street Church and the Boston Public Gardens, the Common holds the Central Burying Ground, the Soldiers and Sailors Monument honoring Civil War troops, the Frog Pond and the Robert Gould Shaw 54^th Regiment Memorial.

Each of the city’s households was taxed six schillings to buy the land for public cow grazing in 1634, a use which has long since been discontinued. In 1660, Quaker Mary Dyer was hanged in the Common with three other people, an event commemorated with a statue of Dyer standing on the nearby State House lawn. The Boston Public Garden was laid out across Charles Street in 1837.

Central Burying Ground

Tremont and Boylston streets

Among Boston’s oldest burial grounds, this cemetery sits within the Boston Common and was established sometime after the city purchased it in 1756. The cemetery holds many unmarked graves and the British are believed to have buried their Battle of Bunker Hill casualties there. The cemetery also holds well-known artist Gilbert Stuart, a Rhode Island native who gained fame by painting George Washington’s portrait for the dollar bill.

Hatch Shell

Storrow Drive

Erected in 1941, the Hatch Shell is now synonymous with the city’s Fourth of July celebrations featuring the Boston Pops. The Art-Deco structure stands 40 feet tall and 110 feet wide, built for less than $300,000 Maria Hatch donated to honor her late brother Edward. The donation came at a busy time for the area, falling in between the 1928 expansion of the Charles River Esplanade and the 1949 construction of Storrow Drive. The most costly work came in the 1990s, though, when the Hatch Shell was renovated for $4.5 million.