The Rough Guide to Boston 3 (Rough Guide Travel Guides) - Softcover

Rough Guides

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1843530449 ISBN 13: 9781843530442

Publisher: Rough Guides, 2003

Synopsis

INTRODUCTION

Boston is as close to the Old World as the New World gets, an American city that proudly trades on its colonial past, having served a crucial role in the country’s development from a few wayward pilgrims right through to the Revolutionary War. It occasionally takes its past a bit too seriously – what might pass for a faded relic anywhere else becomes a plaque-covered tourist sight here – but none of that detracts from the city’s overriding historic charm, nor its present-day energy.

Indeed, there are plenty of tall skyscrapers, thriving business concerns and cultural outposts in Boston that are part-and-parcel of modern urban America, not to mention excellent mergers of past and present, such as the bustling Quincy Market, a paradigm for successful urban renewal. And despite the occasional wearisome touch, no other city in America gives a better feel for the events and personas behind the nation’s birth, all played out in Boston’s wealth of emblematic and evocative colonial-era sights, conveniently linked by the self-guided walking tour (one of a handful in the city) known as the Freedom Trail. As well, the city’s cafés and shops, its attractive public spaces and the diversity of its neighborhoods – student hives, ethnic enclaves and stately districts of preserved townhouses – are similarly alluring, going some way to answering the twin accusations of elitism and provincialism to which Boston is perennially subjected.

Boston is also at the center of the American university system – more than sixty colleges call the area home, including illustrious Harvard and MIT, in the neighbouring city of Cambridge, just across the Charles River. This academic connection has played a key part in the city’s long left-leaning political tradition, which has spawned a line of ethnic mayors, and, most famously, the Kennedy family. Steeped in Puritan roots, local residents often display a slightly anachronistic Yankee pride, but it’s one which has served to protect the city’s identity. Indeed, the districts around Boston Common exude an almost small-town atmosphere, and, until the past decade or so, were relatively unmarred by chain stores and fast-food joints. Meanwhile, groups of Irish and Italian descent have carved out authentic and often equally unchanged communities in areas like the North End, Charlestown and South Boston.

Today, Boston’s relatively small size – both physically and in terms of population (at under 600,000, it ranks well below most other similarly important US cities) – and its provincial feel actually serve to the city’s advantage. Though it has expanded significantly through landfills and annexation since it was first settled in 1630, it has never lost its core, which remains a tangle of streets over old cowpaths clustered around Boston Common (which was itself originally used as cattle pasture). Delightfully, this center can really only be explored properly on foot; for even as Boston has evolved from busy port to blighted city to the rejuvenated and prosperous place it is today, it has remained, fundamentally, a city on a human scale.

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Rough Guides are written by expert authors who are passionate about both writing and travel. They have detailed knowledge of the areas they write about—having either traveled extensively or lived there—and their expertise shines through on every page. It's priceless information, delivered with wit and insight, providing the down-to-earth, honest read that is the hallmark of Rough Guides.

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WHAT TO SEE

The city s epicenter is Boston Common, a large public green that orients downtown and holds either on or near its grounds many of Boston s most historic sights, including the Old State House, the Old Granary Burying Ground and the Old South Meeting House. Nothing, however, captures the spirit of the city better than nearby Faneuil Hall, the so-called "Cradle of Liberty," and the always-animated Quincy Market, adjacent to the hall. Due north, an incomparable sense of Boston s original layout can be found in the cramped Blackstone Block. Boston s waterfront, on the edge of downtown, offers its fair share of diversions, mostly ideal for traveling families; the action is centered on Long Wharf.

The North End, modern Boston s Little Italy, occupies the northeast corner of the peninsula, where, until the Big Dig project is completed, it s cut off from the rest of the city by I-93. The North End is home to a few notable relics, such as Old North Church and the Paul Revere House, but is equally worth visiting for its animated streetlife, fueled, in large part, by the strong cups of espresso proffered by numerous Italian caffes. Just across Boston Inner Harbor from the North End is Charlestown, the quiet berth of the world s oldest commissioned warship, the USS Constitution, as well as the locus of the Bunker Hill Monument, an obelisk commemorating the famous battle that bolstered American morale in the fight for independence.

North of the common are the vintage gaslights and red-brick Federalist townhouses that line the streets of Beacon Hill, the city s most exclusive residential neighborhood; it s anchored by the gold-domed State House, designed, as were numerous area houses, by Charles Bulfinch. Charles Street runs south from the hill and separates Boston Common from the Public Garden, which marks the eastern edge of Back Bay, a similarly well-heeled neighborhood which features opulent rowhouses alongside modern landmarks like the John Hancock Tower, New England s tallest skyscraper. The neighborhood also hosts some of the city s best shopping along Newbury Street. Meanwhile, the stylish enclave of the South End, known for its restaurants and streetlife, as well as the ornate ironwork gracing its well-maintained homes, is also worth a visit.

The student domains of Kenmore Square and the Fenway are found west of Back Bay and the South End: the former is largely overrun with college kids from nearby Boston University; the latter spreads west of Massachusetts Avenue and southwest along Huntington Avenue, home to heavyweight local institutions like the Museum of Fine Arts, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox. Below all these neighborhoods are Boston s vast southern districts, which hold little of interest besides the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum and the southerly links in Frederick Law Olmsted s series of parks, known as the Emerald Necklace; it includes the Arnold Arboretum and Franklin Park, setting for the Franklin Zoo. Across the Charles River from Boston is Cambridge, synonymous with venerable Harvard University and tech-savvy MIT, but also boasting some of the area s best nightlife and a lively café scene, especially around Harvard Square, which spills over into neighboring Somerville to the north.

The waterfront s Long Wharf doubles as a jumping-off point for escaping the city altogether, on cruises to the idyllic Harbor Islands, or to happening Provincetown, Cape Cod s foremost destination. Inland, nearby battle sites in Lexington and Concord make for easy day-trips, as does a jaunt up the coast to Salem and its witch sights, or further on to seafaring towns like Gloucester and Rockport.

WHEN TO GO

Boston is at its most enjoyable in the fall (September through early November), when the weather is cooler and the long lines have somewhat abated; and in the spring (April through mid-May), when the magnolia trees blossom along Commonwealth Avenue and the parks spring back to life. Summer, meanwhile, is certainly the most popular time to visit Boston, both for the warmer weather and frequent festivals. However, July and August can be uncomfortably humid, and you ll have to contend with large student-related influxes around graduation (early June) and the beginning of school (around Labor Day).

At the other end of the spectrum, Boston winters can be harsh affairs: they tend to run from late November through March, but, thanks to the moderating influence of the Atlantic, mild spells often break the monotony of long cold stretches, and snowfall is lighter than in the interior regions of New England. No matter when you go, though, be prepared for sudden changes in the weather in the space of a single day: a December morning snow squall could easily be followed by afternoon sunshine and temperatures in the 50s (Fahrenheit).

Edition details

• Publisher: Rough Guides
• Publication date: 2003
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1843530449
• ISBN 13: 9781843530442
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 3
• Number of pages: 272