Boston tours and excursions

The Freedom Trail is a self-guided, 4km (2.5 miles) walking tour that starts at the Boston Common Visitor Information Center and follows a red-brick line on the pavement. Its historic sites are associated with the movement to free the colonies from British control and information is provided at every point. Many of its highlights, including the Park Street Church and Old South Meeting House, have their own admission conditions and opening hours. A two-hour Freedom Trail audio guide of the trail is available at the Boston Common Visitor Information Center.

The Black Heritage Trail is a 2.5km (1.6 miles) trail that celebrates 19th-century African-American history and contributions, and includes 14 historic sites, most in the Beacon Hill district. Attractions include the Robert Gould Shaw and 54th Regiment Memorial, a commemoration to the first black regiment of the Civil War, the Phillips School, one of the first mixed-race schools, and the home of the black abolitionist, John J Smith House. Tours can be arranged by contacting the Boston African National Historic Site.

The Freedom Trail
Telephone: +1 617 357 8300
Website: www.thefreedomtrail.org

The Black Heritage Trail
Telephone: +1 617 742 5415.
Website: www.nps.gov/boaf

Concord, only 35km (22 miles) northwest of Boston, is the poster child for New England’s historic small towns. This is the place where the advancing colonial British troops (the ‘Redcoats') first encountered the speedy defence capabilities of the ‘Minutemen', so-called because they were ready for battle in only 60 seconds. The first American victory, of what was to become the American War of Independence, was here at North Bridge. An idea of what they were firing at each other is to be found at Bullet Hole House, pierced by a Redcoat musket ball.

Literary culture also abounds in Concord. Ralph Waldo Emerson's house is now a public museum, not far from the town's central Monument Square. Nearby are the Orchard House and the Wayside of Louisa May Alcott's Little Women. Just south of the square is Henry David Thoreau's Walden Pond. All three are buried in Author's Ridge at the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery.

Concord can be combined with a stop at Lexington to make a full day's excursion.